Thai Language - Funny/weird Idioms

[Bob]

I've spent a fair amount of time in the last year beating my limited brains out attempting to learn to read (and, a little, write) the Thai language. Most of my learning time has been reviewing (reading and translating) 1st to 3rd grade Thai reading texts.

 

What I get a kick out of (I have a very low threshold of excitement these days) are some of Thai idioms and/or the way they put words together to express an idea. For example, there's the Thai phrase (I'm going to separate the words for easier reading by some of you):

 

"ความ อยาก รู้ อยาก เห็น" or transliterated would sound like "kwaam yaak roo yaak hen"

 

The literal interpretation would be: "wanting to know wanting to see." And the real meaning in English is the word "curiosity."

 

Okay, I usually send wierd/unusual idioms as I find them to friends and here's the one I was playing with and laughing about last week. In Thai it's written (again, I'll separate the words):

 

"กำ ขี้ ดี กว่า กำ ตด" or transliterated would sound like "gam kee dee gwaa gam dtot".

 

Literally, it means: A handful of shit is better than a handful of fart.

 

Okay....for 5 baht....let's see if you can tell me what it really means in English (it's a 5-word idiom in English).

[Guest fountainhall]

A bird in the hand . . .?

 

Although that's really an 11 word phrase - shoot!

[Rogie]

Fountainhall's guess looks pretty good.

 

The best I could come up with is

 

Actions speak louder than words

[Bob]

Fountainhill's guess was the favorite and it's somewhat close in meaning.....but not quite there. I'll wait a day or so to post the answer (and the answer actually makes sense!).

[kokopelli]

Something is better then nothing??

[Bob]

Something is better then nothing??

 

You've got it (well, close enough....it should be "than")! And I owe you 5 baht (which, pending delivery, I'll invest for you....).

And it really does make sense. At least as much sense as the little Thai chlli peppers called (transliterated) "prik kee noo." In literal English, that's "rat shit peppers."

[Guest thaiworthy]

กำขี้ดีกว่ากำตก

gamM kheeF deeM gwaaL gamM dtohkL

"Doing something is better than getting nothing done."

 

Broken down is:

กำ (to clench, grasp)

ขี้(waste product, feces, excrement, snot, dung, turd)

ดีกว่า(is better than . . . ; better not . . . ; would rather . . . ; had rather . . . )

กำ (to clench, grasp)

ตก(to fall, to drop or pour down)

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Here is Fountainhall's guess:

 

กำขี้ดีกว่ากำตด

gamM kheeF deeM gwaaL gamM dtohtL

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

 

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And ones I like:

กรรมตามสนอง

gamM dtaamM saL naawngR

"What goes around comes around."

 

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And another that literally means "The doors have eyes," but relates to "The walls have ears."

 

กำแพงมีหู ประตูมีตา

gamM phaaengM meeM huuR bpraL dtuuM meeM dtaaM

"The walls have ears. [Doors have eyes.]"

 

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Here is one I hadn't ever heard and didn't understand.

 

กิ้งก่าได้ทอง

gingF gaaL daiF thaawngM

"Set a beggar on horseback, and he’ll ride to the devil."

 

In its various forms, the saying means that if one gives an undeserving person an advantage, he will misuse it. The idiom a beggar on horseback, meaning a person, originally poor, who has been made arrogant or corrupt through achieving wealth and luxury.

 

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You can find dozens more, here:

 

http://www.thai-language.com/id/589868

 

This is fun! Wonderful topic, Bob. But quit showing off, Kokopelli. First the champagne quiz, and now this! Don't you ever get tired of winning?

[Bob]

This is fun! Wonderful topic, Bob. But quit showing off, Kokopelli. First the champagne quiz, and now this! Don't you ever get tired of winning?

 

Never saw that Thai idiom site, Khun Thaiworthy, but I'm not so sure how accurate some of those translations are. I do believe that that phrase "something is better than nothing" is a more accurate translation of the idiom I posted [whereas this website lists at least two meanings for it - both "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (which I think is somewhat close to the true meaning but isn't really phrased to mean that) and "Doing something is better than getting nothing done" (which I think is not even close to the true meaning of the phrase)].

