Humor Me

November 9, 2016

(Because God knows we could all use a little humor the day after Election Day...)

quotesgram.com

Thai humor - sometimes it's a wonderful, perplexing thing.

Our driver, now quite comfortable in his role, has no problem joking with us.  When he makes a joke that clearly makes us laugh, he repeats the joke, often many times over.  He was amused when Tim ordered a "long coffee" from McDonald's once, and after waiting some time at the window, got a tiny, little dixie-cup-sized coffee.  He said, "Boss, you get long coffee...because you wait long time!"  This clever little joke comes up again and again.

Tim commented once what a nice, easy job a security guard had - one that just rolls a little gate back and forth across the car entrance all day.  Now, whenever we see one such security guard, our driver never fails to say, "Boss, new job for you!"  He frequently refers to drinking beer as "getting exercise," showing how he has to lift his arm up and down.  Or if someone sneezes, he says, "I have shower already," and sniffs his armpit to see if he needs a shower.  Ha. Ha.

You know by now that the Thai word for a white foreigner is Farang.  The word for France is Farang Sed. And the word Sed means to be poor, or have no money.  Anytime I use the term Farang Sed, he loves to turn it around and say Sed Farang, then laughs at his joke.  Never need the radio in the car - always plenty of entertainment!

Sometimes he doesn't realize he's being funny.  One time he said the word "bamboo" in what sounded like an unmistakable Texas accent.  We said he sounded like a cowboy, but he said he doesn't like cowboys.  When we asked why, he said, because "they never shower."  That's an interesting take on cowboys; he must have seen that in a movie or something.

Ronald McDonald performing a wai 

My Thai teacher occasionally likes to share a joke with me.  He announces, "Oh!  I have a joke for you!"  Here are a couple of good ones:

I had just learned the phrase, Bpai Lery, which means, "Don't hesitate to go."  There is a province in northern Thailand called Lery, or Loei (the "r" sound is soft to non-existent in Thai), and Bpai means "to go." So you could be telling someone politely to go ahead, while basically also telling them to go far away.  

Another word play joke: a Wai is the sign of respect Thai's give by placing their palms together under their nose.  The word for water is Nahm.  And Wai Nahm means to swim.  So when someone asks a Thai to go for a swim, he could be funny and Wai to the swimming pool!   Hilarious, right?





Finally, I saw this sign on the back of a local internet provider company's truck.  I think it was an attempt at humor - you be the judge:

Remember, laugh and the world laughs with you.  Cry and you cry alone.  Laughter is the best medicine, yada, yada, yada.