English What Now? is an ongoing series based around the humorous, head-scratching, or just plain amusing English found around Thailand observed and written by Teresa Derr.
Teresa Derr, 134 YinD
One of the most fun things about being in Thailand is, of course, getting to travel around to all the gorgeous temples all around the country. And being the author of this series, of course, I’m on the lookout for where the English is just not quite saying what it’s trying to say. When I visited Wat Tham Suea in Krabi, I loved how hard they were trying with these signs … but sometimes, English just escapes comprehension.
While “The temple is Buddhism’s honorable” is definitely mixing up some nouns and adjectives, I’m still not sure what the sign is trying to say. It also doesn’t help that I hear Zuko from the Last Airbender shouting “My Honor!” when I see this sign.
Also, the dressing neatly rule is a common stipulation at all temples, but it was a challenge at this one, in particular. We had to climb 1,200 stairs to get to the temple, and all the non-Thai tourists were shedding layers every couple hundred of stairs. By the time we reached the top, no one was neatly dressed, unless sweat-plastered, red-faced, and huffing is the new neat fashion!
For whatever reason, this spelling of ‘Ladies’ makes me hear Edna Mode’s voice: “Ledies, darling, we are Ledies. We do not stay longer than 5 p.m. anywhere we go, but especially not on a mountain by ourselves. We are much too in demand for that. And bah! Sleep? Overnight? A Ledie never sleeps, darling, we are superhuman.” Honestly though, I don’t know that anyone should stay on top of the mountain longer than 5 p.m., since we are not allowed to sleep up there. Climbing down those stairs in the dark sounds like a serious hazard risk!
This one has to be read in Yoda’s voice. “Of monkeys, be carefel, you must.” It also sort of reads like we monkeys reading the signs are the ones snal ching stuff, and we have to be careful or we’ll be caught!
This one seems lovely, but has threatening undertones. If you go back? Since you’re not allowed to stay on the mountain overnight, everyone … why wouldn’t you go back? And is there … something specific we need to ask for safety for? Do we need luck in particular to descend the mountain? In all seriousness, this is an example of Thai not quite translating into English very well, what is a blessing and a farewell in Thai sounds ominous in English! Oops!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I just recently visited Wat Rong Khun, or the White Temple, which I think is why all the pop culture references showed up as I was writing this. The White Temple didn’t have any questionable English that I saw, but if you’ve noticed some there or at another Temple, be sure to send it along so I can feature it in another article!
Sticky Rice 
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