Thai Sayings and Phrases Wanted

[Tod Daniels]

I bought a book only with proverbs but I liked only a few of them and I've never finished that book. It seems to me that not many Thais know the meaning of those proverbs <SNIP>

The american expression is actually; “The fruit (usually; apple) doesn't fall far from the tree”. It’s most common meaning is “like father like son”.

In fact the thais DO have an expression like this in their term;

เชื้อไม่ทิ้งแถว (cheuua^H mai^F thing^H thaaeo^R)

Their reference doesn't use a tree/fruit but someone's family lineage which cannot be discarded. Although slightly off topic; FWIW: the thais have the another expression when referring to looking at how a young woman will turn out to be as she ages, but the reference points are elephants and mothers it's;

ดูช้างให้ดูหาง ดูนางให้ดูแม่ (duu^M chaang^H hai^F duu^M haang^R duu^M naang^M hai^F duu^M maae^F). ..

I hafta disagree with your assertion that most thais don’t know proverbs, they do, but they use idiomatic expressions FAR more often than proverbs.

I have found I got far more bang-4-the-baht in terms of good really funny interaction with the thais if I'd use their idioms rather than proverbs. I think the delineation in thailand between a proverb and idiom seems much more blurred than in say america. Still I spent nearly an entire nite with the thai guys I drink with going over thai idioms and telling them the english equivalents.

Here's the link to Thai Language Dot Com's "Idiom page";

Thai Language Dot Com; IDIOMS

And here's the link to their "Proverb page";

Thai Language Dot Com; PROVERBS

A thai friend of mine gave me a printed booklet that his 10 y/o son got at school and it had 25 odd pages with HUNDREDS of thai idioms in it, each one with the thai definition of what they meant.

I've also found that most expressions in thai are very similar to their idiomatic or proverbial equivalent engrish translations once you factor in; geographical differences (with thailand being in S/E asia and all) in regards to use of different animals, fruits, vegetables, etc for analogous comparison, religious differences, cultural differences and to a lesser extent socio-economic differences based on the development of the country.

Both the US and thailand use many, many agrarian-based idiomatic expressions; given the HUGE numbers of people involved in farming here and the huge numbers who used to be farmers in the US.

As An Aside; I just picked a book up this afternoon at B2S which is called; "A to Z Dictionary of Idiom" <sic>. It's got almost all the american, british idioms in it; has the thai definition and uses a thai equivalent phrase if there is one. Good value. ..

[klons]

From a story about Sir Elton John and his mate supporting

gay marriage in California.

คู่สามีภรรยาไม้ป่าเดียวกัน เซอร์ เอลตัน จอห์น และเดวิด เฟอร์นิช

ไม้ป่าเดียวกัน wood from the same jungle (They are both gay)

2 peas in a pod, cut from the same cloth.

Also in the story

ชาวสีม่วงก็มีคุณสมบัติทุกอย่างเหมือนคนทั่วไป

ชาวสีม่วง Purple folks - I’m guessing here but it must be a

term used for gay people. I googled for images and it appears to

be gay people. I don’t know what else it could mean.

[bannork]

Here's a rather graphic one, originally Chinese, that appeared in the paper that has no name last week.

ค้าความไปกินขี้หมาดีกว่า better to eat dog shit than go to court.

It was from an article about a local in Trang who won an award by persuading locals with disputes to go to arbitration in the village and settle things out of court, thus saving themselves a lot of time and money.

[klons]

ที่เท่าแมวดิ้นตาย just enough dirt for a cat to die on

meaning a small bit of insignificant land, as in:

ทะเลาะกันทำไมที่เขมร ที่เท่าแมวดิ้นตาย

why fight over an insignificant bit of border land?

(This post is the results of my limited research abilities and has not been approved

by the Royal Thai Wordsmith.)

[hmmbug]

I came across this book the other day and thought it might be of interest here as it's quite recent:

๑๗๒๔ สำนวนสุภาษิต คำพังเพย

(my translation: 1724 idioms, proverbs and aphorisms)

โดย: รศ.วดี ชาติอุทิศ

ISBN 9786165110341

154 pages, ฿79

1st published: Nov 2010

Thai language only.

[RickBradford]

เมื่อพรรคเพื่อไทยกลับมามีอำนาจ ฝ่ายตรงข้ามก็เกรงเรื่องเช็กบิล

When the Peua Thai party returns to power, their opponents will fear the ... bill, the reckoning, the account, the charge sheet.

(From Matichon newspaper)

[badmedicine]

เมื่อพรรคเพื่อไทยกลับมามีอำนาจ ฝ่ายตรงข้ามก็เกรงเรื่องเช็กบิล

Any reason why the space appears between อำนาจ and ฝ่าย?

Isn't the second word modifying the first and thus part of the same phrase/clause? I've never been able to get a grip on the spacing rules in modern thai.

