Teenagers Langauge.

[ThaiAdventure]

Ive been slowly learning to read Thai (self taught so very slowly ). And am at a level where I can read a newspaper in about 1 day with the occasional use of a dictionary (not great I know. But getting there).

I then decided to have a look at a few bloggs/social networking sites to see what I could read in terms of colloquial Thai. Very little as it turns out

I came accross this conversation between 2 teenage Thai girls (a little of which is below) and was immediately stumped mainly because of the use of vulgar vocabulary due (i hope) to thier famiiarity. A dictionary isn't much help in this scenario.

Girl 2:

ลั๊ก กุ เลาะ สัด ผอม ปัย น่ มึง

Girl 1:

เม๊ลล น๊ อิ๊ ดอก

กุว์ ก๊ ลั๊ก เมิ๊ง เหมือน กัล

กิน เย๊อๆ เด๊

จะ ดั้ย ทัน กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย...

With a lot of use of a dictionary and spelling trial and error I think I have got the gist of the conversation. But a literal translation would be appreciated since it is very easy to mispell (or miss pronounce) a word and get the wrong end of the stick.

(For example I think ลั๊ก should really be รัก and เม๊ลล should really be ไม่ร้อน. กุ =ฉัน but is it the same as กุว์? ).

[mikenyork]

If it's any consolation, my college educated, 30 year old significant other didn't have much more luck (if as much) as you did in interpreting this. It is to Thai, I would opine, what gangsta rap is to English. Each to his own, but for me, there's way too much Thai to learn to bother with rubish like this.

[Baa_Mango]

seems like they are spelling things phonetically right but easier to type.. lazy lazeee

กู is just the word for I.. not so vulgar as almost all people use it with one another ( ie friends.. rude when its strangers ) then of course มึง which is the กู equivalent of you.. and i also saw สัด which is the slangy/insult version of the proper word for animal สัตว์

อิ๊ ดอก = golden flower or "whore" ดอกทอง shortened to อิ๊ ดอก (e-dok) but very common for girls to call eachother this lovingly.. i hear it everday at uni.. non stop.

เหมือน กัล = เหมือน กัน but they using the ล for its final consonant น properties! lazy skanks!!

also เมิ๊ง is just a slangy online version of มึง

i am just guessing now but i am thinking ปัย = ไป

and also pretty sure your right about the whole ลั๊ก = รัก anyways the other stuff (actually all of it ) is pretty confusing.. something about one girl trying to be skinny but eat a lot like her friend and love each her the same as eating lots ? grr dunno. anyone else break this down some more ?

[ThaiAdventure]

seems like they are spelling things phonetically right but easier to type.. lazy lazeee

กู is just the word for I.. not so vulgar as almost all people use it with one another ( ie friends.. rude when its strangers ) then of course มึง which is the กู equivalent of you.. and i also saw สัด which is the slangy/insult version of the proper word for animal สัตว์

อิ๊ ดอก = golden flower or "whore" ดอกทอง shortened to อิ๊ ดอก (e-dok) but very common for girls to call eachother this lovingly.. i hear it everday at uni.. non stop.

เหมือน กัล = เหมือน กัน but they using the ล for its final consonant น properties! lazy skanks!!

also เมิ๊ง is just a slangy online version of มึง

i am just guessing now but i am thinking ปัย = ไป

and also pretty sure your right about the whole ลั๊ก = รัก anyways the other stuff (actually all of it ) is pretty confusing.. something about one girl trying to be skinny but eat a lot like her friend and love each her the same as eating lots ? grr dunno. anyone else break this down some more ?

Indeed. I came to the conclusion that they were (mainly?) taking about thier size too. In particular

กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย

Which I came to the conclusion meant "I'm dumpy".

But there are some wierd irregularities.

girl 1:

ลั๊ก กุ เลาะ สัด ผอม ปัย น่ มึง

As you pointed out I thought สัด=Animal. So is she saying "the skinny animal has gone?" But I also found a reference to the exact spelling of สัด which meant "in heat" also pertaining to animals. But that makes even less sense (skinny period has gone ). However if (as I suspect) น่=มี and if you ignore the ผอม then you get "My period has finished. Do you have"?

