Some (Thai) linguistic guessing that paid off.

So, in the (Thai) language, if you say stuff like an everyday greeting, you add something on the end, that’s one word if you are a man who’s speaking, and another word if you’re a woman who’s speaking.

So, a few weeks after they taught me this, when I came into the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now, I asked my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker, “So, if a ladyboy says hello, do they use the male word, the female word, or do they have a different word?”

And, at that my one (older) (Thai) coworker who’s a whiz at the phones just started smiling broadly and my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker started laughing, and she said it’s a different word, and when she said “hello” that way, she ended with this new word, in a really, really sassy gay pronunciation.

“Like that,” she said.

And, when we both ended up closing that night, we said good night that way, too, to each other.