ครอบงำ

[klons 29]

Part 1:

ทนความยากแค้นครอบงำไม่ไหว คู่ชีวิตจึงทิ้งร้าง

ครอบงำ [V] dominate; overpower; reign; overshadow; override; predominate

ครอบ [N] lid; cover [V] cover; overarch

งำ [V] conceal; hide; cover from sight; keep from sight

That is the lead in to a human interest piece about a poor old man trying

to eke out rice money picking up bottles and weaving baskets. The government

and neighbors helped him into a new house with water & electricity, a big

improvement over his grass shack. So it does not seem like he is an angry person.

แค้นครอบงำ has me confused. If that had been left out of the line I’d translate it

something like - can’t endure hardship paired with a desolate wasted life.

Anyway, what would be a suitable translation for the line as written?

anger at hardship dominates? concealed anger at hardship?

Part 2:

ไร้น้ำใช้ และไฟฟ้า จนผู้ชมทางบ้าน ทราบเรื่องจากสกู๊ปชีวิต

in that line, I can’t find สกู๊ป in a dictionary. Would anyone know what

สกู๊ป is?

TIA for any replies.

[PNGinBKK 1]

Looks like scoop.

[mikenyork 9]

For "Part I", I get "Unableto endure the hardship (of poverty), (and) his/her partner's control over her(him), he(she) deserted (his/her partner)". This is pretty different from your reading, so maybe I'm missing something, but that's what I get, for better or worse.

For part II, I get ซคู๊ป to be, as did an earlier post, "scoop", but like many English "tapsap" words, it clearly doesn't mean in Thai exactly what it does in English. I don't know this word in Thai. My best guess is that it means something like the "grapevine" but that's a guess.

So, if I had to render it, I would say "Without water or electricity until his neighbors learned (of his plight) via the grapevine. That's probably not quite it, but I can't find this word in any of my dictionaries. Wait for some พี่ๆ to sign on I guess.

[DavidHouston 167]

My take is closer to Mike's:

ทนความยากแค้นครอบงำไม่ไหว คู่ชีวิตจึงทิ้งร้าง

"[His wife] could no longer tolerate the crushing poverty [which beset them]; shetherefore deserted him."

It seems to me that since there is no apparent subject of the first clause, we should assume a priori that the subject of the second clause is the subject of the first. The second indicator is the use of the word จึง which seems to identify the first clause as the causal factor for the result in the second clause.

I might not have come to this conclusion if you hadn't let the cat out of the bag about the impoverished man. What do you think?

[Rikker 25]

To clarify OP's confusion about แค้น, it's part of the phrase ยากแค้น, meaning to be impoverished or destitute.

[klons 29]

OK, thanks for clearing that up. I think the wife left him also because the next line is:

พอลูกชาย ทำงานได้ ก็ทิ้งหายไปอีกคน

Which I guess means as soon his son could work another person deserted him.

[rakloke 3]

I think David's version is a perfect one.

ยากแค้น is an adjective.

ความยากแค้น is its noun.

[SoftWater 3]

Like others I couldn't find สกู๊ปชีวิต in any of my paper or online dictionaries, so I had to go to the ultimate reference source (always a last resort, as she's not impressed with the 'walking dictionary' tag):

According to the mrs, สกู๊ปชีวิต is the name for those little stories at the end of the TV newscasts (just like in this example), about poor people or old people that have fallen on hard luck, often because they have no family or have been deserted. I gather the idea is to try and generate public donations for the one concerned.

Edited September 16, 2010 by SoftWater

[Rikker 25]

สกู๊ป is, of course, 'scoop'. I'd say สกู๊ปชีวิต is basically a 'human interest story'. The term 'scoop' seems a bit out of place, but it seems to be used more loosely in Thai.

A comparable use of ชีวิต is found in the drama section of a video store like Mangpong. 'Drama' films are called หนังชีวิต, since their main distinguishing feature is that they tell stories of human existence, sans excessive action, comedy, etc.

So a สกู๊ปชีวิต would basically be a story of true-life drama, which is why I think 'human interest story' is the best match.