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Thai Sayings and Phrases Wanted

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I like the expression- ดับเครื่องชน dup khruang chon- turn off the engine and crash, as in a Kamikazi pilot, meaning an all out attack, going for it 100%, letting the chips fall where they may.

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  • snowleopard
    snowleopard

    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 rae

  • 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!

  • meadish_sweetball
    meadish_sweetball

    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.

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I like the expression- ดับเครื่องชน dup khruang chon- turn off the engine and crash, as in a Kamikazi pilot, meaning an all out attack, going for it 100%, letting the chips fall where they may.

ultimately meaning though, that the resulting situation will be an improvement on the present one?

I like the expression- ดับเครื่องชน dup khruang chon- turn off the engine and crash, as in a Kamikazi pilot, meaning an all out attack, going for it 100%, letting the chips fall where they may.

ultimately meaning though, that the resulting situation will be an improvement on the present one?

Perhaps, it just means the attacker is going in with no holds barred, no punches pulled, no restraint; the end result is beyond the idiom's meaning.

Perhaps, it just means the attacker is going in with no holds barred, no punches pulled, no restraint; the end result is beyond the idiom's meaning.

I agree with that.

100% focus, not think about anything else until the job gets done.

I just love some of these sayings, really helps me with my Thai, however having problems with this one. Would anybody know if there is a Thai equivilant of "Birds of a feather, flock together"

Sitting in a restaurant with the wife and her sister, I remarked that I never saw our neighbour read any textbooks from Ramkhamhaeng University even though he had been registered there for years, had loads of free time and still only had about 40 credits.

She immediately responded:พี่พูดกระทบกระทั่ง purt kratop kratang- you're implying\ insinuating...... (that I'm the same)- she's also studying at open university.

Actually I wasn't, but I thought it was a good phrase to know.

She immediately responded:พี่พูดกระทบกระทั่ง purt kratop kratang- you're implying\ insinuating...... (that I'm the same)- she's also studying at open university.

Actually I wasn't, but I thought it was a good phrase to know.

บางทีลูกสรย่อมรู้จุดอ่อนของเหยื่อ ดีก่วาผู้ยิงธนู ด้วยซ้ำ :o

New Meadish Proverb...

I like this one!

ช้า ๆ ได้พร้าเล่มงาม

cha cha dai Pla lem ngarm

"Good Things come to those who wait"

  • 4 weeks later...

Apologies if this one has appeared already but I'm not going to traipse back through 23 pages!

สองไพเบี้ย (you can add) นิ่งเสียตำลึงทอง meaning silence is golden.

  • 2 weeks later...

An interesting phrase was in the paper today concerning a scrap between 'Naen Air The Second' and a crippled man who was upset because a wooden barrier had been erected preventing him from walking over land he used to regard as access. He brought a knife as a friend.

ต่อสู้กันนัวเมีย dtor soo kan nua mia- to fight in a higgledly- piggledly way, to scrap over.

Can anyone think of better English to describe a messy fight?

An interesting phrase was in the paper today concerning a scrap between 'Naen Air The Second' and a crippled man who was upset because a wooden barrier had been erected preventing him from walking over land he used to regard as access. He brought a knife as a friend.

ต่อสู้กันนัวเมีย dtor soo kan nua mia- to fight in a higgledly- piggledly way, to scrap over.

Can anyone think of better English to describe a messy fight?

Hey bannork,

nice one... I like.

It should be ต่อสู้กันนัวเนีย (nua nia not nua mia)

English = your spot on. I would say "it was a very scrappy fight"

In The Rai!

An interesting phrase was in the paper today concerning a scrap between 'Naen Air The Second' and a crippled man who was upset because a wooden barrier had been erected preventing him from walking over land he used to regard as access. He brought a knife as a friend.

ต่อสู้กันนัวเมีย dtor soo kan nua mia- to fight in a higgledly- piggledly way, to scrap over.

Can anyone think of better English to describe a messy fight?

Hey bannork,

nice one... I like.

It should be ต่อสู้กันนัวเนีย (nua nia not nua mia)

English = your spot on. I would say "it was a very scrappy fight"

In The Rai!

Thanks for the correction In The Rai, I was wondering what the wife had to do with it!

An interesting phrase was in the paper today concerning a scrap between 'Naen Air The Second' and a crippled man who was upset because a wooden barrier had been erected preventing him from walking over land he used to regard as access. He brought a knife as a friend.

ต่อสู้กันนัวเมีย dtor soo kan nua mia- to fight in a higgledly- piggledly way, to scrap over.

Can anyone think of better English to describe a messy fight?

Hey bannork,

nice one... I like.

It should be ต่อสู้กันนัวเนีย (nua nia not nua mia)

English = your spot on. I would say "it was a very scrappy fight"

In The Rai!

Thanks for the correction In The Rai, I was wondering what the wife had to do with it!

Bannork,

If she is anything like mine she just wants to be in everything!! LOL

In The Rai!

A nice one in the paper today-ได้คืบจะเอาศอก dai kheup ja ao sork, to want more than you get, you get or buy a Honda but you want a Benz, always craving more. Can never get enough.

Perhaps useful if your girlfriend becomes a raging materialist.

A nice one in the paper today-ได้คืบจะเอาศอก dai kheup ja ao sork, to want more than you get, you get or buy a Honda but you want a Benz, always craving more. Can never get enough.

