The Meaning of TIT: What Would Jitplecheep Do?
Posted on September 27, 2006
TIT, she said about the military coup in Thailand in an email from Bangkok. TIT to farangs means “This is Thailand.” That is not the title of a bad travelogue but the notion that “hey, stuff happens here we may not understand but mai pen rai, no big deal.“ Another friend emailed me his fear that his neighborhood Starbucks might be closed (javas-interruptus). It wasn’t.
Sonchai Jitplecheep, the protagonist in John Burdett’s novels “Bangkok 8″ and “Bangkok Tattoo,” is an honest cop in a place where being on the take is a form of art. Sonchai lives in a tub of moral and ethical Jello, awkward for westerners until they become comfortable with shrugging their shoulders, admitting they don’t understand and uttering TIT, mai pen rai. From The Connected Traveler
» Filed Under News, Audio, Thailand, Culture
