หรืออะไรหรือ

[klons]

From a Thai story:

ตัวเขาหรืออะไรหรือใคร ที่บันดาลให้เขาต้องมาอยู่ในที่เช่นนี้

translation: They or what or who has forced these people to

live like this?

Could the first line be used as a fixed construction?

ตัวเขาหรืออะไรหรือใคร

XXXหรืออะไรหรือYYY

For example, if someone remarked that some animals escaped from the zoo, would the following work to ask what sort of animals?:

สิงโตหรืออะไรหรือลิง

Lions or what or monkeys?

[agent69]

'อะไร' in this sentence refers to a supernatural beings such as angels, devils or ghosts. The whole sentence implies some supernatural theme or aspiration (หรือใคร).

How you can use that sort of word construction would really depend on the context of the sentence.

[aanon]

It can be read literally, though it is a bit hard to translate neatly. I think agent69 is on the right track with the supernatural suggestion. God would be the prime candidate, I suppose. Not a fixed expression.

"Who or what -- himself? someone else? something else? -- had caused him to come to be in such a place?"

อานนท์

[klons]

It can be read literally, though it is a bit hard to translate neatly. I think agent69 is on the right track with the supernatural suggestion. God would be the prime candidate, I suppose. Not a fixed expression.

"Who or what -- himself? someone else? something else? -- had caused him to come to be in such a place?"

อานนท์

Thanks for the replies. Speaking of the supernatural, I have been confused about

the ways in which เจ้า is used in this same story and elsewhere. In the excerpt below

is the wife simply addressing her husband as เจ้า ? or is she referring to the god or prince of stinky water?

(husband):“อ้าว แล้วเธอเป็นอะไรไปล่ะ”

(wife):“ก็เจ้ากลิ่นน้ำครำที่ใต้ถุนห้องสกปรกนั่นซี”

"Then what's wrong?"

"The stench from the sewage under those huts, of course!

[aanon]

It can be read literally, though it is a bit hard to translate neatly. I think agent69 is on the right track with the supernatural suggestion. God would be the prime candidate, I suppose. Not a fixed expression.

"Who or what -- himself? someone else? something else? -- had caused him to come to be in such a place?"

อานนท์

Thanks for the replies. Speaking of the supernatural, I have been confused about

the ways in which เจ้า is used in this same story and elsewhere. In the excerpt below

is the wife simply addressing her husband as เจ้า ? or is she referring to the god or prince of stinky water?

(husband):"อ้าว แล้วเธอเป็นอะไรไปล่ะ"

(wife):"ก็เจ้ากลิ่นน้ำครำที่ใต้ถุนห้องสกปรกนั่นซี"

"Then what's wrong?"

"The stench from the sewage under those huts, of course!

The เจ้า refers to the smell. I'd say the effect is the same as ก็...ไอ้กลิ่นน้ำครำ -- its use indicates a degree of displeasure/frustration*. I'm not sure whether to describe the use of เจ้า as a type of personification. To me it does have that feel; however, I'm not a native Thai speaker. Will look forward to comments from others.

* ไอ้ doesn't always convey this meaning, just in some instances.

Edited July 16, 2009 by aanon

[SoftWater]

The เจ้า refers to the smell. I'd say the effect is the same as ก็...ไอ้กลิ่นน้ำครำ -- its use indicates a degree of displeasure/frustration*. I'm not sure whether to describe the use of เจ้า as a type of personification. To me it does have that feel; however, I'm not a native Thai speaker. Will look forward to comments from others.

* ไอ้ doesn't always convey this meaning, just in some instances.

I'm surprised to learn you can use ไอ้ (normally a derogatory term) and เจ้า (normally a term of respect) interchangeably in any context. Still, I think aanon must be right that it's not being used as a pronoun, as then it should come before ก็ i think, not after.

Would be good to get a definitive answer on this one. งง

Some more context from earlier in the dialogue would be helpful.

Edited July 16, 2009 by SoftWater