kokopelli Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Perhaps those of you who are familiar with Thai can answer this. Not far from my home in USA there is a house, on a rural road, with a large sign at driveway entrance which features a large flower surrounded by Thai and English characters including a date of 1968. The English words are Som Tom and I assume the Thai script means the same. I believe the owners chose Som Tom as the name of their estate but what does it mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Heck, "somtom" or "somtam (with the "tam" sounding like "tom") is how most Thais would spell in English the infamous "somtam" salad, famous all over Thailand but essentially one of the basic food groups in Isaan. I'd guess that's the simple answer as to why the owners chose that name. In Thai, it's spelled "สมตำ" and refers only to the infamous Thai pounded salad made with green (not so ripe) papaya. ChristianPFC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokopelli Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Thanks Bob; Next time I will try to read the Thai script.. 55555 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristianPFC Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 A picture would help (for the Thai script). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llz Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 The thai script on the sign should have an accent ( -้ ) on the first letter, making the sound falling instead of rising : so it should write ส้มตำ Not willing to be pedantic but mastering the tones correctly is a must when learning thai language ChristianPFC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokopelli Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Next time will try to bring a camera and take a pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Whoops....sorry for missing the "mai toh" (tone mark) over the first letter. Didn't notice it before. Yes, it's wise to pay attention to the tones (and tone marks) although very often even Thais don't pronounce them very well until near the end of a sentence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
