Linguist, lexicographer, radio host, public speaker

Mafia, Seven, and Bank: English nicknames in Thailand

In Thai Cultural Battle, Name-Calling Is Encouraged. “Korakoad Wongsinchai, an English teacher at a private primary school in Bangkok, is also not sure whether the Culture Ministry’s campaign will stem the tide of English names.…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.”

As a chaser, try this disjointed piece on youth slang in Thailand.

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Grant Barrett