Back when the "war on drugs" was going on we where at the local market and a car pulled up and shot two people allegedly involved in drugs, apparently this was carried out by the police.

Anyway, my friend turns to me and says " shuak gai hi ling do" basicly

"Cut the chickens throat and let the monkeys watch"

ie They were being made an examlpe of.

Anyone esle know any thai sayings and their meanings?

Cheers

Back when the "war on drugs" was going on  we where at the local market and a car pulled up and shot two people allegedly involved in drugs, apparently this was carried out by the police.

Anyway, my friend turns to me and says " shuak gai hi ling do" basicly

"Cut the chickens throat and let the monkeys watch"

ie They were being made an examlpe of.

Anyone esle know any thai sayings and their meanings?

Cheers

Anyone esle know any thai sayings and their meanings?

Okay Random!Here are a few...

1.กลืนไม่เข้าคลายไม่ออก=gleun mai kaow klai mai ohk=Can't swallow it down,can't spit it out either! (i.e.To be in a dilemma)

2.เสียเงินกินเปล่า=See-a ngeun gin plaow=To pay tea money.

3.นอนไม่อิ่ม=non mai im=Haven't gotten enough sleep.

4.นั่งกินนอนกิน=nang gin non gin=To live of one's wealth.

5.เป็นภัยแก่ตัว=bpen phai gae dtoa=To make problems for oneself.

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

There is excelent book of thai proverbs:

http://www.thaihypermarket.com/books/en-us/p_58.html

and here is some online ones:

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/thai/proverbs/proverbs_FS.htm

Anyone esle know any thai sayings and their meanings?

Hi again Random Chances.

It seems to be slipping into a coma so I'll try to resuscitate this wonderful thread with a little idiomatic CPR!

Here's another batch of Thai sayings!

1.ขอแรงหน่อย=ko raeng noi=Give me a hand please.

2.ช่างมัน=chahng man=Let it be./Leave it like it is./Don't disturb.

3.ชั่งหัวมัน=chang hua man=Never mind./Don't worry./Doesn't matter.

4.ยิ่งเร็วยิ่งดี=ying reow ying dee=The sooner the better.

5.คอยด้วยความตั้งใจ=koy doo-ay kwam dtang jai=Look forward to it.

6.ยิงที่เดียวได้นกสองตัว=ying tee dee-oh dai nok sorng dtoa=Kill two birds with only one stone.

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

http://www.dcothai.com/learning/morethai.htm

many more sayings here (with sound) Click here

Thanks Snowlepard, and the others, good links, just about killed the thread off though .

Now if you'd off copied one and pasted it here every now and again we would all be thinking how clever you where

Anyway Cheers All

RC

A JAR OF PICKLED GARLIC WITH LEGS

"A SHORT, FAT PERSON"

http://www.dcothai.com/learning/morethai.htm

From this website.... I'd love to know how to say this in Thai so that I can get a slap off my girl! I don't have sound on my PC. If someone can write it Phoneticaly, I would be grateful.

As far as I can tell " Hai grattium dto car"

A JAR OF PICKLED GARLIC WITH LEGS

"A SHORT, FAT PERSON"

http://www.dcothai.com/learning/morethai.htm

From this website.... I'd love to know how to say this in Thai so that I can get a slap off my girl! I don't have sound on my PC. If someone can write it Phoneticaly, I would be grateful. 

Here you go!

ไหกระเทียมต่อขา=Hai gra-tee-am dto kah=A jar of pickled garlic.

ไห=hai=an earthern jar

กระเทียม=gra-tee-am=garlic

ไหกระเทียม=hai gra-tee-am=a jar for keeping preserved garlics;or,a fat girl

ต่อ=dto=extended,erected,on,lengthen

ขา=kah=legs

Slap happy times ensured!

Cheers.

Snowleopard

Just to make sure you say it correctly - with tone...

Hai RISING

gra-tee-am MID

dto LOW

kah RISING

Then start to run.............

Tum dern (sorry can't write the thai) : Walking water jar (the big water jars you see upcountry) will get you the same effect as the pickled garlic comment!

