I have to agree. I literally can’t remember ever hearing anyone pronounce it as “thigh.” Maybe a child when they first were trying to read the word, but otherwise, it’s so rare as to be prett much non existent in my experience. Look, I defend pronunciations like nuke-u-lar and lie-berry, but thigh-land I cant justify with popular usage or even occasional usage.
Indeed. Unlike most Westerners, I have 25 years in Thailand under my belt – well, 24 years and seven months – and while I admit it would be extra odd to hear “Thigh-land” seriously while in country, I have been attuned to all matters Thai since the 1980s, and not once have I ever encountered it anywhere – in person, in the media, not nowhere – outside of a joking context.
Looks like it’s time to say Phuket and end this discussion.
.
I know Phuket is not pronounced the same as “fuck it”.
[Foghorn leghorn voice]
It’s a joke, son, it’s a joke!
[/flv]
This may be apocryphal, but I have heard that NYC once denied a restaurant license to a proposed Thai eatery with that name.
There are a number of Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. named “Pho King” - “Pho” is pronounced fə (roughly, “fuh”), so “Pho King” would be pronounced fə-kiŋ (roughly, well…).
There’s one in Seattle, I believe, called Pho King Awesome.
Not in Seattle, that I can find. There’s one in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Tacoma has a Pho King, but it’s not awesome. There’s a Hot as Pho in Seattle.
I guess working in an elementary school district with a thousand kids in it aged 5 to 13 has somewhat skewed my perspective. LOL