มุมภาษาไทย l mum pha:să: thai l Thai Language Corner
EmoTHAIcons :-) By Klavs Johansen (thai@snakthai.dk)
(>_<)
ผิดหวัง / phít wăng / ~ to be disappointed, or โกรธ / krò:t / ~ to be angry,
O
ur topic of this month is of course emoticons, the little smiley and its variations, which are used to add feelings to plain text.The emoticons are originally made from standard keyboard characters, though, today, they are mostly available as ready-made little pictures on phones and social media. We shall stick to the characters here, our purpose, of course, is to learn some useful Thai from the meanings of some of the more common emoticons. The formal Thai word for this popular addition to twenty-first century communication is สัญรูป อารมณ์ / sănyárû:p a:rom / ~ emoticons, where สัญรูป / sănyárû:p / ~ icon, and อารมณ์ / a:rom / ~ mood. The mother, or father, if you wish, of them all is :-), known in Thai as ตัวยิ้ม / tua yím / ~ smiley, or หน้้ายิ้ม / nâ: yím /, literally smiling face, or อมยิ้ม / om yím / ~ (said/written) with a smile, or just ยิ้ม / yím / ~ smile. The short version :) is frequently used by Thais, in particular females, no doubt as it is cuter and the nose being a less striking feature of the face than is the case for most Westerners, some of whom should rather use :^) perhaps. 22 ScandAsia.Thailand • November 2017
Here are a few of the variations of the smiley: :-D ยิ้มกว่าง / yím kwâ:ng / ~ broad smile, to smile broadly, ;-) ขยิบตา / khàyìp ta: / ~ winky, to wink, :-P แลบลิ้น / lâe:p lín / ~ tongue sticking out, teasing, or ประชด / pràchót / ~ being ironic, :-( หน้าบึ้ง / nâ: bûeng / ~ frowning, unhappy face, :´-( ร้องไห้ / rór:ng hâi / ~ to weep, to be sad, >-) ปิศาจ / pìsà:t / ~ devil, ใจร้าย / jai rá:i / ~ evil grin. <3 หัวใจ / hŭa jai / ~ heart, or รัก / rák / ~ to love. In addition to these horizontal emoticons, where you have to tilt your head to read the text versions, vertical emoticons, originally from Japan, have been very popular in Asian chatrooms, and so also in Thailand – at least as far as this elderly columnist has been able to gather. They include: (^_^) หน้ายิ้มตายิ้ม / nâ: yím ta: tím / ~ smile reaching the eyes,
(=_=) เบื่อ / bùea / ~ to be borred, (._.) เงียบ / ngîap / ~ silent, ก้มหน้า / kôm nâ: / ~ to look down, กลัว / klua / ~ to be afraid, (~_~) พึงพอใจ / phueng phor: jai / ~ content, (-_-) เฉยๆ / chŏe:i chŏe:i / ~ to be indifferent (O_O) ตกใจ / tòk jai / ~ shocked, (-///-) อาย / a:i / ~ to be shy, embarrassed, \ (^o^)/ ไชโย / chai yo: / ~ hurrah, ยกมื อ / yók mue: / ~ to raise the hands (showing excitement), เย้ๆ / yé: yé: / ~ yeah! (n_n) ขอร้อง / khŏr: rór:ng / ~ please, won’t you? (+_+) น็อก / nórk / ~ knocked out, ตาย / ta:i / ~ dead, or maybe just เมา / mao / ~ drunk, (- -?) งง / ngong / ~ confused, or สงสัย / sŏng săi / ~ to wonder, (-_-;) เหงื่อตก / ngùea tòk / ~ เหงื่อออก / ngùea òr:k / ~ sweating, เหน็ดเหนื่อย / nèt nùeai / ~ exhausted, เครียด / khrîat / ~ to be stressed, frustrated. (=[]=) ประหลาดใจ / prálà:t jai / ~ surprised, astonished, ^^ มีความสุข / mi: khwa:m sùk / ~ to be happy. Phew! Or should I just say (-_-;), that was a show of feelings worthy of an Oscar nominee. Let’s end the list with an emoticon using Thai characters, most notably the consonant ง / ngor: ngu: / ~ ng:
(ง’̀-’́)ง ยกหมัดเตรียมสู้ ~ put up your dukes!
That’s it, dear reader, and – as you may have seen elsewhere – the ScandAsia Thailand magazine is due to merge with the other ScandAsia magazines into one. This will take effect from January next year and naturally the Thai Language Corner is less relevant to the total readership of the new magazine. Consequently, next month’s column will be the last gathering on the Thai Language Corner, at least for any foreseeable future. The good news, if you have liked the Thai Language Corner, is that there are plans to compile some of the best columns from the past four years into a small book named, guess what, “Thai Language Corner”. Watch out for it in scand.shop.in.th, and, meanwhile, we will keep smiling and say goodbye in December. :-)