Who Is Mr. Fred?

Over here they refer to people as "Khun (first name)." As in Khun Tiwaporn (female) or Khun Somchai (male). "Here" is Thailand. Up until about 1910, no one in Thailand had a last name, the King finally put his foot down and ordered that every family had to come up with one right away (and, incidentally, that every family in Thailand had to come up with a unique and original last name, so there's not a lot of duplication even to this day.

So everyone here tends to call me "Mr. Fred." So sometimes I go with it. I kind of like the sound of it, it's kind of Fifties for some reason, or maybe it's a Southern thing.

The real question, "WHO is Mr. Fred?" That, unfortunately, is beyond the scope of this article.