[Peppy]

เมื่อพรรคเพื่อไทยกลับมามีอำนาจ ฝ่ายตรงข้ามก็เกรงเรื่องเช็กบิล

Any reason why the space appears between อำนาจ and ฝ่าย?

Isn't the second word modifying the first and thus part of the same phrase/clause? I've never been able to get a grip on the spacing rules in modern thai.

เมื่อพรรคเพื่อไทยกลับมามีอำนาจ When the Peua Thai Party returns to power,

ฝ่ายตรงข้ามก็เกรงเรื่องเช็กบิล the opposing side fears a settling of scores.

Two separate clauses. (The subject of each part is in pink.) The space does the same thing as the comma in the translation.

[badmedicine]

Thanks Peppy

I misread / misunderstood the significance of อำนาจ (nice color-coding BTW!).

[aitch]

Hello,

Is there a Thai expression for 'The shape of things to come.' ?

[Kriver]

เชือดไก่ให้ลิงดู is 'making an example' while เขียนเสือให้วัวกลัว is 'scaring someone off'

ชาติหน้าตอนบ่อยๆ is 'don't expect it'. Say, you ask someone to do something and he replies ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ายๆ. But I don't hear anyone use this anymore.

กวนน้ำให้ขุ่น and ฟื้นฝอยหาตะเข็บ shouldn't have the same meanings. กวนน้ำให้ขุ่น is the good situation becomes bad intentionally. ฟื้นฝอยหาตะเข็บ is to bring bad things someone did from the past to use it in argument.

Although I'm Thai, I find these sayings difficult to understand sometime.

[manarak]

it is a pity the thread derailed into scholarly fights instead of listing useful or funny phrases.

I was very happy with the format:

thai script - transliteration - literal - translation

at least I learned in this thread what "man kiao" means - was said to me many times... 555

Edited October 31, 2011 by manarak

[Polsci]

<br>

How would you say<br>"cut your/his dick and give to duck"<br><br>My gf thinks this is the funniest thing ever (I don't  <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> ) that's how she says it in English. <br><br>Usually accompanied with scizzor cutting finger actions.<br><div align="right"></div>

<br><br>Hi withnail, <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> <br><br>You could try saying it like this in Thai... ตัดกึ่นให้เป็ดกิน "dtut geun hai ped gin"!  <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="">  <br><br>Don't plant too many ideas into her head now cuz some lasses can display quite unpredictable behaviour once they've gone ballistic . <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> <br>One Thai chick even "bobbitted" off a guy's member and sent it away on a Bangkok city tour by helium balloons! <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> Off it flew to unknown destinations. <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> <br>Nobody knows where it finally landed or whether the ducks eventually got to feast on that one. <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=""> <br><br>Cheers.<br>Snowleopard.<br>

<div><br></div><div>My membership to thaivisa.com is not even a week old. At Day 3 I'm still at page 7 (out of 35) of this subject. However, I do find the posters to this particular subject on the Thai language folder to be extremely knowledgable. นับถือบรมอาจารย์ทั้งหลายจิงๆ given many of you are not Thai native speakers. You're educated Thai speakers!</div><div><br></div><div>If you allow me, I'd like to comment on the phrase ตัด _ ู๋ หรือ _ำ ให้เป็ดกิน The notorious incident may have taken place in the late 70's or early 80's because I remember reading the news reporting in either Thai Rath or Daily News. The story went like this. The couple lived in the country. The husband came home late one night and, next thing he and everyone in Thailand knew, his wife cut his "น้องชาย" off. She threw it to the ground where under the raised ground floor of their house they kept farm animals, including ducks. The motive could be that she might have found out about his affairs. Hell hath no furry like the woman scorned. The story became a big headline and remains one of the few memorable quotes for Thais from that generation. If you ask older Thais, they may remember and give you more details. <br><br>If someone else already wrote up on the origin of this "joke," I apologize for repeating it. You can เขกหัวกระโหลกของไอ้เจ้าโพลซายมันได้</div>

[klons]

ไม่พูดพล่ามทำเพลง

example:

(สายชล has a piece of wood in his hand)

สายชลไม่พูดพล่ามทำเพลงพุ่งเข้าฟาดทันที

สายชล didn't ramble on or sing a song, he rushed him started thrashing him.

my interpretation is it means that one is not going to screw around but go straight into the business at hand.

[bannork]

เชือดไก่ให้ลิงดู is 'making an example' while เขียนเสือให้วัวกลัว is 'scaring someone off'

ชาติหน้าตอนบ่อยๆ is 'don't expect it'. Say, you ask someone to do something and he replies ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ายๆ. But I don't hear anyone use this anymore.

กวนน้ำให้ขุ่น and ฟื้นฝอยหาตะเข็บ shouldn't have the same meanings. กวนน้ำให้ขุ่น is the good situation becomes bad intentionally. ฟื้นฝอยหาตะเข็บ is to bring bad things someone did from the past to use it in argument.

