ผม vs. ฉน

[newalaan2]

If you're a foreigner learning Thai, you'll learn that:

ผท (pom) = I (male)
ฉน (chan) = I (female)

So far, when having conversaions with people and they refer to themselves as ฉน, I immediately assume they're a ladyboy, or at least a ladyboy in the making. I think I must be wrong on this though, unless there's a lot of straight acting, secretive lady boys out there. I'm assuming you just have to be gay, and not a ladyboy, in order to reference yourself as ฉน (chan)?

There's quite a few out there who don't seem to have any inclination to grow tits or have their dicks cut off, but yet refer to themselves as ฉน, leaving me a little confused, because I was taught only females referred to themselves as ฉน.

Any insight? Christian, perhaps?

Don't have that much experience in conversation (that I've specifically noticed) for Pom and Chan, but more when Ka is used by males. Its not about tits or dicks its more about 'roles' I think. Just about every gay thai male I have close contact with who considers themselves the 'bottom' half of an arrangement uses Ka when finishing a sentence. Mostly it is in (pretend) jest, but it reflects reality. So I think ladyboys and gay lads who consider themselves 'queens' rather than 'kings' would certainly refer to themselves with female references especially in known company. I would imagine many of the more very queeny types would use that on every occasion.

I consider my bf as straight acting when out and about, most guys we meet cannot say for sure if he is king or queen, or most think he is more king type, but he is in the queen role in our relationship and when he talks on the phone with gay friends he always says "hello ka" or whatever with 'ka'at the end. Even in the Issan village the queen types use 'ka' all the time. Nobody bats an eyelid.