I’m a bull in the Thai astrological system and a Gemini in the Western system.

They’re the same system really, only the dates aren’t exactly the same, though they overlap. The Thai system comes from India, as does most of Thai high culture even though genetically they’re closer to China. The Indian system either came from Greece or directly from Mesopotamia, from which the Greek system also came originally. The signs have exactly the same meanings- the ram, the bull, the twins, the crab, the lion, the whole schmear. Days of the week follow a similar pattern, the English system deviating farther from the Latin norm than the Thai even. In Spanish and Thai, and presumably others, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the days of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus, respectively and respectfully, while English worships the old gods. Saturday is Saturn’s day in both Thai and English, while Spain takes an early Jewish Sabado Sabbath. Sunday is the sun’s day in both Thai and English, while Spanish is the Lord’s day, Domingo. In all of them Monday is the day of the moon. It would be interesting to see how many others follow suit. I only know that Indonesian also takes a Saturday ‘Sabtu’ Sabbath and a Minggu Sunday, so they must have got that from their Portuguese proto-tourists, taking the others from Arabic if the Islamic Jumat Friday Sabbath is any clue. You can’t get the fuckers to work. They’re like Thais, celebrating every holiday they can find in the world, even if they can’t pronounce it correctly. Portuguese, on the other hand, now counts the mid-week days on their fingers two to six, as if they learned something from the Vietnamese and China in all their Asian travels. Hey, sex is fun, and more than body fluids can be exchanged in the process. The Indonesian months are clearly pig Latin, as are all the other Romance languages and English, of course, while Thai months are conveniently cognate with the Indian astrological signs which begin within them, a nifty mnemonics device. This system has been in effect for some hundred and fifty years, part of the Siamese effort to outrun European insults to their intelligence. The Vietnamese and Chinese, of course, are still sitting there squatting on their haunches, counting months on their toes when they run out of fingers, smoking cigarettes, drinking tea, and spitting.

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