You've had some great posts about how Thai honorifics are used and the linguistic play has been something I look for all the time now. I'd like to know your thoughts about how the Ice/Saint language dynamic would work outside of their... everything.
I.E: how (should..? would...?) an older boy that was once a tutor refer to a younger boy that is now his senior in school, and the reverse? I assume some of it might change based on closeness and location/context, but what do you think those dynamics would be?
It's actually something I mentioned in one of the weeklies. They keep grappling with it.
In the flashbacks (Ice is both older and a tutor) Saint uses Phi for Ice (or P'Ice) and Ice just uses Saint's name.
That's easy and as it should be.
In the present, they keep dodging around it.
There was an attempt at khun. The others students etc... seem to expect Ice to use Phi on Saint (!) since Saint is now a year further along in school, and in a position of behavioral authority over Ice. So he is socially (if not birth order) Ice's senior.
Ice clearly won't and can't do that.
Saint occasionally defaults to P'Ice in private. But that usually makes one or both of them uncomfortable.
It's kinda wild, actually. And big part of the indication of the advancing and contracting of their relationship (especially from Saint who is so deadpan most of the time). I hope non-Thai speakers are noticing it, because I think it's pretty important to the intimacy and romance arc on a scene by scene basis.
I expect a negotiation should they ever get around to climbing into the sack with each other. Since P'Ice may carry bad blood coming from Saint. Rao/ter maybe? Let's see how sappy they go.
But... I'm not really vibing with the show a whole lot myself, so that's all I got. I'm not gonna rewatch scenes or anything. Heavens to BLsey.
As for how I would handle it if I were Ice? Oh just go to khun. He wants to hold everyone at a distance and make the appearance of having grown up anyway. He might as well. (You can watch Day do this in SOTUS S, it's an interesting study in possible reactions to khun being insisted upon in a Thai university setting.)
I mean... maybe chan/nai, but that can have other social/class/origin implications that Ice might not want leveled against him.
Insisting on khun would "other" Ice in the eyes of his peers, but he's already doing that.
