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armandluvvr · 8 days ago

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Explaining Thai to the Casual BL Watcher - It Has Registers

So I’ve been immersed in Thai BL for a while now and also learning Thai in order to travel to Thailand soon. My best friend is Thai American. There were a lot of things in Thai BL that confused me linguistically so I thought they might be confusing some of you, thus I decided to explain some shizz in case it would assist in BL enjoyment. Here’s the most useful foundational info I’ve learned about Thai.

Codicil: These are generalities to help with comprehension as a consumer of Thai BL, not nuances to help with emersion if you plan to live in Thailand.

Here’s a quick guide to train your ear for particles

(These will come at the end of sentences, simplified for comprehension.)

So, you might find it easiest to think of particles as spoken punctuation. So the “polite particle” is really just a sentence ender, like period.

So for example, ha/ja are both particles, but that are not strictly polite HOWEVER they’re still called polite particles by non-Thais, to distinguish them from other particles like those used to indicate question/entreaty na/la/wa (pretend there are spoken ?), and mandates/orders si/di.

Just err on the side of using a particle whenever possible, otherwise you’re speaking without punctuation, which is low register and quite rude.

Formal polite particles:

krap/kap/krab used by male identified individuals

kha/ka used female identified individuals

si for imperatives and mandates (orders)

na to soften, question, and plead

Informal but still somewhat polite particles:

kha used by third gender identified individuals

di for imperatives and mandates (orders)

sa for forced encouragement

la for mild entreaty

Informal household particles

ja used with very close friends/family and by the queer community, friendly and informal

kha used by a male identified person for certain VERY specific reasons

ha as used with lovers and close family members, intimate and informal

Rude particles, to be used ONLY with piers after an established relationship

gu/mueng for I/you pronouns (not particles, but it’s important to know this as BL uses this all the time but travelers NEVER SHOULD)

wa for questions

also… no particles or honorifics at all = rude

The Thai language exists in registers

Thai has what we call linguistic registers:

high

low

frozen

Registers dictate word use so far as: pronouns, polite particles, and honorifics. Registers also contain specific words used only in them. Registers are not codified, they are situational (so there are no hard and fast rules). Your register depends on your current social situation, relationship to others around you, and what form the language is taking (written, spoken, sung). All those aspects can change and shift over time.

Thai uses the above particles (and honorifics, see this post) to indicate registers:

formal,

informal,

rude (impolite),

polite,

(also ultra formal, written, legal, ancient, and royal = mostly frozen, so not used much in daily life).

What’s difficult to understand is that these can be combined. Something can be formal and polite, formal and rude (I know, which is why you much be careful), informal but polite, informal AND rude (guu/mueng).

FROZEN REGISTER

These are words and terms considered mainly old-fashioned, servile, overly polite, or used only with royalty. They may appear in poetry, in a historical context (including dramas), or written down but you will almost never hear them spoken in Thai BL. Occasionally, you may hear them sung. Usually they’re only used in formal speeches, pledges, and contracts. (Here a post on ter which is semi-frozen in its you form, but you can hear TIne sing ter to Sarawat at the end of Still 2gether.)

Words can move from frozen into everyday use. There’s some hypotheses that the much increased use of rao (for I instead of we) in everyday use these days has to do with the huge popularity of several Thai historical dramas.

The closest we have to this in English is legalese, or in the UK super posh accents and behaviors when meeting the Queen or her family.

HIGH REGISTER

When you’re learning and writing Thai, in the workplace, or dealing with elders and strangers you are in high register. You’ll be using formal and polite language. If you’re traveling to Thailand casually as a tourist, this is the version you should speak. Unfortunately, it’s not common in BL.

The easiest way to spot high register outside of context is:

men use pom/phi or their own names for I sometimes chan/nai and very rarely rao

women will use chan or their own names for I

everyone uses gender neutral khun for you or name (for someone younger/same age) or phi/P+Name for someone older

The use of pom & khun are easiest to spot in Thai BL.

Characters tend to use the following particles (you can think of these as the spoken punctuation at the end of sentences that make you sound less rude or curt) for high register:

krap (m) or kha (f) in general (formal gender neutral is hard to come by)

si = for imperatives (orders, mandates)

na = to soften or plead or question

There are more but these are the most common.

