There is an interesting thing about Thai language… gender.
The common Thai greeting is Sawadee. If you’re a woman, you add ka. If you’re a man you add krap. There are several instances where this gender identifier is attached to the end of a statement.
Women always use the ka identifier no matter who they’re talking to… man or woman. Men always use the krap identifier no matter who they’re talking to… man or woman.
So… saying Sawadee ka/krap is akin to saying… “Hello, and by the way, I’m a woman”… Or “And a manly hello to you!”
–sam
Sawadee ka/krap is akin to saying… “Hello, and by the way, I’m a woman”… Or “And a manly hello to you!”
I think someone just conspired to make all the men in the country go around saying “Hello, I’m crap” to everyone.
Everytime I pass by this “And a manly hello to you!” I crack up. I can’t imagine it’s that funny in Thai, that sounds like a Sotnas translation to me.
I can’t help it if Thai is a funny language. There is also a very poetic part of Thai that relates to the word heart. In Thai to say someone is angry, you would say they have a “hot heart”. To say someone is determined, you would say they have a “steady heart”.
It’s an interesting way to describe human behavior to say the least.
As for the “And a manly hello to you!”… That is the word for word translation from my Thai to Sotnas dictionary… Scout’s Honor. 😉
You could also make an argument that ka is short for caca… which is the spanish euphemism for crap.