Meanings Of Maa-baa

[goldfish]

What is/are the meanings of maa-baa? I am aware that the literal translation is mad dog but I presume, like many thai sayings, that there is a deeper meaning which I wouldn't find in my dictionary. I have used the search function, but that is no use on 3 letter words

[jdinasia]

It's the same as mad dog in English. If used towards a dog it means rabid ... if used towards a person it means dangerous or dangerously crazy.

[5tash]

"maa-baa" is a wolf.

[jdinasia]

"maa-baa" is a wolf.

sorry .. wolf is maa paa

[Meg_2003]

"maa-baa" is a wolf.

sorry .. wolf is maa paa

5tash is correct jdinasia..

Maa baa, or maa paa = wolf.

ป is used in the word 'paa/baa' (It is spelt หมา ป่า) ป is neither a solid B or P, but sounds somewhere in the middle.

You are both correct. Maybe it should be spelt in english as Maa Bpaa ?

[jdinasia]

What is/are the meanings of maa-baa? I am aware that the literal translation is mad dog but I presume, like many thai sayings, that there is a deeper meaning which I wouldn't find in my dictionary. I have used the search function, but that is no use on 3 letter words

"maa-baa" is a wolf.

sorry .. wolf is maa paa

5tash is correct jdinasia..

Maa baa, or maa paa = wolf.

ป is used in the word 'paa/baa' (It is spelt หมา ป่า) ป is neither a solid B or P, but sounds somewhere in the middle.

You are both correct. Maybe it should be spelt in english as Maa Bpaa ?

Sorry .... but from the OP you can tell he was referring to B-bai mai not P-Plaa in the spelling.

[meadish_sweetball]

In Thai there is a three way distinction between the sounds these letters represent

พ // ป // บ

aspirated/unvoiced // unaspirated/unvoiced // unaspirated/voiced

In English there is a two-way distinction between 'p' and 'b'. There is no [unaspirated/unvoiced] sound that occurs at the beginning of words (although 'p' preceded by an 's' makes the aspiration go away and effectively creates a ป sound).

Hence, many English speakers who have not had the difference explained to them will tend to hear and pronounce ป as a 'b' sound while in reality it is different. While some systems use the transcription 'ph' 'p' 'b' to uphold the distinction, this is not intuitive to the average English speaker, who'd use 'b' to represent the sound of ป.

So I tend to think 5-tash meant the right word. But we can't know since we can only see what he wrote, not how he pronounces it.

To illustrate the spelling difference, in Thai we have

หมาบ้า and หมาป่า

The former meaning 'mad dog' and the latter meaning 'wolf'. Note that the tones of the final syllables also differ. In หมาบ้า the final syllable takes a falling tone, whereas the second syllable in หมาป่า takes the low tone.

[soundman]

Ahhhh the joys of transliteration.

สุนัขป่า or หมาป่า - jungle dog or wolf.

หมาบ้า - crazy dog or a dog with rabies.

If you listen closely the two "bah" words have distinctively diffenet tones if you can't hear the difference in the bp sound of the consonant.

Cheers.

[5tash]

So I tend to think 5-tash meant the right word. But we can't know since we can only see what he wrote, not how he pronounces it.

In fact the way I pronounce "maa-baa" would be written as "มา-ปา" in Thai, so it would have the meaning of something like "come and throw"!

[jdinasia]

The OP said he knew it meant mad dog ... hence maa baa

[mangkorn]

jd: how can you be so sure that the OP heard it correctly - both the consonant, and the tone? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But absent further information and context, it doesn't seem possible to make an absolute presumption about an arbitrary romanized transcription.

[jdinasia]

jd: how can you be so sure that the OP heard it correctly - both the consonant, and the tone? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But absent further information and context, it doesn't seem possible to make an absolute presumption about an arbitrary romanized transcription.

again ... from the original post

I am aware that the literal translation is mad dog but I presume, like many thai sayings, that there is a deeper meaning which I wouldn't find in my dictionary.

If we don't take the original post at face value .. then what are we discussing?

[GayGordon]

Peter told me that maa with a different tone can also be horse, maybe its that old wild west indian crazy horse

[canuckamuck]

Peter told me that maa with a different tone can also be horse, maybe its that old wild west indian crazy horse

or crazy mother

[GayGordon]

Peter told me that maa with a different tone can also be horse, maybe its that old wild west indian crazy horse

or crazy mother

Oh yes, i never thought of that ,.

