Towards a more felicitous scum
Re: “Outrage at anchor prompts U-turn by NBTC,” Around Thailand, June 4.
As a person who fancies himself a connoisseur of language, I feel compelled to comment on Anchalee Paireeruk’s characterisation of the police raid on Onoi Temple as “utterly bad, low, ignoble, and scummy”.
I presume that the original Thai expressions she used were more felicitous, and would suggest only that the English translation could be improved by substituting for the slang word “scummy” the more formal, socially acceptable, and action-specific adjective “scum-sucking”.
Trying, as always, to upgrade the language,
Ye Olde Pedant
