Last Friday, I had to pick up my TT (Thai Teacher) on the way to the school at a bus stop. Unfortunately for me, the traffic was quite light that day, and I got there early. Her cell phone is broken right now, so I couldn’t call her for translation. It was up to me to convince this taxi driver to wait for her there. The following is an account of the conversation I had with the driver, translated to English of course.
Me: I want a woman here.
The woman is absent.
She is absent.
Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go.
(Points at the clock) Ten, ten.
Do you understand?Driver: A little (plus some other words I didn’t know.)
My TT arrived a few minutes later, and she and the taxi driver started laughing while discussing this conversation. It turns out, the sentence I had used “I want a woman here” has the connotation of “I want a hooker here.” Woops.
This is my second major slip up in Thai. I think I told the story before of how I announced that I had a big penis to several of my female colleagues. If not, I can share it later.
Also on Friday, I had a preschool kid (not in my class) throw-up in my shoes. It was glorious. She had incredible aim. She nailed them both, and managed to keep the floor pretty clean. I was thrilled to say the least.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Great work, Scott. I want to hear the penis story.