 

And I think that some of those listed idioms are mixing some metaphors or something of the sort. For example, the one you mention:

กิ้งก่าได้ทอง (transliterated would be ging-gaa dai tawng) which literally means "the chameleon gets the gold." I can think of better ways to phrase the real meaning of that than what they arrive at ("Set a beggar on horseback, and he’ll ride to the devil"). For example, I personally think the phrase is attempting to say that you get rewarded for being deceptive or lying and I just can't fathom how they get their meaning out of that. But thanks for the link....I'll go back and study a few of those sometime. And, if I get a chance, maybe I'll ask a Thai tutor I know to give me her read on some of their listed meanings.

 

As for Kokopeli being lucky, he only won 5 baht here (I'm too damn cheap for champagne!) but, on the other hand, given I said I would invest it for him and given his lucky history, maybe he'll be able to buy Warren Buffett with the earnings....hehe.

[kokopelli]

This is fun! Wonderful topic, Bob. But quit showing off, Kokopelli. First the champagne quiz, and now this! Don't you ever get tired of winning?

 

Give Koko a quiz and he will give you the answer or try. I thought the prize was 5K Baht, not 5 Baht!

Ok, I did cheat! I asked the BF what were the words and he said "bad words, cannot speak in English". I then (not than) asked for the meaning; he replied "if you loan money to man and he not have all money he give you little money and ok". Eureka!

[Guest fountainhall]

And I owe you 5 baht (which, pending delivery, I'll invest for you....)

 

Now if I was kokopelli, I might just be a wee bit concerned as to where that Bt. 5 might be invested, the more so as it is Bob who will be doing the investing rather than the lucky kokopelli

 

I have a better idea. I'm meeting up with kokpelli in a couple of weeks or so to hand over the champagne. I'm happy to add the Bt. 5 winnings from this contest. Then I'll collect it from Bob whenever I am next in Chiang Mai (plus interest ). In any event, I am sure I am going to win the Bt. 5 bet + interest I had with Bob last April about the incident at JFK where an Air France Airbus A380 slapped a Delta Connection plane in the backside. So I can collect that as well, even though no formal report has yet been issued. At loanshark rates, I must surely be on the first rung of Warren Buffet's ladder by now

[Bob]

In any event, I am sure I am going to win the Bt. 5 bet + interest I had with Bob last April about the incident at JFK where an Air France Airbus A380 slapped a Delta Connection plane in the backside.

 

Egads! I had totally forgotten about that (and, come to think of it, so has the press!). In any event, save your 5-baht coins as yours truly may be collecting (with reasonable interest, of course...) if/when we ever hear the final conclusion to the investigation. Related to that, I saw an accident at a local intersection the other day where a passing car side-swipped another car that was standing still in the other lane. As it so happens, there was a cop at the time directing traffic in the intersection so, using the FH logic, it must have been the cop's (traffic controller's) fault.....hehe.

 

As to the 5 baht I now humbly owe to Khun Kokopelli, it'd be nice if you could pay that to him and then I'll reimburse you when you're up here in the boonies this spring. Of course, I'll have to see the written receipt signed by Khun Kokopelli.......

[Guest fountainhall]

Egads! I had totally forgotten about that

 

Well!! And this in the land of the elephants

 

there was a cop at the time directing traffic in the intersection so, using the FH logic, it must have been the cop's (traffic controller's) fault

 

If the cop happened to direct one car into the other, then naturally it would be his fault. Would you expect any other outcome?

 

I'll have to see the written receipt signed by Khun Kokopelli

 

Thy will be done. No doubt he'll pen it over a glass of rather excellent champagne

[Guest eradesso]

Kudos to you guys... You're making me feel less miserable for having to learn a just-as-much funny/weird language which in my case is Arabic

[Rogie]

Kudos to you guys... You're making me feel less miserable for having to learn a just-as-much funny/weird language which in my case is Arabic

 

You say it's a funny/weird language Eradesso, but have you come across any funny or weird idioms? Anything to make us laugh?!

