Same Same But Different: Meaning, Origin and the Real Thai

"Same same but different" is Tinglish, Thai-flavoured English, for "similar, but not quite the same". Nobody knows who said it first. Thais selling to tourists used "same same" to mean "the same" or "about the same", someone added the joke "but different", and the phrase ended up on T-shirts on Khao San Road, "same same" on the front and "but different" on the back. You'll hear it all along Southeast Asia's backpacker trail, and even a German film about a love story in Cambodia, Same Same But Different (2009), took it as its title. But its grammar is pure Thai.

Why "same same"?

Thai doubles words all the time, with a special repetition mark, and doubling can soften a word or strengthen it:

• ช้าๆcháa-cháa: slowly, nice and easy
• ดีๆdii-dii: nicely, properly
• แดงๆdaeng-daeng: reddish
• เหมือนๆกันmǔean-mǔean gan: more or less the same, literally "same-same together"

So when a market vendor holds up two shirts and says "same same", that's เหมือนๆกันmǔean-mǔean gan in English words: pretty much the same.

What Thais say in Thai

• เหมือนกันmǔean gan: the same, alike. It also means "me too" and "you too": answer โชคดีนะchôok-dii ná ("good luck!") with เหมือนกันmǔean gan.
• คล้ายๆกันkláai-kláai gan: similar
• ไม่เหมือนกันmâi mǔean gan: not the same
• ต่างกันdtàang gan: different

Put them together and you have the catchphrase in real Thai: คล้ายๆกันแต่ไม่เหมือนกันkláai-kláai gan dtàe mâi mǔean gan, "similar, but not the same". Say it with a grin when a Thai friend asks whether Thai food at home tastes like the real thing.

Other Tinglish, and the Thai behind it

Tinglish makes sense once you know a little Thai, because it's Thai grammar wearing English words:

• "No have": ไม่มีmâi mii. Thai uses มีmii, "to have", for "there is", so "no have" is a perfect translation of "there isn't any".
• "Up to you": ตามใจdtaam jai, literally "follow your heart". You'll hear it whenever you ask a Thai friend where to eat.
• "Open the light", "close the air": เปิดไฟbpòet fai and ปิดแอร์bpìt ae. Thai switches things on and off by opening and closing them, and แอร์ae is the air-con.
• "Can can" and "cannot": ได้ๆdâi-dâi and ไม่ได้mâi dâi. ได้dâi means can, may and OK all at once.
• "You go where?": ไปไหนbpai nǎi. Thai puts question words at the end, and between neighbours it's a friendly greeting, not an interrogation.
• "Eat already": กินแล้วgin láew. Thai marks a finished action with แล้วláew, "already", instead of a past tense.
• "Play Facebook": เล่นเฟซบุ๊กlên féet-búk. Thais "play" their phones, games and social media.

Why Thai English sounds the way it does

• Grammar. Thai has no "to be" before adjectives, no tenses, no plural endings and no articles, so "very hot today" and "two ticket" are Thai sentences in English words.
• Final sounds. A Thai syllable can only end in a handful of sounds, so English endings change: l becomes n and s becomes t. "Bill" turns into "bin", which is why you ask for the bill with เช็คบิลchék-bin, football is ฟุตบอลfút-bawn and a bus is a บัสbát.
• Tones. Borrowed words pick up Thai tones: แท็กซี่táek-sîi (taxi), คอมพิวเตอร์kawm-piu-dtôe (computer).

It works both ways

English speakers make the mirror-image mistakes in Thai: an "I" at the start of every sentence, เป็นbpen ("to be") before adjectives, questions asked with a rising voice instead of ไหมmǎi, and tones flattened into English melody. Thais are just as kind about those as you should be about Tinglish. And Tinglish makes a handy cheat sheet for Thai grammar: word for word, "you go where?" is perfect Thai, คุณไปไหนkun bpai nǎi. You'll compare things with เหมือนmǔean, กว่าgwàa and ที่สุดtîi-sùt in Unit 17 of the free course, at Chiang Mai's markets, where half the stalls sell something same same but different.