If someone sends me this

"Don't believe me na, don tob na, kow jai mai"

What does it mean?

It means whoever sent that message needs to brush up on their karaoke Thai!

Cant make heads or tails about the middle part, (other than maybe it being the word "don't" again, but without the apostraphe and with a misplaced space between the "n" and the "t", and no clue what "ob" means).. but of course the end part is asking: "Understand, yes?"

update: My TGF thinks the middle part might roughly translate to "don't slap me"...

Errr.. what have you been up to, dude..?

I suspect it means

"Don't believe me na, don't answer (dtorb or tob) na, understand?

Edited February 8, 201115 yr by Parvis

I suspect it means

"Don't believe me na, don't answer (dtorb or tob) na, understand?

yes.. that's more likely the correct meaning.. (as per the TGF)

Sorry, she was a little slow on the draw (converting "tob" to "dtorb" in her head)..

I think the middle part might be written correctly, with "don" being " โดน"

(if you) don't believe me, you're going to get smacked. understand?

I think the middle part might be written correctly, with "don" being " โดน"

(if you) don't believe me, you're going to get smacked. understand?

Just asked the pudding burner on Skype. She reckons 'dob' means 'boxing' as in the famous 'dob salob salai' = 'knock you out (unconscious)'

So the full Tinglish for 'don dob na' would be 'want boxing your face'.:jap:

Edited February 8, 201115 yr by ElCata

I think the middle part might be written correctly, with "don" being " โดน"

(if you) don't believe me, you're going to get smacked. understand?

Possibly.. but it's "โดนตบ".. (dohn dtohp).. which is past tense..

If it doesn't have a "จะ" (ja) or a "เดี๋ยว" (diaao) coming before the "โดนตบ" (dohn dtohp) to make it future tense, then it's meaning is past tense.

Of course, if there's an implied "if you" at the beginning, then perhaps the writer meant to imply a "ja" before the "dohn dtohp", as well?

Even if it's actually "โดนตบหน้า" (did slap face), there's still a confusing grammar/tense problem with the sentence.

Anyway, this is still a very good example of how badly things can get confused with Karaoke Thai & Tinglish mashups.. JUST SAY NO! 5555

I think the middle part might be written correctly, with "don" being " โดน"

(if you) don't believe me, you're going to get smacked. understand?

Possibly.. but it's "โดนตบ".. (dohn dtohp).. which is past tense..

If it doesn't have a "จะ" (ja) or a "เดี๋ยว" (diaao) coming before the "โดนตบ" (dohn dtohp) to make it future tense, then it's meaning is past tense.

Of course, if there's an implied "if you" at the beginning, then perhaps the writer meant to imply a "ja" before the "dohn dtohp", as well?

Even if it's actually "โดนตบหน้า" (did slap face), there's still a confusing grammar/tense problem with the sentence.

Anyway, this is still a very good example of how badly things can get confused with Karaoke Thai & Tinglish mashups.. JUST SAY NO! 5555

Yeah, that's how I was interpreting it: "if you...... then..........

I never even considered na as being "face" since it's usually written as "naa", and the first na doesn't make sense as "face" . I think it is the particle na which was being used to make it conditional. The first na makes it "if you don't believe me". The second na makes it a warning for the future "you are going to get hit" (so no need for ja)

Like you said, SO easy to get confused reading karaoke.