2 hours ago, Londoner said:

I loved my single-travel in northern Thailand before I met  P but I'd have loved to have been able to speak with the locals. So limited was my Thai (it's even worse now) that I couldn't  even explain to a shopkeeper on the way up to Doi Inthanon that I desperately (really desperately) needed a ching-chong. My physical actions to describe the agony I was in would have caused my arrest in Bangkok.

? You desperately needed an ethnic slur used to mock or imitate the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese? If that phrase has another meaning, Google isn't admitting to it, to me at least.

I don't believe it was Londoner's intent to mock or slur any people or their language. If anything, he was acknowledging his inability to acquire foreign language and how it affected his attempt to communicate. .

4 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

? You desperately needed an ethnic slur used to mock or imitate the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese? If that phrase has another meaning, Google isn't admitting to it, to me at least.

Ching Chong is an informal Thai term for urinating/taking a pee

http://www.thai-language.com/id/141748

5 hours ago, reader said:

I don't believe it was Londoner's intent to mock or slur any people or their language. If anything, he was acknowledging his inability to acquire foreign language and how it affected his attempt to communicate. .

Indeed. Weird to think otherwise.  Perhaps thaiophilus should read the message again. 

7 hours ago, colmx said:

Ching Chong is an informal Thai term for urinating/taking a pee

http://www.thai-language.com/id/141748

I had no idea about that 😂

I recommend "Thai for Gay Tourists" by Saksit Pakdeesiam (Paiboon Publishing).  A few Thai Gay phrases will impress the average go go dancer enormously.  Some may be out of date now....such things have a limited shelf-life. And I'm told that some are not for polite society. 

"Ching-chong" is the term that a little boy would use when speaking to  Mama. Our "pee" as Colmx points out. Harmless.

 

15 hours ago, reader said:

I don't believe it was Londoner's intent to mock or slur any people or their language. If anything, he was acknowledging his inability to acquire foreign language and how it affected his attempt to communicate. .

I don't either, and I apologise to Londoner if that's how it was interpreted.

I asked the question exactly because the obvious interpretation made no sense but I wasn't aware of an alternative meaning.

10 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Indeed. Weird to think otherwise.  Perhaps thaiophilus should read the message again. 

Perhaps you should read my message again and note that it begins and ends with question marks. It was a request for enlightenment, not an assertion.

17 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

? You desperately needed an ethnic slur used to mock or imitate the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese?

 

33 minutes ago, thaiophilus said:

I don't either, and I apologise to Londoner if that's how it was interpreted.

I asked the question exactly because the obvious interpretation made no sense but I wasn't aware of an alternative meaning.

Perhaps you should read my message again and note that it begins and ends with question marks. It was a request for enlightenment, not an assertion.

Yeah, it seems like you were calling him an assh*le...... Take it from me, I get called that a lot.....it's usually just my sarcasm or dry humor though.

4 hours ago, Londoner said:

I recommend "Thai for Gay Tourists" by Saksit Pakdeesiam (Paiboon Publishing).  A few Thai Gay phrases will impress the average go go dancer enormously.  Some may be out of date now....such things have a limited shelf-life. And I'm told that some are not for polite society. 

"Ching-chong" is the term that a little boy would use when speaking to  Mama. Our "pee" as Colmx points out. Harmless.

 

Oddly,  I just started reading that very book today, although I was well aware of Ching-chong which I learned on my first visit to Thailand some 20 years ago.

7 hours ago, kokopelli3 said:

Oddly,  I just started reading that very book today, although I was well aware of Ching-chong which I learned on my first visit to Thailand some 20 years ago.

If we are to pursue this topic, it would be amusing to note other Thai words or derivatives which falang visitors discover early on in their associations with Thailand. Here's a few;

Mamasan, khatoey,  aroi-na, baht-bus, check-bin, bir-sing, mau. And sawatdee-khrap, of course.

 

Kee- moo, kee- née-ow, Pom poy, koiyai= the one I liked being called.

Anyone speak Thinglish with his boyfriend? P hates me speaking Thai. And it has to be admitted that I'm pretty bad at it when I try. In fact, I no longer dare to. However, over the years we have developed our own version of Thinglish. The embarrassing thing is I that when I arrive back home, I find myself still speaking it!

1 hour ago, Londoner said:

Anyone speak Thinglish with his boyfriend? P hates me speaking Thai. And it has to be admitted that I'm pretty bad at it when I try. In fact, I no longer dare to. However, over the years we have developed our own version of Thinglish. The embarrassing thing is I that when I arrive back home, I find myself still speaking it!

Exactly that, I find myself saying 'same same' and 'up to you' etc etc in conversation back home without thinking about it.

I also find rudimentary and improvised sign language helpful.  Thais often find it amusing, but at the sane time also get what I mean.

Yes...."same same"!

 

I haven't tried this in Thailand but in other countries I visited alone - there are apps where you can meet locals to spend time and show you around. A couple apps I know:

- WithLocals

- ShowAround

Some offer their time for free while others charge an hourly rate.

In my case, catching up with mates back home and creating new connections with locals and navigating a city with that new perspective helps with travel boredom/exhaustion/ loneliness.