Thanks alot fellas, I will try this out tonight!

Great stuff! She didn't find the garlic jar offensive but when I hit her with Tum Dern she went crazy!

"Who teach you that? that not good in Thailand!" Laugh? I nearly bought a round.

It's just that she was trying to fix my mate up with a mate of hers and I asked her to describe her.... "she's beautiful Andy, she's tall and thin"

and if she's tall and thin... you are?

she thought for a minute and reluctantly said "err, short and fat"

Anyway, we're still speaking!

thanks again.

Just to make sure you say it correctly - with tone...

Hai FALLING

gra-tee-am MID

dto LOW

kah RISING

Then start to run.............

Surely ไห is rising! It's ไห้ 'give' that has a falling tone.

Just to make sure you say it correctly - with tone...

Hai   FALLING

gra-tee-am MID

dto  LOW

kah  RISING

Then start to run.............

Surely ไห is rising! It's ไห้ 'give' that has a falling tone.

Hi Richard!

Allow me to correct your Thai spelling for ให้="hai"="give" which should be spelled with the vowel "mai moo-an"(ใ) and not with the vowel "mai malai"(ไ)!

The vowel "mai moo-an"(ใ)

ให้=hai=give

The other ไห้="hai",which you wrote above,is spelled with the similar vowel "mai malai"(ไ) but it is only found in joined words like these two examples below:

1.ร่ำไห้=rahm hai=wailing or weeping incessantly

2.ร้องไห้=rong hai=cry

Both "MAI's" are spelled with "mai toh"!

Now I'm ready so please do come back to tell more about the tones because it's always interesting!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Tum dern (sorry can't write the thai) : Walking water jar (the big water jars you see upcountry) will get you the same effect as the pickled garlic comment! 

I think it's spelled ตุ่มเดิน=dtohm deurn!

The effect might be even stronger than the pickled garlic comment because,in addition to a "large earthern jar","dtohm" can also mean nastier things!

ตุ่ม=dtohm=a pimple;a boil;a sore;a large earthern jar

Rudeness talks ตุ่มเดิน "dtohm deurn" walks?

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Hi folks!

Here's today's sampling of Thai idioms!

1.กินกัน "gin gun"=Go together.Harmonize.

2.กู้หน้า "goo nah"=To save one's face.

3.แก้ตัว "gae dtoah"=To excuse oneself.

4.กรอกรายการ "grook raay-gahn"=To fill out a form.

5.แข็งขัน "kaeng kahn"=To try the utmost.

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

My favourite is:

Mai tem baht = not the full shilling

Hi folks!

Here's today's sampling of Thai idioms!

1.กินกัน "gin gun"=Go together.Harmonize.

2.กู้หน้า "goo nah"=To save one's face.

3.แก้ตัว "gae dtoah"=To excuse oneself.

4.กรอกรายการ "grook raay-gahn"=To fill out a form.

5.แข็งขัน "kaeng kahn"=To try the utmost.

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Snowleopard: some great posts by you here!

While "กรอกรายการ" is certainly more traditional Thai, today "กรอกฟอร์ม" seems a lot more common ([grawk fawm], where "fawm" is an English direct loan - "form").

My personal favourite, which is very apt for describing the concealment tactics of politicians, is:

ช้างตายทั้งตัว เอาใบบัวมาปิด(ไม่มิด) chaang taai thang tua ao bai bua maa pit (mai mit)

= <Eng. semi-literal> You cannot hide a whole dead elephant behind a lotus leaf

= <Eng. idiom.> What is done by night appears at day

= <Swe. idiom.> Det som göms i snö kommer upp i tö (What is hidden under snow will appear when it thaws)

My personal favourite, which is very apt for describing the concealment tactics of politicians, is:

ช้างตายทั้งตัว เอาใบบัวมาปิด(ไม่มิด) chaang taai thang tua ao bai bua maa pit (mai mit)

= <Eng. semi-literal> You cannot hide a whole dead elephant behind a lotus leaf

= <Eng. idiom.> What is done by night appears at day

= <Swe. idiom.> Det som göms i snö kommer upp i tö (What is hidden under snow will appear when it thaws)

ช้างตายทั้งตัว เอาใบบัวมาปิด(ไม่มิด) chaang taai thang tua ao bai bua maa pit (mai mit)

Goodie Meadish! Hope you've got several more of that caliber to share with us?