Girl 2:

มเม๊ลล น๊อิ๊ · ดอก

"I'm not hot"

I think this is fairly straight forward considering the circumstances

กุว์ ก๊ลั๊ก · เมิ๊ง · เหมือน · กัล

"I ? the same".

This line, however, I'm unable to ascertain what ก๊ลั๊ก is supposed to be and therefore cannot guess by context.

กิน · เย๊อ ๆ เด๊

เด๊ could mean เด้อ (issan) or it could be ได้ (but in the following sentence its spelt differently yet again- however the meaning of the sentence is the same) so this line I think means "can eat a lot" but without understanding the previous line I'm unsure whether it is the speaker that can eat a lot or she is telling the other girl to eat a lot.lol.

จะ ดั้ย ทัน กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย...

I can ? I'm dumpy.

In this case the dictionary tells me that ทัน means "in time, promptly etc". But my suspicion is that it is supposed be an abbreviation and bastardisation of ทานข้าว considering the context of the conversation.

The thing that amazes me is with written Thai, it takes just as much effort to write badly as it does to write correctly. So why not just write proper Thai

[ThaiAdventure]

Oooooh. I think I figured out ก๊ลั๊ก.

Since ลั๊ก=รัก then this must be ก็รัก. this makes sense in that she is saying

"I also love the same" (presumably talking about food but maybe they are Toms. That would put a whole new slant on things..lol)

[meadish_sweetball]

จะ ดั้ย ทัน กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย...

I can ? I'm dumpy.

In this case the dictionary tells me that ทัน means "in time, promptly etc". But my suspicion is that it is supposed be an abbreviation and bastardisation of ทานข้าว considering the context of the conversation.

The thing that amazes me is with written Thai, it takes just as much effort to write badly as it does to write correctly. So why not just write proper Thai

Not about logic. Jargon is developed in all types of situation. It is a "belonging" thing.

ทัน = keep up with, keep abreast with.

กิน เย๊อๆ เด๊

'Eat lots and lots...'

จะ ดั้ย ทัน กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย...

'...and you'll keep up with me, short-ass.'

so I'd translate into something like

If you wanna keep up with me, keep stuffing yourself, short-ass.

เด๊ = slang, signals command, probably from สิ via ดิ

-------------------

ลั๊ก กุ เลาะ สัด ผอม ปัย น่ มึง

Do you really love me, you bastard? I'm too skinny.

--------------------

เม๊ลล should really be ไม่ร้อน

I think เม๊ลล is either a name, or a completely bastardized spelling of either เหม็น (to stink) or แหม which is an interjection along the lines of 'gosh, jeez' etc.

[anchan42]

I could hardly understand them. I am getting old obviously.

These two girls need to go to school. If they were my girls I would seriously question their education and my method of raising them.

Edited May 24, 2010 by anchan42

[Tod Daniels]

I thought this post is pretty indicative of how much thai is 'internet-i-fied' or 'bastardized' when younger thais speak to each other via blogs or some chat program and even in SMS’s.

The other day when my home internet was on the fritz, I went to an internet shop populated by predominantly 20 something y/o thai-gurls (not to be confused with a 20 something y/o 'tigers' ). The gurl next to me was typin’ away like a mad-man (or mad-woman), and because she had long nails the clacking was incessant!!

Even though she had her font set at about a '36' (evidently she wasn't wearing her contacts or glasses ) I still couldn't make headz or tailz out of what she was writing as it was written in exactly the same style as the O/P's post. And although I tried several times I could only pick out a word or two at the most.

Edited May 24, 2010 by tod-daniels

[anchan42]

On second note, I could not see the point of trying to decipher these highly encrypted messages apart form inducing a headache to yourself.

If I were learning Thai, I would not bother with this kind of language at all unless the teenager chat rooms were my frequent venue.

[ThaiAdventure]

I could hardly understand them. I am getting old obviously.

These two girls need to go to school. If they were my girls I would seriously question their education and my method of raising them.

I think as Meadish and Mikenyork pointed out. Its jargon akin to gangsta rap. I did see earlier in the thread a 3rd party posted a comment and they wrote perfectly adequate (and respectful) Thai in response.