[mangkorn]

If we don't take the original post at face value .. then what are we discussing?

Easy, jd. It would appear that we're still trying to figure out what we are discussing - you know, to find the meanings of words. It's not totally clear what the OP is asking about. He was unable to write it in Thai, ergo, it is not possible to presume that he is clear about the question. You may insist that he is, but then, why haven't you answered his question: i.e., what are the various meanings of the term "mad dog" in Thai? (Are there even various meanings, in everyday Thai speech? Hmm...)

You should know that posters often show up here who have extremely limited understanding of Thai, and are not capable of sussing out tones or the proper pronunciation of words/consonants/vowel lengths, etc.

That may - or may not be - the case with this OP, but there is nothing inherent in the post that convinces either way.

To wit: the two posts above this one may be unclear about proper vowel pronunciations in the words for "dog" and "mother."

Cheers.

[jdinasia]

I answered with my first post. You may be trying to figure it out but since the OP GAVE the literal meaning that makes it apparent what the spelling in Thai would be.

The others are just annoyingly taking the piss.

If we don't take the original post at face value .. then what are we discussing?

Easy, jd. It would appear that we're still trying to figure out what we are discussing - you know, to find the meanings of words. It's not totally clear what the OP is asking about. He was unable to write it in Thai, ergo, it is not possible to presume that he is clear about the question. You may insist that he is, but then, why haven't you answered his question: i.e., what are the various meanings of the term "mad dog" in Thai? (Are there even various meanings, in everyday Thai speech? Hmm...)

You should know that posters often show up here who have extremely limited understanding of Thai, and are not capable of sussing out tones or the proper pronunciation of words/consonants/vowel lengths, etc.

That may - or may not be - the case with this OP, but there is nothing inherent in the post that convinces either way.

To wit: the two posts above this one may be unclear about proper vowel pronunciations in the words for "dog" and "mother."

Cheers.

[phaethon]

Peter told me that maa with a different tone can also be horse, maybe its that old wild west indian crazy horse

or crazy mother

Oh yes, i never thought of that ,.

Perhaps it was a Scottish licensee showing the OP around his bar...

[mangkorn]

I answered with my first post. You may be trying to figure it out but since the OP GAVE the literal meaning that makes it apparent what the spelling in Thai would be.

The others are just annoyingly taking the piss.

Terribly sorry, jd. Really didn't intend to take the piss.

But since you do know, why don't you answer the OP's question?

That was, after all, the point of his post - in fact, the only reason for posting.

...(crickets chirping)...

[GayGordon]

I answered with my first post. You may be trying to figure it out but since the OP GAVE the literal meaning that makes it apparent what the spelling in Thai would be.

The others are just annoyingly taking the piss.

Terribly sorry, jd. Really didn't intend to take the piss.

But since you do know, why don't you answer the OP's question?

That was, after all, the point of his post - in fact, the only reason for posting.

...(crickets chirping)...

And i promise you i didnt mean the extract the urine,.maa toned maaaaaaaa can certainly mean horse, sorry,.

[imaneggspurt]

I answered with my first post. You may be trying to figure it out but since the OP GAVE the literal meaning that makes it apparent what the spelling in Thai would be.

The others are just annoyingly taking the piss.

Terribly sorry, jd. Really didn't intend to take the piss.

But since you do know, why don't you answer the OP's question?

That was, after all, the point of his post - in fact, the only reason for posting.

...(crickets chirping)...

And i promise you i didnt mean the extract the urine,.maa toned maaaaaaaa can certainly mean horse, sorry,.

dont worry about it gordon, if thats all it takes to piss him off he must b having a bad day

[jdinasia]

I answered with my first post. You may be trying to figure it out but since the OP GAVE the literal meaning that makes it apparent what the spelling in Thai would be.

The others are just annoyingly taking the piss.

Terribly sorry, jd. Really didn't intend to take the piss.

But since you do know, why don't you answer the OP's question?

That was, after all, the point of his post - in fact, the only reason for posting.

...(crickets chirping)...

read post #2 in this thread ..... those crickets chirping are in your head .... and they are LONELY!

