Thai Months
ช่วยให้ยาลดลง
(helping the medicine go down)
ยาสระผม and ยาสีฟัน
ยา means drug, medicine, cream, ointment, medical substance, or even product (e.g. for washing up liquid or mosquito coils)
สระ has two meanings, depending on how you pronounce it.
If you say สะ (dropping the ร) then it’s to rinse (and in the context of hair, it’s to wash the hair). It also refers to a pool of body of water like a swimming pool or lake.
ผม literally means “hair”, but is also used as a masculine “I” (probably because people of lower status would always keep their heads lower than people of higher status)
If you pronounce สระ as สะ-ระ (by adding in the bridge/spacer vowel) then it means “vowel”. So สะ-ระ อา means the า vowel.
ยาสระผม is shampoo, but everyone says simply: แชมพู (you’ll see this on shampoo bottles too)!
สี has two meanings also:
1. colour (on its own it’s just colour, but if you specify a colour like สีดำ then it is the colour itself: not “black colour” but just “black”)
By association, its also means to paint (a colour) onto something. สีบ้าน “to paint the house”
2. When it’s part of a compound word, it means to rub or scrape, so the most obvious one would be โรงสี which is a structure that rubs things (a mill).
Together with ขัด (“go against something”), it means to scour or scrub (ขัดสี)
And of course ยาสีฟัน is a substance [to aid in the] rubbing of teeth (toothpaste).
A แปรงสีฟัน is a brush for rubbing teeth (toothbrush).
Now, here are some interesting idiomatic expressions:
เสียดสี is to pierce/scrape (เสียด is to pierce or thrust into something, like a needle into your skin) – and the idiomatic meaning is to
be sarcastic or satirical (more the latter than the former).
ป้ายสี literally means to scrape a sign, but it’s used idiomatically to slander someone.
Finally สีลม means a windmill, and I can’t figure out why (scrape the wind?)
Thai Months
This is part of a series of how to remember essential vocabulary “in Thai”.
The months are particularly difficult, primarily because they are not really Thai words – they usually have something to do with the Zodiac or originating from Sanskrit.
Nevertheless, at some point, it is worth learning the names of the months. Start by learning the current month and the one following, so that you can at least talk about today’s date and a date in the next month.
Or you could cheat and simply say เดือนนี้ (for this month) and เดือนหน้า (for next month).
Here’s how to remember the months in Thai:
| Month | Hint |
|---|---|
| January | Macaroni |
| February | Oom Paa Paa |
| March | Meaner |
| April | Messiah |
| May | Pretty Party |
| June | Meat ‘n Tuna sandwiches |
| July | 4th of July fireworks |
| August | Leo the Singer |
| September | Hunting season, get out yer guns |
| October | OktoberFest Too Laa Laa |
| November | Dance a Pretty Jig |
| December | A Ton of Xmas presents |
January is MOCKARAA-COM มกราคม
After the expensive month of Christmas presents and New Year partying, all one can usually afford to eat in January is MACARONI.
(The -com or -yon endings refer to whether the month as 31 or 30 days respectively, so it’s not something one needs to put any effort into remembering.)
Okay, so this mnemonic is a bit imprecise I admit. But I chose this to illustrate a point: even a convoluted suggestion is usually enough to help you remember something… if it’s bizarre enough!
See if you still remember this tomorrow and next week…
As I said, you might not get “mockaraa-com” precisely. It might have been better to try a mnemonic involving “mocha” (e.g. my New Year’s Resolution is to reduce my caffeine intake by drinking mocha instead of coffee).
 |
Important: Pronounce “ck” the same way as the “k” in “sky” – the air is kept inside your mouth, not expelled as a puff.
The word for January consists of two syllables: มก and รา. The first syllable has the invisible vowel “o” (“mock”). It’s difficult for Thais to run these two syllables together, so they add the spacer sound “a” as a bridge. That’s why you get “mock-a-raa” (and not “mokraa”). |
 |
Can you read the modern fonts? I cover these in the workshop, but I can also send you a handout that shows you how to do it easily.
3 มกรา มาดู proud ขวัญเวียง … ฟรี 3 Jan come look … khwanwiyang … free! ขวัญเวียง is just the name of the moobaan, but it’s an interesting name. ขวัญ means “the spirit inside you” (possibly the same as “soul”?). So ของขวัญ is a (nice) thing for your soul, or a “gift”. เวียง means a walled city, like the old city in Chiang Mai. And a moobaan is, after all, a private, protected area for your soul (or peace-of-mind). Nice name…! |
February is KOOMPAA-PUN กุมภาพันธ์
For the guys: Why not take your beautiful, delicate new Thai girlfriend to a romantic Valentine Day’s meal at the German Sausage & Beer Restaurant, where you will find an Oom Pa Paa band!?
For the girls: The ideal place to take your fellow on Valentine’s Day is to the German Sausage & Beer Restaurant with the jolly Oom Pa Paa band!
(กุมภา “koompaa” is February, the พันธ์ “-pun” ending = obligation/to unite/to connect, probably refers to the fact that it’s a non-standard 28-day month.)
You might not remember the word “koompa-pun” itself all that accurately at first. That’s okay. Thinking of Valentine’s Day, which is in February, and the Oom Pa Paa band will be enough of a trigger. After a few attempts, you’ll easily be able to get from “oom pa paa” to “koompaa-pun”.
 |
Can you read the modern fonts? I cover these in the workshop, but I can also send you a handout that shows you how to do it easily.