[ThaiAdventure]

Not about logic. Jargon is developed in all types of situation. It is a "belonging" thing.

Indeed.

ทัน = keep up with, keep abreast with.

กิน เย๊อๆ เด๊

'Eat lots and lots...'

จะ ดั้ย ทัน กุว์ อิ๊ เตี้ย...

'...and you'll keep up with me, short-ass.'

so I'd translate into something like

If you wanna keep up with me, keep stuffing yourself, short-ass.

เด๊ = slang, signals command, probably from สิ via ดิ

I was close then, but no prize

Interesting how you've re-arranged the sentence in the last line. Your line-by-line translation has exactly the same meaning and emphasis but with fewer words injected. What made you decide to do that? Since you could have left it as:

"Stuff yourself and you'll keep up with me, short ass"

ลั๊ก กุ เลาะ สัด ผอม ปัย น่ มึง

Do you really love me, you bastard? I'm too skinny.

Well. I was way off the mark on this one

Skinny I get but "I'm too"? What is the decomposition of "ปัย น่ มึง" that equates to that? I obviously wrongly assumed ปัย = ไป. (As did Baa_Mango) and guessed at "น่". But มึง=you so it seemed to me the other person was the subject of the comment rather than the speaker.

I think เม๊ลล is either a name, or a completely bastardized spelling of either เหม็น (to stink) or แหม which is an interjection along the lines of 'gosh, jeez' etc.

Ahh. Yes. That would make sense. I think the "Gosh, Jeez" is probably the most likely having read the previous posts..

Word-by-word decomposition perhaps isn't the best way to understand. But I use it as the first step when encountering new terminolgy (hence it takes me a day to read a newspaper). Decompose the words. Replace word groupings with known meanings. Inspect the context then re-arrange and add the little words like "and" "the" etc. Its slow but because I'm continuously reading the words over a long period; it sinks in. In most scenarios (proper Thai) I get probably a 95% understanding of unknown words and phrases. But with these 2 girls it was probably more like 10%

Edited May 24, 2010 by ThaiAdventure

[anchan42]

I could hardly understand them. I am getting old obviously.

These two girls need to go to school. If they were my girls I would seriously question their education and my method of raising them.

I think as Meadish and Mikenyork pointed out. Its jargon akin to gangsta rap. I did see earlier in the thread a 3rd party posted a comment and they wrote perfectly adequate (and respectful) Thai in response.

I know what it is but still... however linguistically interesting but still...

It reminded me of a Thai saying.

สำเนียงส่อภาษา กริยาส่อสกุล

[ThaiAdventure]

I could hardly understand them. I am getting old obviously.

These two girls need to go to school. If they were my girls I would seriously question their education and my method of raising them.

I think as Meadish and Mikenyork pointed out. Its jargon akin to gangsta rap. I did see earlier in the thread a 3rd party posted a comment and they wrote perfectly adequate (and respectful) Thai in response.

I know what it is but still... however linguistically interesting but still...

It reminded me of a Thai saying.

สำเนียงส่อภาษา กริยาส่อสกุล

Hmmm. Maybe but

กำแพงมีหู ประตูมีตา

[anchan42]

We have got most of it cracked I think, apart from เม๊ลล น๊. I think it could be "you mail me" or เมล์ (กู) นะ

[meadish_sweetball]

Agree that makes more sense than my guesses.

[ThaiAdventure]

Sweet.

Thanks for all your help. I've learnt a few new phrases (that I can probably never use) and had insight into teenage laziness. I'll put some cling film over this particular can of worms for a while and come back to it once I can read a newspaper in an hour

[anchan42]

I could hardly understand them. I am getting old obviously.

These two girls need to go to school. If they were my girls I would seriously question their education and my method of raising them.

I think as Meadish and Mikenyork pointed out. Its jargon akin to gangsta rap. I did see earlier in the thread a 3rd party posted a comment and they wrote perfectly adequate (and respectful) Thai in response.

I know what it is but still... however linguistically interesting but still...

It reminded me of a Thai saying.

สำเนียงส่อภาษา กริยาส่อสกุล

Hmmm. Maybe but

กำแพงมีหู ประตูมีตา

Not sure how that fit. Are we playing "throwing random Thai sayings at each other game"?