[LongaDonga]

Most Thais have a nickname.
This comes about cause unlike in English where we use the pronouns to the likes of: I, you, he, she etc... in spoken Thai the pronoun is often replaced by the nickname ie. "steve will go to see noi tomorrow". you will notice that 'most' nicknames have only one syllable thus making the job a lot easier. Just as in Mat instead of the drudged out version of Matthew.