Innocent mistakes

We all make mistakes.  There are bound to be problems when living in a foreign country.  Yesterday, I discovered it can even happen when taking attendance.

First I should begin by telling you 95% of Thai children have a nick name. Most are given to them by their parents, but occasionally the child makes changes to it.  It is not unusual to have multiple Win's and Best's in a classroom.  Rather can be amusing to me  to call out Poo, Poo Poo, or Pee in front of a class and see a child eagerly raising their hand.  To the student and parents it is just a name (A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet), the connotation is just a coincidence.  There are however a few students with the name of Fluke that make you wonder.  This however is not the point of the story.

I was innocently taking attendance in one of the grade 4 classes.  Normally I have them raise their hand, smile and wave to me but yesterday I was in a hurry.  Instead, I asked them to call out "here" when they heard their name.  There was some chattering about my request which is not unusual.  I began...

"Pint" I called.  "Here" he responded with a chorus of laughter.  I stopped.  Once again the laughter is not unusual.  It is common for Thai people to laugh after they have spoken English, especially to someone like me.  I waited for the students to settle down before continuing.

"Phan."  "Here" replied the student, again through tumultuous laughter.  I waited again and gave a comment about attendance being a task not a joke.  I continued but always to the same result.  Some students were unwilling to respond here and instead wished only to raise their hands, but I was determined to have this procedure work.  I ignored the laughter until at last a student spoke.  He informed me "here" is a "bad word" in Thai.  I smirked and chuckled to myself.  Finally I understood the laughter.  My attempts to discover the true meaning of the word were in vain and I quickly asked the students to call out present.  Some of the students did this, others did not.

Finally I asked a friend for the true meaning behind the words, although I could already guess.  She explained to me although the word itself is not bad, when said as an exclamation it is loosely translated to a great big FU.

Eduardo?

Here!