Thai time vs Western time

[TotallyOz]

At the disco last night, I made a few promises for short times. One was for 2 O'clock today as I do love an afternooner. But, as I was typing here at 8am, he showed up in my bedroom. My gardener let him in as she knew him and recognized him from more than a few visits. I looked back and said, "why are you here so early?" He said I told him 2 and he wanted to come and woke up early to be here. I often forget that the word usage for Thai time is different than my usual words so I need to be more clean. Anyway, on that note, I am off for a bit (with a smile on my face as I love a morning visit even more than an afternooner) with a note to myself to be more clear on times from now on.

[Guest Geezer]

After having the same problems with misunderstanding time I taped this chart to the back of my pocket notebook, and point to the appropriate time when scheduling a tryst.

 

12:00 night เที่ยงคืน, สองยาม

1:00 a.m. ่ตีหนึ่ง

2:00 ตีสอง

3:00 ตีสาม

4:00 ตีสี่

5:00 ตีห้า

6:00 หกโมงเช้า

7:00 เจ็ดโมงเช้า

8:00 สองโมงเช้า

9:00 เก้าโมงเช้า

10:00 สิบโมงเช้า

11:00 ห้าโมงเช้า

12 noon เที่ยงวัน

1:00 p.m. บ่ายโมง

2:00 บ่ายสองโมง

3:00 บ่ายสามโมง

4:00 สี่โมงเย็น

5:00 ห้าโมงเย็น

6:00 หกโมงเย็น

7:00 หนึ่งทุ่ม

8:00 สองทุ่ม

9:00 สามทุ่ม

10:00 สี่ทุ่ม

11:00 ห้าทุ่ม

[Guest painai]

It's really not that hard at all. You can refer 7am to be translated as 7 of the morning,8am as 8 of the morning, etc. However, Thais also refer to 7am as 1 of the morning, 8am as 2 of the morning, 9 am as 3 of the morning, etc. as well. They do the same in the afternoon and at night. That's why 7pm is 1 of the night, 8pm is 2 of the night, 9pm is 3 of the night, etc. As for Geezer's chart, it's a little confusing. It combines the two ways of telling time that Thais use. The thai characters call it 7 of the morning for 7am, 2 of the morning for 8am, 9 of the morning for 9am, 10 of the morning for 10am, but 5 of the morning for 11am.

[Gaybutton]

There are a few ways I find easiest of all. The first is to refer to time as a 24 hour clock. 8:00am is 0800. 2:00pm is 1400.

 

The Thai words for time are roughly pronounced as:

 

6:00am to Noon

 

6am - hoke mong chow

7am - jet mong chow

8am - bairt mong chow

9am - cow mong chow

10am - sip mong chow

11am - sip-et mong chow

Noon - thiang (say it with a hard T, not a soft T)

 

1pm to 6pm

 

1pm - bai mong

2pm - bai song

3pm - bai sahm

4pm - bai see

5pm - hah mong yen

6pm - hoke mong yen

 

7pm to Midnight

 

7pm - nung toom

8pm - song toom

9pm - sahm toom

10pm - see toom

11pm - hah toom

Midnight - thiang kurn

 

1am to 5am

 

1am - tee nung

2am - tee song

3am - tee sahm

4am - tee see

5am - tee hah

 

For half hours, add the word "kroong" to the time. 4:30pm would be bai see kroong.

 

If you want to ask a Thai boy what time he is coming back, the easiest way is "Glahp gee mong?" Of course, no matter what time he tells you he'll be back, if you're truly lucky, very lucky, he might show up within three or four hours of whatever time he tells you. Once you can understand and accept that, now you really know what "Thai time" means . . .

[Guest Geezer]

OK now, that does it!

 

For nine years I have tolerated the Thai’s “quaint” customs such as driving on the wrong side of the street, conducting nasal excavations in plain view while covering their mouths when employing toothpicks, setting up restaurants and shops and riding motorcycles on sidewalks (Which the British call “pavements”).

 

Duh, a pavement is a hard surface on the ground. Do you know the word, “pave”? A street is a pavement too. The proper term is SIDEWALK. My God, I’ve even heard Brits call it a “footpath”. …and don’t bitch about my punctuation; punctuation is for wimps.

 

And now this:

"As for Geezer's chart, it's a little confusing. It combines the two ways of telling time that Thais use."

