Practice: Thai slang
What you will be able to do
Follow informal Thai in a chat, a lunch and a bar, know which words are warm, which are friends-only and which to recognise and never say.
A word's register is where it lives: งง is safe everywhere, แซ่บ/ปัง/ชิลๆ are warm slang, ว่าไง needs a particle, and แม่ง/เหี้ย/ควย you hear and never say.
งง (ngong) means…
งง (ngong) — confused; my brain has stopped. Completely neutral, safe with your boss, landlord and immigration officer. งงมาก — totally lost.
ว่าไง (what's up) — aimed bare at a stranger or someone older, it is…
ว่าไง goes sideways or downwards. Bare and aimed upwards — at a stranger, a vendor or anyone older — it is close to rude. With a particle (ว่าไงครับ/ว่าไงคะ) it is ordinary.
แซ่บ about food is safe. About a person…
แซ่บ (sâep) about food is spicy-delicious and safe with anybody. About a person it means “hot” in a frankly leering way — friends only, and not about anyone within earshot.
ปัง (bpang) means…
ปัง (bpang) — stunning; killing it. From the sound of a bang. An outfit, a performance, a photo.
เผือก (literally taro) means…
เผือก (phèuak), literally taro, means nosy. เผือกมาก — so nosy. It teases rather than insults.
เนียน (literally smooth) means…
เนียน (nian), literally smooth of texture, means smooth in the sense of slipping something past you — the person who quietly jumps the queue is เนียน.
โดนเท means…
โดนเท (doon thee) — stood up, ditched. เท is to pour away, โดน marks it as done to you. Of a date or a friend who didn't show.
นก (literally bird) means…
นก (nók), literally bird, means turned down or missed out — mostly asking someone out and being refused, but also tickets or a job that went elsewhere.
เหี้ย (hîa) — the rule is…
เหี้ย (hîa), a water monitor lizard, is a very strong swear. You hear it daily, including affectionately between friends — which misleads learners. It has not softened; a foreigner using it is heard as picking a fight. Recognise it, don't say it.
ฝรั่ง (fà-ràng) means…
ฝรั่ง (fà-ràng) is the ordinary word for a Westerner, and also the word for a guava. Not an insult on its own; the compound ฝรั่งขี้นก is.
555 in Thai chat means…
5 is ห้า (hâa), so a row of fives reads as laughter — more fives, bigger laugh.
น้ำขึ้นให้รีบตัก (scoop when the water rises) means…
น้ำขึ้นให้รีบตัก — when the water rises, hurry and scoop it: strike while the iron is hot. Probably the proverb you will hear most.
จับปลาสองมือ (catching fish with both hands) means…
จับปลาสองมือ — catching fish with both hands: chase two things and you lose both. Said about jobs and about people.
ชิลๆ (chill) — why does it come out “chin”?
From English chill; Thai has no final l, so ชิล comes out chin. Also written ชิว (chiw) and said chiw — both current.
Common mistake
Two mistakes worth naming. Don't use แซ่บ with a person as subject — aimed at someone you just met it is heard as “you're hot”, not “your cooking is good”. And don't conclude from hearing เหี้ย every day that it has softened: it has not, and a foreigner using it is heard as picking a fight.
Next: Thai Slang You Will Actually Hear (ngong, sâep, bpang)