[kokopelli]

At dinner last night my friends were joking about the Thai expression "shit in the hand..fart in the hand". Then they taught by BF an English/American expression for an older farang, "an old Fart". He finds that very endearing to call me.

[Guest eradesso]

You say it's a funny/weird language Eradesso, but have you come across any funny or weird idioms? Anything to make us laugh?!

 

should i make a quiz too? lol i will avoid writing them in Arabic...

 

1) i'm like the deaf at wedding

2) cool my breast

3) he calls the one-eyed man one-eyed

4) when angels arrive, devils run away

 

that should be plenty

[pong]

I've spent a fair amount of time in the last year beating my limited brains out attempting to learn to read (and, a little, write) the Thai language. Most of my learning time has been reviewing (reading and translating) 1st to 3rd grade Thai reading texts.

 

What I get a kick out of (I have a very low threshold of excitement these days) are some of Thai idioms and/or the way they put words together to express an idea. For example, there's the Thai phrase (I'm going to separate the words for easier reading by some of you):

 

"ความ อยาก รู้ อยาก เห็น" or transliterated would sound like "kwaam yaak roo yaak hen"

 

So did you get that Tai lessonbook for grade Boh 3-or was that 4? that has about 200 Thai sayings/frases now to learn from? But hat is only Thai-often quite hard indeed to get the proper english transpation for that (me as non-native Engl do not know either).

BTW: that word kwaam is very useful, as it is about the only way you can express abstract things in the Thai langauge. And yes-that indeed often leads to hilarious or very long expressions. In this respect Thai is simply a very undeveloped language (though I believe Chinese is even more so).

For FH and his other thread about lying: in fact there is not realy a Thai word for lying-whoich probably also signifies a lot. What he described about that Thai student in nicely deceiting his farang benevolenter- is what the Thai call ''eat/speak strawberry''= with a sweet mouth hide the truth. Thats newstyle street slang Thai-never to be found in studybooks for the prathom grades.

[Bob]

For FH and his other thread about lying: in fact there is not realy a Thai word for lying-whoich probably also signifies a lot.

 

The only Thai word for lying - one I hear somewhat often - is โกหก (pronounced go-hok - flat tone/low tone) and it's taught quite often in beginning Thai language classes. The dictionaries will list the meaning as "to lie" or "to bullshit" (same same). When I hear it - typically between Thais who know each other - it's usually "go-hok" with at least one "maak" right afterwards which, of course, is the equivalent of telling somebody they bullshit a lot. Friends or acquaintenances don't react badly to the word but I'm not sure how a stranger would handle it.

[Rogie]

For FH and his other thread about lying: in fact there is not realy a Thai word for lying-whoich probably also signifies a lot. What he described about that Thai student in nicely deceiting his farang benevolenter- is what the Thai call ''eat/speak strawberry''= with a sweet mouth hide the truth. Thats newstyle street slang Thai-never to be found in studybooks for the prathom grades.

 

Entertaining stuff!

 

sweet (as in strawberry) mouth = hides the truth (the lying toad!)

speaking or eating a strawberry = ....ditto ...

 

sour (as in lemon?) mouth = an honest joe (I made that one up but why not?)

[Guest thaiworthy]

Clearly, idioms do not come from idiots, the word is derived from the Latin and Greek, meaning "special phrasing." I had no idea how many of these really existed in everyday language. We probably use these terms more often than we realize. When you view this list, it is a wonder how anyone is able to learn English, much less Thai. I would never have understood, even if I literally could, the meaning behind speak strawberry.

 

You'll see after you look at this HUGE list of idioms:

 

http://www.idiomsbyk...m/idiomsall.htm

[ChristianPFC]

Okay....for 5 baht....let's see if you can tell me what it really means in English (it's a 5-word idiom in English).

 

5 Baht money (i.e. 500 Satang) or 5 Baht gold (One baht = 15.244 grams)?

 

There are collections of translated Thai idioms no the web, e.g. here: http://rhtaller.pagesperso-orange.fr/abcSpruecheThai.doc (in Thai - English - German), and as my Thai progresses I will sometime take a closer look at these.