The Study of Beauty Queen Epithets Development in Beauty Pageant Facebook Fan pages among Thai Fans

Abstract

An epithet is a nickname used to address or refer to a person without using their real name. It may be a term known within a specific group, often informally used and may only last for a certain period. Nicknames, in this context, also serve as a form of historical documentation that conveys stories or events in society through language. This research is qualitative that utilizes document research methods aiming to study the linguistic strategies and meanings of Beauty Queen epithets coined by Thai beauty pageant on Facebook fan pages during beauty contests. The research collected 20 Beauty Queen epithets and studied information, meanings, and usage by observing the Beauty Queen epithets used by Thai beauty pageant in beauty pageant groups with more than five thousand members between the years 2020-2023. The theoretical framework is based on three elements used in naming the Beauty Queen epithets consisted of the application of the Beauty Queen epithets’ names, the application of the Beauty Queen epithets’ behaviors, and the application of the Beauty Queen epithets’ unique characteristics. Mostly they are often the act of creating epithets for easier identification, but they can be understood only within a specific group. Therefore, it is necessary to study the origin of the Beauty Queen background to understand its meaning.