High register: polite & formal = Pete

Pete in Love By Chance uses very polite high register. Even when he is in informal situations (alone or with a lover) he never drops to impolite, the “worst” he goes is rao (sounds like lao). He’s the only character I’ve heard use this word for I* regularly, even when alone talking to himself. (It’s old fashioned and rather sweet/cute.) For you Pete tends to use the person’s name. You’ll note he says “Ae” A LOT? Where as Ae tends to respond with mueng and not say Pete’s name to him that often.

If you’re male identified and planning to travel to Thailand, you should use Pete as your linguistic model. (Aside from the rao, pom is fine. Unless you want an old fashioned but gender neutral term for I, in which case you could use rao with friends, but they might be a touch amused.)

* Tir & Masuk use rao with each other in Y-Destiny and it’s SO CUTE. Team, Manaow, and Pharm also use rao with each other when first meeting in Until We Meet Again. So age mates but not rude. Yok drops from khun (formal) to rao (formal but sweet) with Dan after they kiss in Not Me.

High register: polite & casual = Pharm

Pharm usually uses a slightly less formal version of high register in Until We Meet Again, even with Dean. Especially with Dean. (Dean uses semi-formal low register but is VERY curt.) Pharm will usually say his own name for I and P’Dean for you, when talking with Dean.

Note both Pete and Pharm have a gentle shy reserve to their natures? That’s also linguistic. Most of the younger males in relationships with older males where they are the uke are using casual high register with their partners - e.g. Rome, Wayo, and Wayu (the exceptions are tsunderes Team, Pi & Duen).

Seme males who are younger than their targets also use this register but they aren’t always as polite about it. So: Kong, Thun, Ming (up until a point), and Solo (very curt). Also Tin, who is the same age as Can but very high class, tends to default this register.

High register: formal but not polite = Day

Day in SOTUS uses high register in a formal but not necessarily polite way. It’s part of his character trait as an egalitarian bucking the codified informal phi/nong allegiances in college. And it is a source of contention in his relationship with Tew and resistance to participating in the SOTUS system.

You can see this in his language because he often drops the polite particle (which is curt, see Dean & Solo) but then he uses khun for you, which is very formal. He refuses to use P’name for older characters and responds badly if one of them calls him nong. He doles out khun and expects khun in return.

Just grow the f up = Bun & Tan

I talk about the fact that Manner of Death is not typical Thai BL and part of that is based on their language. Tan and Bun are adults who meet as adults and exist in adult workspaces (we get that in BL from Taiwan and Japan but not often Thailand).

With each other Tan & Bun use the formal khun for you. I rarely hear them using pom or own name for I, which makes sense, as there is a certain quality of youthfulness or lesser power when using these as I-personal pronouns. Instead, they tend to leave off first person pronouns all together. Which is actually really common in spoken Thai.

In Episode 2 of Lovely Writer Gene and Sib use khun and chan and very much not phi/nong. They talk openly about using casual, formal, or age defining language and why they should/shouldn’t. It’s Sib who insists on grown up formalities.

It’s a plot point because Sib intends to change his terms for Gene but only after “something” happens to make them closer. Dah dah dah dum.

LOW REGISTER AKA GUU-MUENG

Because of the high school and university setting for most Thai BL (and the codified phi/nong sibling relationship encouraged amongst Thai youngsters) the most common register you’ll hear in Thai BL is low register.

This is only for use amongst equals, friends, intimates, and informal acquaintances. We used to have this in English for you - it’s thee/thou/thy in the archaic use (not the modern Scots). If you use this register in Thailand as a tourist you will be considered very VERY rude.

Low register characters tend to use the following rude and informal particles & pronouns:

wa, ha*, ja* (gender neutral) instead of krap or kha

di instead of si = for imperatives

la instead of (or in addition to) na = to soften or plead or question

mueng for you

guu for I/me

* ha is generally used amongst blood family only, see Phun use it with his sister in Love Sick. An older male may use it to flirt with a younger one (or a male with a female) especially in bars as part of a pickup, see Team with Mon in the elevator scene in Y-Destiny.

* ja is an interesting case and I could write a book on it, but it is intimately associated with 3rd gender and queerness and the social occupancy of liminal cultural spaces. Thus its rudeness is… relative? Ladyboy characters like P’Money in Love By Chance will use ja, even shout it or over emphasize it as a kind of declaration of identity. In a way ja has a touch of fabulous campiness to it. (these days)

Low register: rude & impolite = Ae

Except when talking with Pete’s mom, Ae in Love By Chance is pretty much always using low register, extremely informal and impolite speech.