Two ways? … and neither one makes any sense. They write it in those Thai letters which look like a handful of earthworms thrown into a hot skillet.

 

Every watch and clock I have seen in Thailand has twelve/twenty-four numbers on its’ face. Thais have no problem telling time with them, but perversely refuse to understand when we say, “I like fuck you 9:30 tonight.”

 

Be that as it may, I have shown the time chart from my previous post to my punctilious Thai friend. He has corrected it as follows:

 

12:00 night เที่ยงคืน,

1:00 a.m. ่ตีหนึ่ง

2:00 ตีสอง

3:00 ตีสาม

4:00 ตีสี่

5:00 ตีห้า

6:00 หกโมงเช้า

7:00 หนึ่งโมงเช้า

8:00 สองโมงเช้า

9:00 สามโมงเช้า

10:00 สี่โมงเช้า

11:00 ห้าโมงเช้า

12 noon เที่ยงวัน

1:00 p.m. บ่ายหนึ่งโมง

2:00 บ่ายสองโมง

3:00 บ่ายสามโมง

4:00 สี่โมงเย็น

5:00 ห้าโมงเย็น

6:00 หกโมงเย็น

7:00 หนึ่งทุ่ม

8:00 สองทุ่ม

9:00 สามทุ่ม

10:00 สี่ทุ่ม

11:00 ห้าทุ่ม

[Guest fountainhall]

no matter what time he tells you he'll be back, if you're truly lucky, very lucky, he might show up within three or four hours of whatever time he tells you

 

Visiting Bali for the first time almost 30 years ago, everyone I met called Bali time "rubber time". I soon found out why. The same is true here in Thailand - only worse. Does anyone have any clue why time means so little to so many? Even at business meetings, I will usually turn up (almost) on time often to receive an sms on arrival that my colleague will be delayed by up to an hour. Why, knowing they are going to be late, can they not give you some advance notice! Surely this can't be a "loss of face" issue?

 

I will normally give a guy I am meeting 30 minutes before I phone. I have lost count of the number of times I discover the friend has only just left home - but will be with me "in 10 minutes". Time then has a habit of standing still, because 30 minutes later, the arrival will still be "in 10 minutes".

 

Equally odd is the offence they will take if, as has happened a couple of times, I just give up and walk away after an hour or so.

 

Is there something in Thai culture that I have missed?

[Gaybutton]

thrown into a hot skillet.

 

Ahem!!! Where I come from it's "frying pan." But then I have been to places where they have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have also been to places where they have breakfast, lunch, and supper. And, last but not least, breakfast dinner, and supper.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Ahem!!! Where I come from it's "frying pan." But then I have been to places where they have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have also been to places where they have breakfast, lunch, and supper. And, last but not least, breakfast dinner, and supper.

What about breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, high tea, dinner and supper, not to mention midnight snack?

[Guest buaseng]

Duh, a pavement is a hard surface on the ground. Do you know the word, “pave”? A street is a pavement too. The proper term is SIDEWALK. My God, I’ve even heard Brits call it a “footpath”. …and don’t bitch about my punctuation; punctuation is for wimps.

Gawd, That's rich - an American trying to teach the British how to use their own language!

The bastardised form of speech, spelling and grammar which the Americans dare to call English is light years apart from the real thing.

Stick to American slang if you wish but don't try to preach to us how we should use our own language - you haven't the intelligence or right to even try.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Gawd, That's rich - an American trying to teach the British how to use their own language!

 

MEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Geezer]

Wow, buaseng -- is your underwear (knickers) too tight?

[Gaybutton]

Stick to American slang if you wish

 

American - British

 

apartment - flat

 

argument - row

 

baby carriage - pram

 

band-aid - plaster

 

bathroom - loo

 

booger - bogey

 

can - tin

 

cookie - biscuit

 

corn - maize

 

crazy - mad

 

diaper - nappy

 

elevator - lift

 

eraser - rubber

 

flashlight - torch

 

French fries - chips

 

gas - petrol

 

highway - motorway

 

hood (car) - bonnet

 

kerosene - paraffin

 

lawyer - solicitor

 

license plate - number plate

 

line - queue

 

mail - post

 

movie theater - cinema

 

muffler - silencer

 

pants - trousers

 

pharmacist - chemist

 

potato chips - crisps

 

rent - hire

 

Santa Claus - Father Christmas

 

sausage - banger

 

soccer - football

 

sweater - jumper

 

trash can - dust bin

 

truck - lorry

 

trunk (car) - boot

 

vacation - holiday

 

vest - waistcoat

 

while - wilst

 

windshield - windscreen

 

zip code - postal code

[Gaybutton]

What about ... high tea ...?

