Boycott Writ Large
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:36 am
The Nation newspaper today shows a group of monks affixing notices to a large, overturned alms bowl with the following caption:
"A group of monks express their anger on Friday by flipping the gigantic alms bowl after the charter drafting committee shot down a proposal to recognise Buddhism as the national religion in the charter draft.//Photo by Prasert Thepsri"
(For the photo see http://www.nationmultimedia.com/cartoon/index.html?/2007/06/29/p1news/images/30038142-01.jpg)
The T-L.com website has the following definition:
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คว่ำบาตร khwahmF baat[r]L [verb, transitive, colloquial]
definition [Journalism] to ostracize; to boycott; to protest
components คว่ำ khwahmF upside down
บาตร baat[r]L the bowl carried by a Buddhist monk or priest
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The story apparently is that a monk, wishing to ignore a villager who the monk does not wish to recognize, will turn his alms bowl (บาตร) face-downward (คว่ำ) when he meets the offending villager during the monk's morning collections.
Now, isn't this a much nicer, traditional metaphor than the English word "boycott" which the Thai newspapers often use?
"A group of monks express their anger on Friday by flipping the gigantic alms bowl after the charter drafting committee shot down a proposal to recognise Buddhism as the national religion in the charter draft.//Photo by Prasert Thepsri"
(For the photo see http://www.nationmultimedia.com/cartoon/index.html?/2007/06/29/p1news/images/30038142-01.jpg)
The T-L.com website has the following definition:
_______________________
คว่ำบาตร khwahmF baat[r]L [verb, transitive, colloquial]
definition [Journalism] to ostracize; to boycott; to protest
components คว่ำ khwahmF upside down
บาตร baat[r]L the bowl carried by a Buddhist monk or priest
__________________________
The story apparently is that a monk, wishing to ignore a villager who the monk does not wish to recognize, will turn his alms bowl (บาตร) face-downward (คว่ำ) when he meets the offending villager during the monk's morning collections.
Now, isn't this a much nicer, traditional metaphor than the English word "boycott" which the Thai newspapers often use?