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meadish_sweetball

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Posts posted by meadish_sweetball

  1. กู and มึง are usually used amongst only the closest of piers. And generally only amongst those deemed to be in the lower classes of society. Rael bar girl talk indeed.

    I'll be sure to tell the middle managers of banks and upscale hotels I hear using these words with their close friends that they are deemed to be in the lower classes of society. ;)

    Context is everything, so, to clarify, I have so far not heard anyone use this type of language with a wife or husband, and obviously the academics/office people I talk about would not use that kind of language in a front office work situation.

  2. In spoken Thai, I've registered that displeasure with something being done or happening again is often expressed with the low tone of อีีก heavily emphasized in the low register and somewhat prolonged. Maybe this doubling of sara you have noticed i is how that spoken feature is expressed in Facebook Thai?

  3. Here's a start: Use Google to get the correct scientific (Latin) name for each herb, then check Wikipedia and click on the Chinese or Thai language link for that entry, copy the headline text in Thai and/or Chinese to a separate document and show it to the herbalists.

    Also use Pubmed searches, as Chinese scientists are currently working hard to submit traditional medicine plants to various scientific tests, and these studies tend to contain both the scientific name of the plants as well as the Chinese name.

  4. ^ It could simply be because the Thai pronunciation differs too much from how you say it.

    Print the below text out (straight from Thai Wikipedia) and bring to the pharmacy.

    ไดโคลฟีแนค (อังกฤษ: Diclofenac) เป็นยาประเภท เอ็นเซด (NSAID) มีฤทธิ์ลด การอักเสบ ในโรค ข้ออักเสบ (arthritis) หรือ การบาดเจ็บ ชนิดเฉียบพลัน และสามารถใช้ลดอาการปวด ประจำเดือน


    ชื่อทางการค้า

    ในท้องตลาดมีชื่อทางการค้าดังนี้


    • โวลทาเรน® (Voltaren)
    • โวลทารอล® (Voltarol)
    • คาทาแฟลม® (Cataflam)
  5. most pharmacies have various choices of cod liver oil.

    Often is sweetened and watered down but still a good source of Vit D and DHA

    I don't think you can buy straight Vit D3 in Thailand yet so other than eating fish its a good choice to maintain healthy hormones and manage inflammation

    The natural way of stimulating vitamin D, unless you suffer from skin cancer, is by putting on a pair of shorts and a tank top and getting out into the sun every day at midday, for 10 minutes if you are fair skinned. The UV-B rays in the sunlight stimulate your skin to produce vitamin D from the cholesterol in your body. If you wear shorts and a shirt and spend time out of doors every day, chances are you are already getting enough vitamin D this way. Supplemental vitamin D is mainly for those who spend all their time indoors or live far up in the hemispheres where sun exposure during the winter months is not enough to induce this skin reaction.

    FOR ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients can benefit by taking one cup of hot

    water with two tablespoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon

    powder. When taken daily even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a

    recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found

    that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one

    tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast,

    they found that within a week (out of the 200 people so treated)

    practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain -- and within a

    month, most all the patients who could not walk or move around because

    of arthritis now started walking without pain.

    This appears to be an internet rumour that started in the mid nineties. Real cinnamon and honey are healthy in various ways, but they do not cure arthritis. Mass produced honey brands these days are often no healthier than eating syrup. Also, if you heat up real honey above 40 degrees Celsius, you kill the beneficial enzymes, so pouring honey in your boiling hot tea is a bad idea. Try some other way of ingesting it.

    http://www.arthritisselfmanagement.com/condition/osteoarthritis/cinnamon-and-honey-for-oa-pain/

    Fish oil is a good idea for many reasons (brain health too) but storage and transport is a concern. Just make sure it is not rancid (open a capsule and taste it, if it tastes like fish fat it's fine, if it smells like shrimp shells in the hot sun, it is rancid).

    What Chinese herb(s) was in the tea - do you have a Latin or Thai name?

    Also, fish oil thins out your blood so you should not be taking it if you are on anticoagulant medication like warfarin, and you should give up taking it at least 3 days before surgery to avoid excessive bleeding.

  6. Stick with it Scully, I myself am struggling but when I do put in some time, I can feel the benefits.

    As mentioned before, I am getting bored wandering around not having a clue as to what people are talking about. I am not much of a conversationalist in the first place, so learning Thai is doubly harder for me.....but I'm not going to give up.

    Cheers.

    Learn how the Thais do small talk and then keep doing it until you get over the self-view that you are not much of a conversationalist.

    Eventually, with enough practice of small talk, you will be able to gradually advance to other subjects than where you have been, where you are going, what you have eaten / are/will be eating (and, since you are a foreigner) how long you have been in Thailand, whether you like Thai food, Thai women, whether your country is cold or not, whether it has snow, how long it takes to fly there, if Thai is difficult and the rest.

    If you really want to learn, start by moving outside of the usual tourist/farang places, and make sure you are the one striking up conversations. That way you avoid touts and people who are just looking to get something out of you. I find old people are great to talk to. You can test your pronunciation on kids.

    They have less cultural baggage and ideas about whether they will be able to understand you or not, so you may find it easier to communicate with them as well. If they don't understand you, you know you need to go back to the drawing board and fix something.

    • Like 1
  7. I applaud his enthusiasm; I think his ideas about attitude are great for the initial stages and to get to a level where you can interact OK, especially for people who don't have that extra knack for languages that creates a positive feedback loop and provides a natural drive for those who do have it.

    (Pop psychology of the day: Whenever we feel that we are good at something and get recognition for it, it encourages us to keep going, but when we are part of a setting or situation where it is obvious we are not as skilled as others, we tend to become down about it and maybe lose interest, even though we really would like to learn more.)

    Essentially, perseverance pays - use what you do know to the greatest extent possible and have a friendly and energetic attitude, and don't let yourself get let down if somebody does not want to communicate or is dissing your efforts - you will eventually find people who do want to communicate and are helpful.

    Now, for learning languages very different from your native language and any others you have learned along the way, Thai being one, you need more perseverance, and to learn it properly, there are many aspects that combine to become major hurdles if you do not study at least some theory - this is why I think his attempt at Thai did not work out so well. But, he is having fun and he has learned more basic phrases in more languages than most people know, so why not?

    • Like 1
  8. I don't really blame you for misunderstanding my post, I could have arranged my points better.


    My main point was that the words น้อย and หน่อย aren't the same word, and that หน่อย does not mean 'little, few'*, but น้อย does.

    You are correct that my translation into English was a bit(!) off. Perhaps influenced by Swedish, as we also use a word similar to 'little' as a softener at the end of commands.

    * If you have an example to the contrary where หน่อย is used as a
    standalone word without นิด to mean 'little, few', please share.

    Haha...

    Yes, yes, very droll.

  9. มานี่หน่อย (หน่อย at the end of imperatives has a low tone, when spelt น้อย it means 'few', 'little' [of a quantity]) - come over here for a bit

    สิ in and of itself is not a really a softener in my experience, I'd say in itself it is a neutral imperative marker, but depending on the rest of the circumstances and also on the emphasis (whiny, drawn out, or short and curt, respectively) it can be used both imploringly and sternly.

    • Like 1
  10. I think part of this could be due to Chinese beliefs about 'qi', 'the life force'. According to that belief, cold water depletes 'qi'.


    I've also noticed the Thais keep saying you should not drink cold water when you have a cold - even the doctors.

  11. I got my yoga mat at the sports section of Central Airport Plaza. The price was decent although I can't recall exactly what it was. Anyway, it works well for me, not that I have much to compare with. I'd assume you can find yoga mats in any sports store these days.

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