 

I don't even get low tea.

[Gaybutton]

Buaseng, you remind me of a short-lived American comedy series that ran at some point in the early 1960's. It was about a British family and an American family, each with a teenage daughter. The daughters trade places for a year as exchange students.

 

The American daughter, while in the UK, had several run-ins with an elderly British gentleman, one of the neighbors, who despised Americans, but he did like the girl. In one episode the girl became frustrated with him and asked, "Am I the only American you ever liked?"

 

The gentleman responded, "There was one other."

 

"Who?" asked the girl.

 

"Benedict Arnold!"

[Guest lvdkeyes]

A few others:

 

Fenders (car) - Wings

 

Jockey shorts - Y fronts

 

Lawyer - Also Barrister

 

Yard - Garden

 

Fanny - Bum

 

Various names for vagina - Fanny

 

Dick - Willy

 

Horny - Randy

 

Cum - Spunk

 

Garage Sale - Boot Sale

 

Church or School Sale - Bring and Buy

 

Carry Out - Take Away

 

Biscuits - Buns

 

Zucchini - Courgette

 

Eggplant - Aubergine

 

Undershirt - Vest

 

Underpants - Knickers

 

Intermission - Interval

 

Barber - Hairdresser

 

Pass (on highway) - Overtake

 

4 Lane Highway - Dual Carriage Way

 

Traffic Circle - Round About

 

And the list goes on and on.

[Gaybutton]

And the list goes on and on.

 

I'm sure it does. For example we forgot:

 

ass and arse

 

subway and underground

 

shrimp and prawn

 

escalator and moving stairs

 

jerk off and wank

______________

 

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language." - George Bernard Shaw

 

And a few Americans might have had an idea different from the Brits if someone mentioned:

 

[Guest xiandarkthorne]

No. The habit of being late for appointments isn't confined to the Thais. However, how and where it is applied is very much one that has its roots in history and social/economic development. In Malaysia and Singaore, which have seen much more commerce with the British, Germans, French, Americans and Australians who are usually very punctual people when sober, most locals will turn up on time for business-related appointments. For social ones, they all snap back to their old 'Asian rubber time' habit quickly enough, I can tell you. There are only three members of my typically extended family (of 47 people) who do not practice the time-honoured method.

 

The easiest way of understanding the way time bends in Asia without recourse to quantum physics is this - if an Asian says he's coming at 10pm, it usually means that he will TRY to leave the house at 10pm if he can finish gelling his hair, pumping perfume, and chatting to all his friends first (at the very least).

 

My apoligies to the very few, very rare Asians who actually mean that they will arrive at 10pm. I salute your accuracy. I prefer to arrive 15 minutes early, wait 15 minutes after the agreed time and then simply carry on with my own plans if nobody shows up. Half an hour is all I am prepared to waste of my precious lifetime.

[Guest buaseng]

I prefer to arrive 15 minutes early, wait 15 minutes after the agreed time and then simply carry on with my own plans if nobody shows up.

My policy as well.

 

GoGo boys quickly get the message which I impress on them at first meeting. Those that do turn up late and come cap in hand at a later date asking to be 'offed' again are given one second chance and I have never had one arrive late again - they realise that they will miss out on their tip (unless they have informed me by phone or message via a friend first that they are delayed). This policy works wonders!

[Guest lvdkeyes]

This policy works wonders!

That's it: RULE WITH AN IRON HAND.

[Guest]

Love the post it with times. It is something I am going to paste into my cell phone to make sure when someone doesn't speak my southern American redneck English.

 

I am always punctual. My first boyfriend when I came out of the closet at 27 was a Brazilian in NYC. He has his own time and we were never allowed to arrive at any party on time or early as he had to arrive after most were there. His sense of time when keeping appointments was also pretty fucking miserable. If he had not been so fucking hot, I would not have lived with him for 5 years. We were the same age (one year different) but he grew up in Brazil and I grew up in a very conservative religious environment where you were never late for Church or school or anything else. Our two worlds collided when we were lovers. It was always frustrating and I never really understood him.

 

UNTIL I made my first trip to Brazil years later. It seems the whole country is the same. I have yet to meet someone there on time. It is all in Brazilian time which means within an hour or so.

