The US has Tom, Dick and Harry. Thailand has Pig, Money and Fat.
For as long as people here can remember, children have been given playful nicknames -- classics include Shrimp, Chubby and Crab -- that are carried into adulthood.
But now, to the consternation of some nickname purists, children are being given such offbeat English-language nicknames as Mafia or Seven -- as in 7-Eleven, the convenience store.
The spread of foreign names mirrors a rapidly urbanizing society that has absorbed any number of influences, including Hollywood, fast-food chains and English Premier League soccer.
The trend worries Vira Rojpojchanarat, the permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Culture. Vira, whose nickname is the relatively unimaginative Ra, is embarking on a campaign to revive the simple and often more pastoral nicknames of yore.
"It's important because it's about the usage of the Thai language," Vira, an architect by training, said in his office decorated with Thai theatrical masks and a small Buddhist altar. "We worry that Thai culture will vanish."
HANDBOOK
With help from language experts at the Royal Institute, the official arbiter of the Thai language, Vira plans to produce by the end of the year a collection of thousands of old-fashioned nicknames, listed by such wholesome categories as colors, animals and fruit and including simple favorites like Yaay (big), Ouan (fat) and Dam (black).
Published in a small booklet, the names will be distributed to the news media and libraries and posted on the Internet.
"We can't force people," Vira said. "It's their right to have their own ideas. But what we can do is give them options by producing this handbook."
The culture ministry's plans have not yet been made public, but some Thais, when told about the nickname campaign, were skeptical.
"I don't agree with this; it's unnecessary," said Manthanee Akaracharanrya, a 29-year-old real estate contractor.
Manthanee, whose nickname is Money, says having an English name is practical because it is easier for foreigners to pronounce, unlike Thai names, which are tonal and can include sounds alien to non-Thai speakers.
THEME
Her name has meaning, Manthanee said. Her father chose Money because she was born on Nov. 29, around the time his paycheck landed. Her elder brother is named Bonus because he was born on Chinese New Year, when some companies hand out extra cash. And her younger brother is called Bank, because it fitted the theme.
Korakoad Wongsinchai, an English teacher at a private primary school in Bangkok, is also not sure whether the ministry's campaign will stem the tide of English names.
"Parents think they are modern names," Korakoad said of the foreign nicknames. "Thai names are from 20 years ago."
More than half of her students have English names, she said, offering this sampling: Tomcruise, Elizabeth, Army, Kiwi, Charlie and God. One apparently gourmand family named their child Gateaux, the French word for cakes.
"I think a lot of parents get the names from television or magazines," she said.
Korakoad, 30, carries the nickname Moo (pig), a traditional name that Vira approves of and says will be in the booklet.
After years of hearing about the spread of foreign nicknames, Vira says he was spurred into action in July when he saw the results of a survey of almost 3,000 students in and around the city of Khon Khaen, in northeastern Thailand.
In one classroom there were three children nicknamed Bank. To tell them apart, fellow pupils had renamed the children Big Bank, Medium Bank and Small Bank.
YOUTH
Forty percent of secondary students and 56 percent of primary students had English nicknames, the survey showed, compared with just 6 percent of university students, indicating a clear trend among the youngest Thais, Vira said.
Ball was the most popular English nickname - -- possibly because it is the nickname of a well-known Thai tennis star, Paradorn Srichaphan -- followed by Oil and Bank.
The most common Thai nicknames were Lek (small), Ng (one) and Mai (new).
Vira, who is the most senior civil servant in the culture ministry, says his mission is to preserve what he calls Thai-ness: "Not only the Thai language but Thai dress, Thai food -- everything that shows Thai identity."
The year 2007 (2550 according to Thailand's Buddhist calendar) has been proclaimed the Year of Promoting Correct Thai Usage, he said, and the nickname campaign is part of this effort.
From a purely practical point of view, Vira said, having a foreign name like Apple or Bank may be cute for a child, "but once you're an old man with no teeth, it doesn't match with the name."
Wherever one looks, the United States is ceding ground to China. From foreign aid to foreign trade, and from reorganizations to organizational guidance, the Trump administration has embarked on a stunning effort to hobble itself in grappling with what his own secretary of state calls “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The problems start at the Department of State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that “it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power” and that the world has returned to multipolarity, with “multi-great powers in different parts of the
President William Lai (賴清德) recently attended an event in Taipei marking the end of World War II in Europe, emphasizing in his speech: “Using force to invade another country is an unjust act and will ultimately fail.” In just a few words, he captured the core values of the postwar international order and reminded us again: History is not just for reflection, but serves as a warning for the present. From a broad historical perspective, his statement carries weight. For centuries, international relations operated under the law of the jungle — where the strong dominated and the weak were constrained. That
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS