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Chapter 10 Sexy (or Not), Thai Sytle
Excerpt

Sex appeal
rEEng dueng dùut thaang phêet (informal, n.) แรงดึงดูดทางเพศ (ปาก, น.)
mii sà-nèe (adj.) มีเสน่ห์ (ว.)

The direct Thai phrase for “sex appeal” looks like a clunky translation: rEEng dueng dùut thaang phêet. Judging by its length, you don’t have to read one word of Thai to see how anti-sexy it looks—the difference between the English expression and the Thai counterpart is like the difference between a pair of four-inch heels and a pair of Birkenstock. So, you won’t be surprised to learn that Thais don’t use this phrase outside of a sexual health conference or a sex therapy clinic (I wonder if there are such clinics in Thailand).

Ordinary Thais use the term sà-nèe for sex appeal. The word sà-nèe has its root in Sanskrit and Pali and its original meaning was “love.” (Now, this is more like it.) Over centuries of its service in the Thai language, the meaning of sà-nèe has transformed and it now means many things from “charm” and “charisma” to “popularity” to (sexual) “allure.” Although its meaning has shifted focus to the sex and desire side of romance, sà-nèe still has a lot to do with love. For instance, one expression for feeling attraction or falling in love is long sà-nèe—that is, “to be lost in charm, allure, or love of another.” When a man or a woman is gifted with this kind of (sexual, romantic) allure, he or she is described in Thai as mii sà-nèe.

Appetizingly, crushingly sexy
sék sîi (informal, adj.) เซ็กซี่ (ปาก, ว.)
yûua yuuan (jai) (v.) ยั่วยวน(ใจ) (ก.)
ráaw jai (v.) เร้าใจ (ก.)
khà-yîi hua jai (slang., v.) ขยี้หัวใจ (แสลง, ก.)
sék (informal, adj.) เซ็กส์ (ปาก, ว.)

The English word “sexy” (sék sîi) has a firm place in the Thai lexicon. Of course, there are also original Thai terms for “sexy.” Among them are yûua yuuan (“seductive”), yûua yuuan jai (“seductive to the heart”), and ráaw jai (“titillating”). A body that sexually entices and titillates is hùn ráaw jai or hùn yûua yuuan jai. When a body is so crushingly hot and titillating, it calls for a more dramatic slang expression: khà-yîi hua jai—a “heart-crushingly sexy” body.

A man or a woman who is highly sexually appealing is simply called sék, from the English “sex,” as in having a very strong sex appeal. This is obviously a new youthful slang expression,

Slutty cute or cute little slut
Ép bÉEw (slang, adj.) แอ๊บแบ๊ว (แสลง, ว.)

The slang term Ép bÉEw is a recent teen phrase that rose to stardom in 2007 and landed, with much fanfare, in a new, official dictionary of Thai slang terms. Ép bÉEw is “cute and sexy.” This is the Japanese doll type: cute, underage-looking, and a mini slut—an Asian Lolita. Most picture profiles of young Thai girls on the Internet now project (or try very hard to project) the Ép bÉEw look—large, rounded eyes; pouting lips on an innocent face that broadcasts a “come and find out whether I’m really that innocent” kind of message.

Buxom bombshell
em (slang, adj.) อึ๋ม/อึ๋มส์ (แสลง, ว.)
sà-buem (slang, adj.) สบึม/สบึมส์ (แสลง, ว.)
à-ráa à-ràam (v.) อะร้าอร่าม (ก.)
tûum (slang, adj.) ตู้ม/ตู้มๆ (แสลง, ว.)
òk phuu-khw fai (slang, n.) อกภูเขาไฟ (แสลง,น.)

These terms are modern and explosive, entirely different from the delicate analogies from the past. When the breasts are generously proportioned, they belong to an entirely different class—the “buxom bombshell” class of uem, sà-buem and à-ráa à-ràam. In this class, em is probably the least ample, if only by comparison. By any other standard it is still a pair of “big tits” or “ample knockers.” As for sà-buem and à-ráa à-ràam, think Pamela Anderson and there you have the perfect description.

An even newer slang word, tûum, is used among young people to refer to women with generously-sized breasts (the word gives an image of something large and round). Generous size is good, usually, for breasts. But too generous is not so good, in which case the term òk phuu-khw fai (“explosive volcano”) is fitting.

Chopstick, impaled corpse stick
hùn tà-kìiap (idiom, adj.) หุ่นตะเกียบ (สำ, ว.)
máay sìiap phi (idiom, n.) ไม้เสียบผี (สำ, น.)
phOm kà-rÒOng (adj.) ผอมกะหร่อง (ว.)
kà-rÒOng thêet (slang, adj.) กะหร่องเทศ (แสลง, ว.)

A “dried shrimp” is a typical Thai expression for a skinny woman or man. There are also other terms that describe unsexy skinniness. What English speakers call “skinny as a beanpole,” is to Thais hùn tà-kìiap, literally the “shape of a chopstick.” Another expression is Gothic-scary: máay sìiap phi. This is a stick used to impale corpses in ancient times, giving too graphically clear an image of a skeletal man or woman that would kill any sexual desire in an instant. A less graphically gruesome description of such “sickly skinniness” is
phOm kà-rÒOng, or alternatively kà-rÒOng thêet.

[Read more in the book.]

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