He’s crass.

This version of low register will be strongly characterized by use of mueng, guu, and wa. As well as a ton of swear words. Ae’s niece takes him to task for using gu/mueng in particular.

Many other BL characters who are the same age and in a relationship will also use this mode of speech (also close friends of the same age): Tharn & Type, Sarawat & Tine, Pete & Kao, Phun & Noh, Forth & Beam, etc…

I think sometimes writers choose protagonists of the same age just so they can jump to the faster level of intimacy out the gate that this linguistic register emphasizes.

Can speaks low register to Tin (but Tin doesn’t usually speak back informal). Tin finds it both annoying and attractive.

The daddy dynamic they casually joke about is partly a result of their miss-matched linguistics. When Can starts using polite (and cute diminutive younger male) language with Tin (who is his peer, remember) at the breakfast table after sex, it’s a huge turn on for Tin. It’s kind of like baby talk but also Can is making an effort to fit into Tin’s world and be the kind of uke Tin wants.

Across age lines? Almost never.

Bohn uses this level of crassness with Duen, but to be fair, Duen started it.

Low register: familiar, somewhat impolite, but not necessarily harsh = Pick

Usually, when an older male is courting/befriending a younger male he will use this style of modified low register. Basically it is still familiar and objectively rude but somewhat softened and gentled by tone and particle use.

Pick uses this with Rome in Puppy Honey (which is part of why Rome is encouraged to think of him romantically). Dean manages to do this with Pharm while STILL being curt and leaving off particles in UWMA. Other examples include: Fighter with Tutor and Saifah with Zon (Why R You), Win with Team (and everyone else in UWMA), Vee with Mark (Love Mechanics), and King with Ram (eventually in My Engineer).

Linguistic brats

In BL (for years) the only character to flip this dynamic is Duen in My Engineer and it is so impossibly rude that he uses this kind of informal language with P’Bohn (who is OLDER) out the gate, it’s actually hard to articulate how rude he is. It’s just NEVER done.

* Updated to say Pi flips this dynamic with P’Mork as well, in Fish Upon the Sky too. So we have a new entry into the ultra brat category.

I talk a bit about how these dynamics and portraying them physically and linguistically on screen pan out in real life actor to actor relationships here.

Low register: impolite, aggressively familiar, and somewhat rude = Ming

When a younger male is courting an older male he will eventually try to use this version of low register. Basically it is a kind of attacking familiarity (he is the seme character after all) and also impolite. You might think of this as calling your crush babe or baby, but before there is any established relationship.

Ming does this with Kit in both versions of 2 Moons, also Mark with Kit in Gen Y. Kong, however, does not do this with Arthit in SOTUS. Kong is quite polite, actually, he’s like the seme version of Pharm.

Multicultural Aspect = Team

To really complicate matters you will hear some younger characters use hia for you instead of phi or khun or P+name when addressing older characters.

Team uses hia with Win in Until We Meet Again. This is a pronoun used by Thai speakers with/on Chinese ancestry/upbringing only. It is similar to phi but a little less formal and slightly more household intimate.

Conclusion

Okay so I hope you can kinda see how the linguistic register effects every aspect of a BL? What pronouns and particles characters use and why says a lot about their class, relationship, intentions, feelings, and so forth. It also speaks to the seme/uke dynamic.

It impacts plot:

We can watch Pete use extreme politeness and high register to extract himself from very sticky situations (like with P’Money’s squad).

Characters can step up to high register for sarcasm (a long drawn-out rolled-r krap will often do this) or they can drop to low register to emphasize insult.

Okay, that’s it. Waffling done.

Others In This Thai Language for BL Watchers Series

More on which BL couples use which register and which pronouns with each other and why it’s interesting from a BL character and story perspective

Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You - Queer Coded Language and 3rd Gender Identity (the ha particle)

Why Thai nouns are great & fun

Why Thai verbs are great & easy

The Thai Verb “to be” has only 3 different forms

How registers/linguistics impact age dynamics also affects Thai actors’ relationships with each other so I drew up a list of Thai actor age brackets

Because of that I also did an analysis on how Thai actors’ age dynamics with each other might impact their on screen portrayal of BL characters

Explain that Word? Ter

Explain that Verb? Song

Resources post here.