Gather around folks!It's idiom time!

1.ขอไปที "koh pai tee";or,ขอไปหน่อย "koh pai noi"=Let me pass please.

2.เข้ากัน "kaow gun"=To be a good match.

3.ค่อยอ้วนขึ้น "koy o-an keun"=To thrive and put on weight.

4.ค่อยๆเลิกไป "To stop or finish something step by step.

5.คิดถึงบ้าน "kit teung bahn"=To get or be homesick.

Sweet dreams

Snowleopard

The link http://www.dcothai.com/learning/morethai.htm refered to by a couple of contributors has now been changed.

I should be obliged that if any one downloaded the 30 or so expressions on this link if they might mail them to me at [email protected]

Thanks

hi,

a bit out of topic

but i'm so doubting --many thais words can't really translate into the exact meaning in english words

like, when my hubby asking me if i get anygry or not

it's not really 'angry'

but i'm งอน or น้อยใจ

instead!

งอน = gnon

น้อยใจ = noi jai

what are the closest meaning in english, folks?

I like .....mai long mai ruu !!

Never try never know !!

Dear girlfrombar,

งอน could translate as in a sulk or sulking, but these are rather negative so the person sulking might retort," I'm not sulking, I'm pi---ed off with.....",or in more polite language, "I've had it up to here with...."or ""I've had enough of..", or "I'm fed up of...I'm in a bad mood.".

Regarding น้อยใจ feeling hurt [by] or upset with may do, ie" I felt hurt when my friend didn't invite me to her wedding"

All the best,

Bannork.

Don't know how to input Thai characters, any way probably take forever.

One of my favourites is

See saw hai kwai fung

Literally "play violin for buffalo to hear"

meaning (good advice) falls on death ears

Another one not to use if you want to stay alive is

Poo ying sooay dtair mai homm ( beautiful lady , but doesn't smell too good)

This is very insulting means good looking but VERY bad.

I used this expression once when under the influence and a bit confused. The girl I'd addressed was NOT best pleased. However all the Thais in earshot absolutely erupted. They thought it really funny to hear a Farang use such a phrase. The next day the story was all round the village and nearly everyone I met laughed and repeated it to me.

I was told the other day that....

Naa neu jai suar young tur (face, body, heart of the tiger) from the bird+seksun song meant "she is 2 faced".

I then asked what does "Tur naa song" mean and he said "2 faced".

anyone confirm this?

Anyone esle know any thai sayings and their meanings?

Hi again Random Chances.

It seems to be slipping into a coma so I'll try to resuscitate this wonderful thread with a little idiomatic CPR!

Here's another batch of Thai sayings!

1.ขอแรงหน่อย=ko raeng noi=Give me a hand please.

2.ช่างมัน=chahng man=Let it be./Leave it like it is./Don't disturb.

3.ชั่งหัวมัน=chang hua man=Never mind./Don't worry./Doesn't matter.

4.ยิ่งเร็วยิ่งดี=ying reow ying dee=The sooner the better.

5.คอยด้วยความตั้งใจ=koy doo-ay kwam dtang jai=Look forward to it.

6.ยิงที่เดียวได้นกสองตัว=ying tee dee-oh dai nok sorng dtoa=Kill two birds with only one stone.

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Hmmmmm.......... just tried dropping 'Chang hua man' into an sms to TGF and got into deep trouble. "Never say that! Not polite" Can anyone enlighten me as to the true meaning of this phrase?

Nothing wrong with ช่งหวม้น Chang Hua Man - use it all the time w/educated Thais etc. It's accepted speech...

I just happened to be looking at Snow Leopard's post containing "chang hua man" when my wife started wittering on about nothing in particular. I responded with the phrase much to her amusement. Nowt wrong with it.

Scouse.