 

My last trip there early this month I met a boy at a sauna. He was hot and I was finished for the day and getting a taxi. We chatted and made an appointment for 6PM the next day at the sauna. I was there early. I had 10 beautiful boys asking for short times but my response to them was I had promised someone else for 6. Then 7 came around and he wasn't there and then 8. I was frustrated and packed up to leave and in he walks. He was offended I was not going to wait for him. I told him we said 6 but he said traffic was a mess. LOL 2 hours of bad traffic. Not quite. He just showed up when he wanted. I didn't see him that night as I had other plans later but the experience is pretty typical. When I make appointments there for my hotel, I assume that it could be up to an hour late so I plan for it. It is not just the sauna boys. The business meetings I have there are sometimes the same always with apologies and excuses.

 

My best friend on earth is a Brazilian lady and she is the only one I know who is as punctual as me for appointments. But, all her friends that are from Brazil are just the same, late. Always.

 

I think that I just grew up with a different mindset and have learned to get accustomed to the lateness over time. On my first dates in NYC if someone was 15 minutes late, I was off to do something else. No one understood that. It took me years to understand them.

 

I have a boy that I really like that is now living with me. We met a few years ago and I took him from a doorman in Sunee. I took him to play snooker for a few hours and fell for him and told him I would pick him up the next day at the same time. When I got there, he was not there. Nor the next or the next. I asked and they said he didn't actually work the bar that he was just sitting on a motorcycle in front of it with a friend. When I did see him he wanted to get together and I told him we had an appointment and he blew it and to have a good life. He was so hot it killed me. That was 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Now, last month I was sitting in a bar when this drop dead gorgeous kid came in. Dressed like a million bucks, a face of an angel and a great personality with a great command of the English language. He was just in the bar to see his friend who was a ladyboy waitress. I called him over and we had drinks and chatted and I told him I wanted him to go with me. He agreed and we worked out the details for the night. He came back and it was amazing sex. I instantly told him I wanted to see him more and to spend a week with me. He said OK and that he would go and get his clothes and be back at 5PM that night. I said OK and he said, "this time, I won't be late." Stunned, I asked what he meant and he told me the story from years gone by when I met him for a night of snooker and no sex and wanted to off him. He said his mother was sick in Bangkok and he went to see her. I guess I have heard so many tales over the years that I didn't know whether or not to believe it. So our time was wasted. Now he is a strapping young man of 24 still with the face of an angel and still wonderful. If I had not been so struck on time and meetings, I would have had 3 wonderful years with the lad. Now, he is back with me again and I'll see how far we are able to take it. To date, he has not been late once. And, if he was, I am sure I would not be as harsh as the first time.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

A friend here told me of a workman who was supposed to do some work for him. He didn't turn up until 2 weeks later. When my friend said "You were supposed to be here 2 weeks ago." His amazed reply was, "I am here now." Go figure!!!

[Gaybutton]

His amazed reply was, "I am here now." Go figure!!!

 

I've heard stories similar to that. I even heard a story from a friend that he was once on a bus from Pattaya to Bangkok when the driver decided, without a word to anyone, to pull the bus over to a small roadside restaurant, exit the bus, and sit down and have lunch for about a half hour.

 

A hotel owner told me a story about a maintenance worker under his employ who suddenly stopped showing up for work. Again, not a word to anyone. After the third day he hired a new maintenance worker. About two weeks later he arrived at the hotel in the morning, and there was the original worker, the one who had disappeared. He asked, "What are you doing here?"

 

The worker simply said good morning.

 

The hotel owner said, "Where have you been?"

 

"I go on holiday."

 

"Oh really?" asked the hotel owner. "You never said anything to me or anyone else about going on a holiday. Your holiday just became a lot longer than you thought."

 

The maintenance worker was absolutely astonished. He couldn't understand at all why he was being fired or for what possible reason the hotel would have hired someone in his place. By his mode of thinking, he had done nothing wrong.

[Guest buaseng]

That's it: RULE WITH AN IRON HAND.

But of course! As the old adage says "he who pays the piper calls the tune"

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

But of course! As the old adage says "he who pays the piper calls the tune"

 

 

Figures!!

[Guest shockdevil]

...To date, he has not been late once. And, if he was, I am sure I would not be as harsh as the first time.

 

GT, I do love reading about your adventures.