Perhaps useful if your girlfriend becomes a raging materialist.

Thats a good one!

I can use that one right away!

In The Rai!

Got a few idioms here ...

Gop nai gala - frog under a coconut shell - for someone who appears naive

Tao hua gnoo - old man with a snake on his head - dirty old man

Sintor keow hak - lions teeth have fallen out - ie when England got beaten in the WC

Cow hoo sai taloo hoo kwa - In your left ear and straight out the right ear - someone who doesnt listen

I either heard or read this somewhere recently, and cannot for the life of me remember where. But the phrase was "Waen Kham": เวร กรรม which I interpret as "Karma turns", similar to "Som nam naa" - serves you right.

Can someone confirm this, and would it be OK to use in place of "Som nam naa"?

Edit:

:o:D:D:D What a wally! Sorry - it was on this very forum that I saw it! Stupid boy! Please ignore the above!

If only I could find some red-faced smileys... :D:D:D

เวรกรรม as a noun = retribution (you pay for what you did, either in this life or your next life)

เวรกรรม as an interjection is something like "alas" to express of sorrow, pity (either to self or another person)

  • 1 month later...

There was a good one in the paper yesterday about a doctor who was secretely knocking off a business woman married to a pilot. ตีท้ายครัว dtee tai khrua- to make friends with a member of the family for personal secret gain.

It didn't work in this case as the pilot had his suspicions so he told his wife he would be away a few days. In the meantime his mates staked out his house and on the fourth night the doc arrived and stayed. The pilot knocked on the door at 3 am and shot his wife and the doc dead before fleeing the scene.

Can anybody help with a direct leteral translation of this phrase if they know it.

"Gon gum gon gwean"

It apparently means "what goes around comes around" and has something to do with The cart wheel turning full circle.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

P

There was a good one in the paper yesterday about a doctor who was secretely knocking off a business woman married to a pilot. ตีท้ายครัว dtee tai khrua- to make friends with a member of the family for personal secret gain.

It didn't work in this case as the pilot had his suspicions so he told his wife he would be away a few days. In the meantime his mates staked out his house and on the fourth night the doc arrived and stayed. The pilot knocked on the door at 3 am and shot his wife and the doc dead before fleeing the scene.

This meaning might work on this case.

ตีท้ายครัว - to commit adultery with another person's wife while the husband is away. :o

Can anybody help with a direct leteral translation of this phrase if they know it.

"Gon gum gon gwean"

It apparently means "what goes around comes around" and has something to do with The cart wheel turning full circle.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

P

"Gon gum gon gwean" - กงกำกงเกวียน

But the correct phrase for this idiom is กงเกวียนกำเกวียน

กงเกวียน - wheel of a cart.

กำเกวียน - wheel-spoke.

กงเกวียนกำเกวียน - a simile indicating the inevitability of cause and effect which equivalent to ' vicious circle' in English.

To fleece, skin, rip-off- ปอกลอก bork lork, literally to peel, as in a banana, and to peel, as in skin; a sad story in the paper today featured a 65 year-old German in 'love' with a 30 year-old girl in Pattaya; so he brought 2 million baht to Thailand, all that he got after separating from his wife, to finance his sunset years.

But the girl soon got through the money and then moved onto fresher pastures, so the German stabbed her to death, tried to cut up the body in an attempt to dispose of it, but failed, so slashed his wrists.

I dont know if this one has been covered but it will take too long to go through them all again.

There is a great little Thai saying that sums up backstabbing.

ไหว้หน้าหลอกหลัง wai nar lok lung ( people wai to your face and backstab when your back is turned)

In The Rai!

I dont know if this one has been covered but it will take too long to go through them all again.

There is a great little Thai saying that sums up backstabbing.

ไหว้หน้าหลอกหลัง wai nar lok lung ( people wai to your face and backstab when your back is turned)

In The Rai!

The correct saying is หน้าไหว้หลังหลอก - well-behaved in the presence of a person but become bad behind his back. :o

I dont know if this one has been covered but it will take too long to go through them all again.

There is a great little Thai saying that sums up backstabbing.

ไหว้หน้าหลอกหลัง wai nar lok lung ( people wai to your face and backstab when your back is turned)

In The Rai!

The correct saying is หน้าไหว้หลังหลอก - well-behaved in the presence of a person but become bad behind his back. :o

Thanks Yoot..

I dont know why I wrote it the way I did. I didnt even think about it yesterday.

Cheers

In The Rai!

I dont know if this one has been covered but it will take too long to go through them all again.

There is a great little Thai saying that sums up backstabbing.

ไหว้หน้าหลอกหลัง wai nar lok lung ( people wai to your face and backstab when your back is turned)

In The Rai!

The correct saying is หน้าไหว้หลังหลอก - well-behaved in the presence of a person but become bad behind his back. :o

Two-faced in English.

Here is one that I havent heard for a while.

ไมหึงไมหวง แต่อย่าควงให้เห้น

Mai huung mai hoowang dtae yar koowang hai hen

Literal translation I am not worried I am not worried but dont let me see you arm in arm with someone else(or with another lover)

The sayings that comes to mind would be

"What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You?"

or "I am not going to worry until I see it" might be a good one.

or there is "If you are going to do it I dont want to know about"

Can anyone think of a better English saying to match this. They are the only 3 I could come up with.

In The Rai!

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