Mr.StickyRice Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 Im the new guy here, so sorry if this topic is old/stupid. I really dont understand why thais always say stuff like "tam mai pen!"/ "gin mai pen". The first thing I think is; well...how can you try anything new if you have never done it before? Maybe I just dont understand the translation from thai to english, but to me it means "I have never done it, so..." For example. If I went to a Japanese restaurant with my friends in the states and he ordered some funky "raw octopus with wasabi", I would never say " I have never tried that...<deleted>? Dont they have hamburgers here?" This is the feeling I get when thais speak like this. Yes, I know of the whole Asian "herd mentalilty", but really, how do you get beyond this first step with people that dont try anything new? About 2 years ago I was a DJ at a very popular club in Chiang Mai. I played Hip-Hop and UK dance. All night I had thai customers come up to me and say "Uh...what is this, I have never heard it before, dont you have some music I know?" or something like that. Now, the same club only plays top 40 Hip-hop ,ie. eminem and other bastard american music. How do you get thais to try anything new? This is the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamdomChances Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 mai pen = can not i.e gin my ben = can not eat ( could be you dont know how to eat) gin mai wai = can not eat ( but more like physicaly unableto eat) gin ai dai = can not eat (but more like something is preventing you from eating) mai khoy gin = never eaten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meemiathai Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 mai koey gin, mai koey tam, mai koey fang means never eaten, done and listened to. mai pen means---cannot as mentioned by RC. There certainly are a lot of misunderstandings between farangs and thais! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.StickyRice Posted August 3, 2004 Author Share Posted August 3, 2004 I understand that much. Its just that I think it means just a little more than that...something along the lines of "I have never (X) so...Im not about to start to...Im not sure...about" Im sure alot of you have had the experience of a thai girl saying it when you try to get her to "tam nit noi" with oral sex. Sure she has DONE it, but what she is saying is a little more subtle than "I have never done it"/"I cant do it". See what I mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanchao Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Ah, now I understand. ;-)) Yeah, it's kind of a resigned 'cannot' kind of like a toddler not only claiming he cannot tie is shoelaces, but more importantly the statement is that he doesn't WANT to tie is shoelaces. :-)) Also the all-purpose, any time 'reason' is a good one when asked 'why can't you ..." Answer: khee-kiat. kheekiat kin kheekiat fang kheekiat tham kheekiat pai kheekiat ##### kheekiat everything!! Cheers, Chanchao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanchao Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Note: 'kheekiat' mostly in the translation of 'bored to', I think 'lazy' is often not the most correct translation of khee-kiat. One can even be kheekiat nawn (sleep!) :-) Cheers, Chanchao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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