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Chapter 3 The Battle between Love and Lust
Excerpt

Fall in the hole of love
tòk lum rák (v.) ตกหลุมรัก (ก.)
long rák (v.) หลงรัก (ก.)

We may have a type or a spec that we prefer in a mate, but Cupid seldom works on spec. The moment of love attraction is rarely scripted (well, perhaps except in India and other places where people arrange marriages, but even then one can’t be forced to love). Love is by nature accidental and arbitrary. We don’t plan to love, but we fall in love. In Thai, people “fall in the hole of love”: tòk lum rák. In the (more vivid) Thai sense, I suppose people can’t really fall out of love, but would have to climb out of the love hole.

Climbing out of this deep love hole will be an arduous affair, but if the space is nice and cozy, you probably will stay put. Another word that shows love is beyond our control is long rák, which has a wider span of meaning, from having a crush on someone, to being in love with, to being head over heels about someone. Literally, long means “to be lost.” So to long rák means “to be lost in love” or to be completely unable (or unwilling) to find a way out of the love hole.

Love-crazed
klâng (v.) คลั่ง (ก.)
klâng klái (v.) คลั่งไคล้ (ก.)
bâa rák (informal, adj.) บ้ารัก (ปาก, ว.)
klâng klái li long (v.) คลั่งไคล้ใหลหลง (ก.)

Infatuation sometimes feels like craziness. That is why Thais also call the feeling of infatuation klâng (lit. “to be crazy”)—indicating its “unhinged” nature. An infatuation that borders on obsession is called klâng klái, used for infatuation with lovers as well as with celebrities.

But there’s yet a higher level of madness. That is to be “love-crazed.” The Thai word for “crazed,” “crazy,” “mad,” or “maniacal” is bâa. You can be bâa about a lot of things, for instance, bâa daa-raa (“celebrity mad”), bâa huuay (“lotto crazed”), or bâa ngaan (“a workaholic”). There is an aspect of addiction and consistent lunacy to the notion of bâa. To be “love crazed” is to be bâa rák. A passionate lover or maniacal admirer is a likely candidate for this expression. Doubling two terms for infatuation, klâng klái li long, accelerates the madness to the next level of maniacal love.

Hooked
tìt jai (v.) ติดใจ (ก.)
tìt òk tìt jai (v.) ติดอกติดใจ (ก.)
tìt núeaa tÔOng jai (v.) ติดเนื้อต้องใจ (ก.)

When the attraction is potent, it can lead to addiction. The Thai word for addiction is tìt. It is used with addiction to cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. The word is also used in the context of relationships. For instance, tìt phûeaan means to be “attached to friends.” But tìt jai takes you to another plane of addiction: your heart is hooked (in this case, on someone). That someone has got under your skin and she or he is hard to forget, especially when “the heart (and the chest) is hooked”: tìt òk tìt jai. You are charmed, enamored, in love (or lust). The last phrase, tìt núeaa tÔOng jai, is an older expression that gives a more dramatic picture of how potent a love addiction can be (lit. “addicted to the flesh and love-struck in the heart”). You’d be hard pressed to find a detox program to cure this one.

Turned on
siaw (v.) เสียว (ก.)
sà-yw (v.) สยิว (ก.)
sà-yw jai (v.) สยิวใจ (ก.)

If you feel the chill that runs down your entire body that awakens a thrilling sexual sensation, that’s the feeling of siiaw or sà-yw. To put it more graphically, it’s the feeling you get from seeing a sexy bombshell unconsciously licking her sumptuous lips in a neighborhood Starbucks, or a meaningful glance from that hunk with sparkling eyes and a tight butt. It makes the pheromones rush, turning you on, making you feel sà-yw jai (“thrilled in the heart”).

Sex-crazed
bâa sék (informal, adj.) บ้าเซ็กซ์ (ปาก, ว.)
bâa kaam (adj.) บ้ากาม (ว.)
sék jàt (informal, adj.) เซ็กซ์จัด (ปาก, ว.)
mák mâak (v.) มักมาก (ก.)
mák mâak nai kaam-má-rom (v.) มักมากในกามรมณ์ (ก.)

We have been introduced to words for “love-crazed” and we know that to be “crazed” is bâa. Now, for “sex-crazed.” Among the most common words for “sex-crazed” are bâa sék and bâa kaam. There’s a difference in usage between these two expressions. To be bâa sék simply means you like sex a little too much, but to be bâa kaam implies a criminal tendency. Sex offenders are branded as bâa kaam by Thai society, while bâa sék is usually reserved for law-abiding sex maniacs.

Another commonly used word to describe sex maniacs is sék jàt, which also refers to someone who is “oversexed.” Mák mâak literally means “(sexually) greedy” or “(sexually) insatiable” and describes a licentious tendency. It also implies sexual addiction. The full expression is mák mâak nai kaam-má-rom, which translates to “having insatiable carnal desire.” It carries a strong tone of moral judgement and is a quintessentially and highly-censorious Thai expression. All these terms are used with both sexes.

[Read more in the book.]

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