I’m sure we’ve all seen busted English now and then, but it’s pretty hard to beat this one with such classics as “Penetrate the roasting chicken,” “Penetrate whole porker heck,” and “Penetrate pig gunwales.” Wow. I still say you should learn to read Thai, but you can enjoy this menu even without it.
The word
ตำ, which you probably know from
ส้มตำ (the “tam” in som tam for you non-readers) in the case of papaya salad is more like “to pound.” But it can also mean something sharp stabbing, poking or piercing.
Thai Definition:
อาการที่มีสิ่งลักษณะแหลมๆ
เช่น
หนาม
ทิ่มเข้าไป
Terrible Thai Translations
- Penetration
The “mix” here is coming from ยำ which is the word used for those spicy salad-y Thai dishes and I’ve always assumed (but don’t actually know for sure) that it came from ขยำ and likely has roots in Khmer. I’ve encountered the word ขยำ a handful of time, but in 10 years I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard anyone using ยำ as a verb meaning to mix despite what a dictionary may tell you. ขยำ has a feeling that is very similar to the way we say “toss” as in “a tossed salad.” That action of mixing up stuff in a grabby kind of way. An entry-level mnemonic for ยำ is that they are the yummy Thai salads. I wouldn’t waste time or energy trying to learn the ขยำ word unless you encounter it again elsewhere and as far as I’m concerned, ยำ does not mean “to mix” in any useful sense.
Terrible Thai Translations
- Mix
Hello Mr. White guy,
thanks for the nice eMails.
My problem, I’m from USA, but English is my 3rd language I had to learn. Born in Poland, going to Israel at age of 7. At 16 my sister in Ft. Lauderdale send money for air ticket, my brother bought, (I found later) a one way ticket. So I was Shanghaied to live in USA. What would U use for Shanghaied to US?
I’m now 73 so the learning cells a bit rusty.
I send U the web: wopg.org (non gvt. agency registered in Amsterdam, world wide to promote the message of Peace. Not the one of the absence of war, but the Peace that is already with in all human beings since birth…..Good stuff, please check it out. It’s always free…..
We used to think that Japanese instructions in indecipherable English on how to assemble or use their products were the worst–& always gave a few laughs. Any of us, in our own native language, occasionally produce amusing garbled sentences. (See Richard Lederer’s “Anguished English”.) Even in Hawaii we have some odd terms, such as “Exquisite Foods” (small grocery) & “Superette” (grocery). The Japanese seem to have improved from those early imports after WW II. I haven’t found their awkward equal on Thai products, as here in the U.S. the restaurant menus seem to have been carefully edited & end up clear, at least as far as describing foods. Unknown dishes & seasonings, of course, cannot really be described; they just have to be tried.
For Mr. Henry Wyman, age “73”, learning a new language is recommended as one of the best ways to prevent brain cells from getting “rusty”. I’ll be 84 later this month & I’m taking 2 creative writing classes & 1 autobiography writing class—& I also enjoy copyediting for apx. 10 of the classes’ members. I recently discontinued taking photography, but I still speak the language with some former classmates—& I found some fine photos on the monthly issue of the ThaiVisa website.
That’s a shame that there aren’t many great menu mistakes there. You can certainly find them all the time in Thailand.
And Henry is right, but not just languages. I think continuing to learn anything keeps you sharp. There’s no time to learn everything, but might as well take in as much of the stuff you enjoy as you can.
Don’t have a pic, but saw on a menu as a choice of preparation for meats and fish as ‘burned’. I think they meant bbq’d?
I worked in Thailand with a person who was fluent in Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and a smattering of Thai Burmese Lao and Malay. English was next, so frequently used a thesaurus to write articles which I then edited. Couldn’t understand when I suggested that it is not appropriate to send ‘renovated’ best wishes although it is given as a similar word for renewed. I want to be able to read Thai in Thai as I think it will be better than trying to translate what may not be translatable.
I love it when I find these kind of menus in South East Asia.
Keep up the good work!!