And the 2nd part is that I was at the Italian fanmeet and noticed that when Khaotung is referring to himself instead of using Pom he often uses his name while First if I heard correctly either uses pom or nothing (if that is even possible). So I was also wondering about your opinion on that. Because to me as a person not even close to understanding Thai it reads more cute than anything really. 🫣😅 Thanks so much if you're taking the time to answer. 🫶🫶
Khaotung when referring to himself often uses his name.
First either uses pom or nothing.
First and Khao are line mates (1998, only a month or so apart) and also about the same career timelines, which means they are both age & professional piers. Equals.
The use of own name is a bit cute, but Khao is cute, and he plays to that as part of his brand, both with First and his previous pairings. I'm not surprised. First is a little less cute (or at least, when opposite Khao, he is that way) hence his use of pom or nothing.
I wouldn't be surprised if they use informal with each other in private (off screen). But on circuit? Certainly NOT.
These two are good polite GMMTV boys and they always act that way in public. (Unlike some of the OGs. New slips into rude a lot, Tay's all over the damn place as per usual. So is Krist.) FirstKhao are very on point with their promo and very professional about their publicity.
Essentially, what you are hearing is standard informal but polite language between friends and piers in public. Because the pairs are branded with seme/uke leanings this adds another dimension to their promo language.
So in Thai there is a non-codified distinction between formal and polite. In BL you'll hear:
formal & polite (khun/name, nai/chan, younger: pom or name)
polite but not really formal (age gap: pom/phi or even hia, piers: pom/name)
formal but not polite - careful there's implied intimacy in this one, it's old fashioned, and because of that when misapplied can be quite insulting (rao/ter, nong+name/phi, and a few other iterations)
and rude (guu/mueng) which is neither formal nor polite.
All of these can be mitigated by polite particles.
On circuit you will always hear the boys using krap. So for what we see IRL on screen connected to BL promos, particles aren't in play. But in Thailand (in my experience on the ground) ha is super commonly used with friends and family, and ja within the queer community.
Which brings us to the 5th option "curt" which leaves off the polite particles and can leave off pronouns altogether and is basically not formal and also not "really" polite, but not all the way to rude. Usually only heard in males older than their conversation partner (Dean) or older childless females in positions of authority and genderfluid characters like June in Love Area.
Okay, I got a flight to catch!
Bye for now. Hope this makes sense.