[tgeezer]

What is/are the meanings of maa-baa? I am aware that the literal translation is mad dog but I presume, like many thai sayings, that there is a deeper meaning which I wouldn't find in my dictionary. I have used the search function, but that is no use on 3 letter words

What you have here is a noun MA (4th tone) 'dog' and adjective or modifier BA(2nd tone) 'mad' you could replace the noun with any other noun and it would be mad. If I were to render the line 'mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun' I would use MABA, so should you. You have to hear it spoken by a Thai to get a deeper meaning if there is one.

[goldfish]

Thank you for the replies. I would be the first to admit to the difficulty in differentiating between tones. It's become a nickname from a lady. She admitted the meaning was 'mad dog' when she first used it. After reading these replies I asked if the name was because of how I ride a bike (she may not have appreciated the 'no-hands' style or sliding the back wheeel) and she agreed. Yep, dangerously crazy sounds about right

[toptuan]

Incidentally, does Thailand even have any wolves? Normally an animal which lives in northern climates, is it not? I can see why wolf and "jungle dog" might be indistinguishable to the Thai mind.

[tgeezer]

Incidentally, does Thailand even have any wolves? Normally an animal which lives in northern climates, is it not? I can see why wolf and "jungle dog" might be indistinguishable to the Thai mind.

In the RID the definition for wolf specifies that they live in cold climates.

[bina]

most people from one area wont know the real names for certain animals because they just dont have those animals in their own areas therefor no name.

feral dogs, wolves, foxes, dingoes, coyotes they are all maapbaa.

we are surrounded by jackals, foxes and feral dogs here on the kibbutz: to my husband they are all maabpaa-- although as far as i know, in central thai jinjok is actually fox. i guess there is no word for jackal since there arent jackals in thailand. as far as feral dogs, guess no specific word for that either though i dont know why as there are tons of those in the thai villages and sois... just like in some languages there is no word for male donkey and female horse as opposed to male horse and female donkey (one is a mule one is a hinny)...

and suunak is the polite - read central thai not issan 'lowly' dialect- word for dog, mostly house dogs as far as i understand from korat husband. which is all rather funny if u think about it as the word for 'what?' in hebrew is 'maa'...making thai men irritated and good for puns which they do understand , regardless of other posts implying that thais dont have a sublte sense of humour...

and we have wolves living in the desert; lighter in colour, smaller, but still lupus however u look at it. guess they dont read books to know that they need cold weather.

bina

israel

[tgeezer]

most people from one area wont know the real names for certain animals because they just dont have those animals in their own areas therefor no name.

feral dogs, wolves, foxes, dingoes, coyotes they are all maapbaa.

we are surrounded by jackals, foxes and feral dogs here on the kibbutz: to my husband they are all maabpaa-- although as far as i know, in central thai jinjok is actually fox. i guess there is no word for jackal since there arent jackals in thailand. as far as feral dogs, guess no specific word for that either though i dont know why as there are tons of those in the thai villages and sois... just like in some languages there is no word for male donkey and female horse as opposed to male horse and female donkey (one is a mule one is a hinny)...

and suunak is the polite - read central thai not issan 'lowly' dialect- word for dog, mostly house dogs as far as i understand from korat husband. which is all rather funny if u think about it as the word for 'what?' in hebrew is 'maa'...making thai men irritated and good for puns which they do understand , regardless of other posts implying that thais dont have a sublte sense of humour...

and we have wolves living in the desert; lighter in colour, smaller, but still lupus however u look at it. guess they dont read books to know that they need cold weather.

bina

israel

Is lupus latin? sounds like a medical condition. The mighty tome has หมาจิงจอก defined also both fox and jackal, they use the term canus creusemani ( is that latin?) for both, one as hunting in packs and the other as having the bushy tail. หน่้ารักจริง Oh, the tome says มักมีในประเทศหนาว เกั่ยวกับหมาป่า so that lets yours off the hook for not reading the instrucrions. I invite anyone to correct the Thai I suspect the positions of the last two phases. This is a Thai Language forum.

[5tash]

Lexitron;

หมาใน [N] hyena

DS;

หมาใน hyena, jackal

It would be interesting to know what "ใน" represents in these examples.

[5tash]

...as far as feral dogs, guess no specific word for that either though i dont know why as there are tons of those in the thai villages and sois...

I think you could use "หมากลางถนน" for "feral" dog.