Newspaper Line

[DavidHouston]

I saw this sentence in the newspaper and am having trouble understanding and translating it.

ที่สำคัญคือ ยิ่งนานวัน ค่านิยมฟุ้งเฟ้อ ล่องลอยยิ่งครอบงำเยาวชนมากขึ้น

One alternative might be,

"What is important is that as each day goes by, more of our youth are being captivated by the allure of extravagant live-styles."

or,

"What is important is that with each passing day, living extravagantly becomes an easy road to life and slowly captures our youth."

But, is this what the author is saying or is there another meaning? Thanks.

Edited June 24, 2008 by DavidHouston

[thithi]

i think it's the latter one.

not sure :S

i cant understand why the writer put the word ล่องลอย in ... seems doesnt have any meaning

Edited June 24, 2008 by thithi

[yoot]

I would translate it to "What is important is that with each passing day, the social value of being extravagant and aimless have overwhelmed our youth more and more."

[DavidHouston]

I would translate it to "What is important is that with each passing day, the social value of being extravagant and aimless have overwhelmed our youth more and more."

Excellent! Thank you. "ฟุ้งเฟ้อ ล่องลอย" are, then, two adjectives describing the values of the youth of today.

The Lexitron definition of ล่องลอย is the รูปธรรม meaning of "[V] float; drift; bob; sail; glide; move gently; slip along; slide Syn. ลอยล่อง, ลอยละล่อง". May we add the นามธรรม meaning of "to drift aimlessly" to our understanding of this word also?

Edited June 25, 2008 by DavidHouston