REEDS Mini Comic Extra: Honorifics 💕

Here's your Hmong lesson of the day:

tij laug ("thee-lao") in literal terms means "older brother", but you don't have to be related to use it. males will use it to refer to other males who are a little older than them, but still close in age/are of the same generation.

if you're familiar with Korean "hyung" and Chinese "gege", it's the same thing!

when you use tij laug formally, you use it before their name: "Tij Laug Keng" = "Big Brother Keng", or you can just say Tij Laug when addressing one person alone.

Thumeng calls Keng his Tij Laug (localized as "Bro"). it's a hard concept to translate into natural English, lol.

when Shu met Keng he thought they were the same age, which is why he skipped the proper honorifics. he also just likes saying Keng's name.