RickBradford Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 เกลือเป็นหนอน This phrase appeared in a Thai Rat story yesterday about a robbery at Tesco Lotus, where the perpetrator arrived at just the time when there was a shift change and takings were being put into the safe. He got away with 495,000 baht. This coincidence prompted the police to suspect that the robber had inside knowledge, and hence inside help. This is where the proverb เกลือเป็นหนอน comes in: it means betrayal by a friend, colleague or a family member, particularly when our plans for something are leaked to a rival or competitor. Rather poetic. There is a fuller description of this phrase at: http://www.xn--m3cv1ac5bny.net/เกลือเป็นหนอน/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgeezer Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Thanks for that Rick, I am not sure how you have interpreted it. The RID says that เกลือเป็นหนอน is the person who has betrayed the confidence. How is it used in the piece on the Tesco robbery? พวกเขารู้ว่าเราจะมา ถึงต้องมีเกลือเป็นหนอนแน่ They knew we were coming, so there must be a ~ among us. มีเกลือเป็นหนอนในพวกเรา There is a ~ among us. เกลือเป็นหนอนคือใคร who is the ~? Edit: What was thought to be good ‘salt’ has turned out to be bad ‘a worm’. I guess a good translation for a Christian would be a Judas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBradford Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 The betrayer would be the confederate inside Tesco Lotus who gave out the information on when the change of shift occurred. His or her colleagues now know that มีเกลือเป็นหนอนในพวกเรา Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Sounds a bit like an English mole in an organisation, giving out confidential information to a competitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digbeth Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 the salt is what protects the meat, if it turns out that the salt has turned to worms and rotting the meat itself, it's doing opposite to preservation or its intended nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgeezer Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 One thing leads to another and I am fascinated by sayings because in researching them there is so much more to learn. The idea that salt can turn to worms is a bit of a stretch but the basic idea is sound. Finding that the meat or fish has worms in it in spite of the salting process could produce the joke, That salt was worms. The equal expression is หนอนบ่อนไส้ , having intestinal worms, would indicate that the fly’s eggs were on the meat before it was salted. Here are some things of interest to me as translations and maybe some lurkers. เจ้านายครับ คู่แข่งรู้กำหนดเปิดตัวสินค้าใหม่เราได้อย่างไรครับ ผมว่างานนี้เกลือเป็นหนอนแน่ ฯ to decide to launch a new product. งานนี้ this is a case of... ผู้บัญชาการครับ แผนการเช้าตีช้าศึกในครั้งนี้เราวางแผนกันอย่างดีและแนบเนียนแต่ปรากฏว่าข้าศึกไหวตัวทันถอนกำลังออกไปหมดเสียก่อน ผมสงสัยว่าฝ่ายเรามีเกลือเป็นหนอนครับ ไหวตัวทัน to act in a timely manner ถอนกำลังออกไปหมดเสียก่อน to successfully retreat I like to see กำลัง used to mean something! แผนการกีฬาชองโรงเรียนเรา รู้ไปถึงหูโรงเรยนอิ่นได้อย่างไรกัน เรารู้กันไม่กี่คน หรือว่าเกลือจะเป็นหนอนครับ ครูสมพร I can explain the syntax of the first two but the last one seems to be less grammatical. รู้ไปถึงหู does that mean ความรู้ ? At first I took เรารู้กันไม่กี่คน To say ‘not many of us knew this’ but for หรือ which seems to have also made จะ necessary thus changing the saying. Also why รู้ถึงหู.......อย่างไรกัน? These are points which I hope to engage someone although I realise that the meaning is clear enough without analysis. Someone may be able to make กำลัง show the present tense for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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