My "new" Favorite Thai Phrase

[NaiGreg]

ตัวใครตัวมัน dtua-krai-dtua-man = "every man for himself"

This is one of the first phrases I ever learned (because my wife uses it a lot when she is frustrated with people cutting in line or in traffic) so I am very comfortable with hearing it and using it but it still baffles me how the phrase can be stretched to its English meaning. Because taken literally it is gibberish.

Anyway, a useful phrase. Anyone know of its origins?

แค่นี้นะ

-NG

[Peppy]

Hi all! First post for me here, thought I'd give this one a go.

First, some very rough vocabulary definitions (in the context of the phrase):

ตัว = body or self, as in ตัวเอง self, and เห็นแก่ตัว to be selfish

ใคร = who, whoever, each person (who)

มัน = a somewhat vulgar third person pronoun--he, she, it, or they

Now, looking at each part of the phrase:

ตัวใคร roughly means, "whoever's body" or "whoever's self" (The noun preceding a noun or pronoun shows possession--that is, the first noun is 'owned' by the second. Often this is explicitly stated with ของ between two words but it's usually omitted in everyday speech and in certain fixed expressions, as in พ่อเขา = พ่อของเขา his father, or ประตูรถ = ประตูของรถ the car('s) door).

ตัวมัน means, by the same logic as above, "their body" or "their self" (or "his self").

So an expanded, grammatically clearer version of ตัวใครตัวมัน could be ตัวของใคร เป็นตัวของมัน "Each person's body is their body," the idea being that the people referenced are claiming ownership specifically over their individual selves, and, implicitly, not looking out for the interests of anyone else. It's every man for himself!

(Interestingly, the idea that nobody else's interests are being taken into consideration is left implicit in the English version as well.)