• OPINION

  Will Si Quey rest?

  Life, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 27/07/2020

  » I grew up hearing adults use Si Quey as a boogeyman whenever I misbehaved.

• OPINION

  Thailand's kookiest competitions

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 22/07/2022

  » Every country has its own share of kooky competitions, and that's also true for Thailand. From the search for a Guanyin avatar to the Peta-would-surely-disapprove swimming competition, here are a few for your entertainment.

• OPINION

  Thai Conversation Starters That Should Be Cancelled

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 04/02/2022

  » At the risk of sounding like a social justice warrior and woke snowflake, I find various casual lines in Thai conversation to be problematic. They may sound innocent upon first hearing but if you really dissect them you may find them to be verbal putdown focused on perceived flaws and laced with micro-aggressions. Think I may be overreacting? Check them out below and reasons why I think they are offensive. Most importantly, I have also come up with sassy retorts for your entertainment.

• OPINION

  Thai Words of the Year

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 03/12/2021

  » Collins Dictionary recently picked NFT, or non-fungible tokens, as 2021's Word of the Year and it got my language pedant self thinking two things. First, isn't NFT an acronym and hence it should be "acronym of the year" or two words of the year if we want to be that anal-retentive. Second, why don't I give the same treatment to the Thai language for your edutainment? Here's my personal pick of TWOTY.

• OPINION

  More Ways to Help

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 23/07/2021

  » There are many ways to help people who've been affected by the current surge of Covid-19. While providing free meals and donating to hospitals and organisations are among the firsts that come to mind, there are other ways that you may not be aware of. Here are a few.

• OPINION

  Lost in Translation

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 25/06/2021

  » At the risk of sounding nostalgic, I enjoy Googling things from decades gone by (exhibit A: Thai vintage ads in my past editor's notes). The Thai language version of famous Hollywood movie posters is another blast from the past I think is highly underrated, especially if you're a language nerd/film buff. Back then movie posters had to be recreated by Thai artists, who hand-painted them, along with creative copywriters, who came up with catchy titles and taglines in Thai.

• OPINION

  Political Art Toys

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 30/07/2021

  » The frustration against the status quo can be expressed in several ways. If you're a hip-hop artist, you can rap and rhyme about it in a viral music video. If you no longer give a damn, you can put a certain uncle on blast in your Facebook post and mention his official page (you know who you are). Even if you're just a bystander, you can't dodge political illustrations and memes on your newsfeed.

• OPINION

  Cool It With Virtue Signalling

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 15/10/2021

  » The uber-popular South Korean series Squid Game on Netflix got free publicity earlier this week when a spokesman for Thai police spoke out against it.

• OPINION

  Cheesy Thai Pick-up Lines

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 12/02/2021

  » Love is in the air (or at least your newsfeed is bombarded with St Valentine's Day promos) as the day of love -- which isn't exclusively romantic in some countries -- is just around the corner. If you haven't found a Valentine as yet, I, as your virtual wingman, have gathered a few of the most amusing/cheesy Thai pick-up lines that have been floating around on the internet to hopefully speed things up for you. If you're already taken or happily single (and there's nothing wrong about choosing to stay single), here's entertainment!

• OPINION

  How to Name Your Car Like You're One of the 0.1%

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 19/02/2021

  » The 0.1% of Thais (not 1% 'cause Thailand has the highest wealth inequality in the world, you see) may rejoice at the recent news that soon you can pay an extra fee to give your vehicle a real name on a licence plate instead of the two-alphabets-and-numerals combo the 99.9% are familiar with. The new rules will allow a combination of more than two alphabets, vowels, tone marks and numbers in a vehicle registration plate for a personal car with no more than seven seats. In short, you can name your car after you or give it a person's name. For example, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha can name his "ประยุทธ์ 2 กรุงเทพมหานคร (Prayut 2 Bangkok)" to commemorate his second term. The plan is expected to be implemented around the middle of this year and you can bid for such a plate with starting price of B1 million. Money raised this way will be spent to improve road safety.

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