An English teacher in the Thai capital of Bangkok has told of an incident in which he and his girlfriend became involved in an argument over the colour turquoise.
The man, Moys Kenwood, claims he asked his girlfriend, who was wearing a pair of turquoise-coloured earrings at the time, how to say the word 'turquoise' in Thai.
She replied that it was "see nam ngern see kiow", but Kenwood pointed out that this merely meant 'blue green'. The gritty lass then said that another way of saying it would be "see fah fah see kiow", but again Kenwood disputed this. He claimed that this would, instead, be 'light blue light blue green', and a struggle took place.
The two remonstrated with each other until an agreement was reached two hours later, but, even then, Kenwood wasn't satisfied. He said:
"I asked the teachers at my school on Monday which word they would use to describe turquoise, and, amazingly, they said "see turquoise", so the argument was all over nothing really.
"Mind you," he added, "I like a good debate."
