#sawasdee

Today I learned that the formal Thai greeting we know so well – สวัสดี (sawatdi/sawasdee) – is not even a hundred years old! 👀

From Wikipedia:

The word sawatdi was coined in the mid-1930s by Phraya Upakit Silapasan of Chulalongkorn University. Derived from the Sanskrit svasti (स्वस्ति meaning 'well-being'), it had previously been used in Thai only as a formulaic opening to inscriptions. The strongly nationalist government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram in the early–1940s promoted its use in the government bureaucracy as well as the wider populace as part of a wider set of cultural edicts to modernise Thailand.

Before this, apparently Thai people "greeted each other informally with an inquiry or observation about their health or welfare", according to thai-language.com.