Introduction to Tinglish

Tinglish (also Thenglish , Thailish or Thainglish ) is the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. Differences from native English include incorrect pronunciation, wrong word choices, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes.

Welcome to the first edition of Tinglish, according to yours truly. Before I launch into my pictorial of Tinglish from the past week, I have to explain the meaning of 'same same' or what I understand of it so far. 'Same same' is a really popular phrase here, usually popped in there to describe when something isn't exactly perfect or exactly what you wanted, but preeeeeetty much close enough. Most of the time, you should smile and accept it. Like the coke vs. pepsi obsession americans have? You should probably just get over it, because if you order a coke, you might just be given a pepsi. Or vice versa, because the rest of the world pretty much feels they are close enough alike. So don't be a bad farang. Just drink what they give you, because really, it IS same same. Just different.

So if you were rude enough to point out grammatical errors here, you'd sound pretty foolish. Because if you get the point being made, what's the problem? Same same.

I could be wrong, and will be sure to let you know, the longer we are here. But this is what I understand so far:

 KEEP in mind, you sex tourists!! You're not welcome here, and we hereby discharge you.

Oh, and No Foods Up. Got it? You get the point, so that's all that matters. Same same.

This one time, my belongings totally attacked me.

No? same same.

So there's a slight typo on our awning. I hope you are smart enough to figure out this is a chinese restaurant (not chiness) from the decor anyways, why order it fixed? That's costly and takes time, so...

same same.

And this one is not at all Tinglish, but just something that took a while to get used to. There is a hose beside each and every toilet I have visited. And its not for washing yourself (as this picture clarifies for any confused farang). Especially not feet-washing. Got it?

You should also know, paying 2 baht to use the toilet does NOT guarantee the washrooms contain toilet paper. (although they will be marvelously clean!) So carry some with you at all times. But don't flush it-we shall not get into that.