กุมภาพันธ์ Peter was in a Thai TV series and became a popular singer for a short while. “February” was the theme song. |
March is MEENA-COM มีนาคม
St Patrick’s Day is in March. The story of his life is fascinating. He had a pretty mean life, captured by pirates and enslaved for six years. He was also a bit of a mean fighting man, railing against druids, idols and kings. Many fellow Christians were quite hostile towards him also. But he baptised thousands of people and ordained priests and introduced the shamrock (three-leafed plant) to describe the concept of the Holy Trinity… not to mention banishing all snakes from Ireland.
 |
ฤกษ์ดี วันดี เดือน มีนาคม Auspicious days and times in March. |
April is MESAA-YON เมษายน
This is an easy one! It’s the month of the Messiah of course!
We celebrate Passover (the last supper of Jesus) and Easter (the resurrection) in April. 
 |
โชคดี อีสเตอร์นี้ 500 รับ ฟรี Good luck this Easter |
 |
อัพเดท แพทช์ ต้อนรับ เทศกาล อืสเตอร์ Update patch |
May is PREUTSAPAA-COM พฤษภาคม
May is a bit difficult to read and remember. The first part sounds a bit like “preuss”, a prissy little girl. the second part is the start of “party”.
So in May, there is lots of time off starting with labor day and it’s the start of summer, so a good time to go out an have picnics in your bikinis – a pretty party amongst the flowers and eye candy (for the guys as well as the girls: the girls should be stripping down to their bikinis or flimsy underwear and the guys should all be shirtless at the very least, coz it’s so hot).
 |
เนื้อคู่คนเกิด เดือนพฤษภาคม [Your] soulmate [for] people born in May… เนื้อคู่ (“flesh/body pair/couple”, or soulmate) [a horoscope reading] |
|
|
|
 |
สุขสันต์วันแรงงาน
Happy Labour Day สุขสันต์ to be happy/content/joyful แรงงาน labor Note: ค่าแรง is “cost of labor” |
June is MI-TUNA-YON มิถุนายน
It’s a long, hot summer and after the initial partying (in May), we have many picnics in June eating nothing but meat-tuna sandwiches.
 |
สินค้าคุณภาพ ลดสูงสุด 70% quality goods (Please email me if you’d like the handout on how to recognize modern fonts.) |
July is KARAKADAA-COM กรกฎาคม
Americans celebrate the 4th of July in a big way with huge fireworks.
The biggest firecracker yet is the Krakatoa volcano!
(Note. All four consonants กรกฎ K-R-K-D are fused together and are completely unpronouncable. So just add in the spacer “a” sound in-between each one.)
 |
1 กรกฎาคม วันดรวจเอชไอวี 1 July HIV Examination Day Click on the image ฟรี Free AIDS Advice Hotline (น. = นาฬิกา) clock, watch, “H00” military hour Institute for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Sexually Transmitted Diseases |
|
|
|
August is SING-HAA-COM สิงหาคม
The Lion King is a great musical. The Lion King is a great singer. Leos are born in August (mostly)!
If that doesn’t work for you, how about…
Pavarotti was such a great singer that he always sang in distinguished and august company!
 |
หกสิงหา 6 August Click on the image to watch the teaser music video in Thai. เพราะรักแท้มีจริง Because true love has but an uncertain age… |
September is กันยายน GUN (rhymes with “gun”) – YAA – YON
This means “the maiden (Virgo)” and comes from the Sanskrit word aṅganā, meaning woman or female animal.
I’m afraid the way to remember this month is a bit contrived, but it’s the best I could come up with after months of thinking about it. And it kind of works for me:
It’s autumn/fall, the start of a new season, in fact it’s hunting season! So you can get out your gun – yaah! – and start shootin’…
 |
เปิดที่ทำการไปรษณีย์ จังหวัดบึงกาฬ 1 กันยายน 2554 Opening of Buengkan Post office 9 Sep 2010 ที่ทำการ – office (place of doing work or operations) Buengkan is a brand new province, in the most far-flung corner of Isaan, established in 2010. It’s claim to fame is an isolated sandstone temple (Wat Phu Tok) and a marshy lake where aquatic birds breed. BTW, please let me know if you’d like my handout on how to decipher the Thai numbers… |
October is ตุลาคม TULAA – COM
ตุลา means “justice” or “Libra” in the zodiac.
At the OktoberFest, everyone sings “Too La Laa, Too La Laa” while enjoying (lots of) mugs of beer.
 |
ฤกษ์ดี จัดงานแต่งงาน เดือนตุลาคม ๒๕๕๗
Auspicious wedding planner for October 2558 ฤกษ์ – auspicious Please let me know if you’d like my handout on how to decipher the Thai numbers… |
November is พฤศจิกายน PREUTS-A-CHIKAA – YON
พฤศจิก means “Scorpio” in the zodiac. (แมงป่อง is a “scorpion”, bug-protrusion.)
It’s getting on for the (relatively) cold season in Thailand. So the scantily-dressed whores in the beer bars and the girls in the street dance a pretty jig to keep warm.
 |
เปิดเรือนเยือนจุฬาฯ Open Visit-House Chula (For) additional information… |
December is ธันวาคม TON WAA – COM
It’s Christmas and we usually get a ton of presents, wow!
 |
วันพ่อแห่งชาติ วันที่ ๕ ธันวาคม National Father’s Day
ทรงพระเจริญ May the King Prosper ทรงพระ king (royal monk) Remember that ทร is “steam train”. เจริญ prosper
Note that จร is fused, with the “dirty” vowel combination… Also don’t forget that ญ is “yacht at night” |