Although I'm Thai, I find these sayings difficult to understand sometime.

Thanks for the explanations Kriver, what with Sek Loso being in the news for all the wrong reasons I thought about his hit ฃมชาน, dictionaries gave differing explanations so I asked a Thai friend. She said it's like when someone has rejected an offer of help but finally can't do the task in hand, so they have to go back to the person to ask for help. An idiom in English which comes to mind is: '(he returned) with his tail between his legs'.- 'humiliating', 'ignominious' for example.

[bannork]

The cartoon had some guys discussing Chuwit's revelations about the gambling dens and one guy said-ทำไก่ตื่น to alert the chicken, make the chicken watchful- meaning the prewarning ensures nothing is seen to be amiss when the police arrive. The students have a look-out for the teacher, so when the teacher arrives at the classroom the students are all well behaved.

[bannork]

I was told this next idiom comes from Issan-กิ้งกือตกท่อ - the millipede falls into the pipe\drain, having so many legs, the millipede shouldn't do something so careless as fall into a drain, so the meaning is a mistake\ error that shouldn't have occurred, but did, due to carelessness or negligence.

[bannork]

Reading the shameful story of the husband and wife beggars who pretended to be blind, the headline read- เรี่องแตก the secret\ruse is out\ revealed, game over for the villain(s).

I think you can also say ความแตก

[anybody]

I would like to know how to say and write "know emptiness, be compassionate." I am having trouble because of the word "emptiness" referring to impermanence or non-attachment. Also the word "know" kind of translates differently as in understand. Its a Buddhist saying and i have found it to be true all of my life I think before I even heard it. Can anyone help me with this?

[Johnniey]

What does ฃมชาน mean?

It would be useful to put the romanized transliterations alongside also.

[bannork]

What does ฃมชาน mean?

It would be useful to put the romanized transliterations alongside also.

ฃมฃาน somsan - I'm not sure whether it's describing the feeling of the person or the situation, I suspect the latter but it means as described before, one of my brother-in-law's is a good example, he thought he'd get away with being a 'real man' by having a mistress, but both his wife and mistress left him, now he has no land, no pick-up and his kids are living with his ex- wife's new husband.

He's got nothing, humiliated.

[BuddhistVirus]

Good stuff...

Commenting to come back later...

[TommoPhysicist]

The cartoon had some guys discussing Chuwit's revelations about the gambling dens and one guy said-ทำไก่ตื่น to alert the chicken, make the chicken watchful- meaning the prewarning ensures nothing is seen to be amiss when the police arrive. The students have a look-out for the teacher, so when the teacher arrives at the classroom the students are all well behaved.

Chicken! How about a rude one then.

'Lang Naa Gai'

ล้าง หน้า ไก่

wash the chickens face

Oh dear, forum has lost it's Thai script abilities.

Edited June 13, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[bannork]

I had to laugh at this one, I was reading about how Somsak Thepsutin's faction in Bhumjaithai desperately wants to join the government but there's been no invitation from the government yet.

The phrase is เเม่สายบัวเเต่งตัวค้าง or เเม่สายบัวเเต่งตัวเก้อ -the lady is all dressed up and ready to go out but nobody has invited her.

I tried to think of an English equivalent- 'all dressed up and nowhere to go' but that doesn't have the sense of 'desperate to join but uninvited'.

[bannork]

Another phrase I saw recently was ถีบหัวส่ง - to distance yourself from someone/group once you've gained what you wanted from that person/group.

[thaitumdai]

This may be of some help...

http://www.thaitumdai.co.nr

[bannork]

In reference to some well known faces who have been in the news a lot recently, I came across this phrase-

มะกอกสามตะกร้าปาไม่ถูก '(even) with 3 baskets full of olives, that person is not hit by any thrown olive'.

That person is a smooth talker, ie a lawyer or salesman, a Teflon man to whom nothing sticks,or his words contradict themselves too many times for us to believe anything he says.

No credibility.

[bannork]

In reference to some well known faces who have been in the news a lot recently, I came across this phrase-

มะกอกสามตะกร้าปาไม่ถูก '(even) with 3 baskets full of olives, that person is not hit by any thrown olive'.

That person is a smooth talker, ie a lawyer or salesman, a Teflon man to whom nothing sticks,or his words contradict themselves too many times for us to believe anything he says.

No credibility.

Perhaps' cunning' sums up the above phrase.

[klons]

This is a new one for me I came across อย่าเอาพิมเสนไปแลกกับเกลือ Don't trade a mango for salt.

I'm going to guess by the context of the story I read it in, it means something like don't diminish

yourself by stooping down to someone else's level. Like if someone is a smart ass to you, you don't

have to be a smart ass back, which would lower your character to that persons level.

[bannork]

This is a new one for me I came across อย่าเอาพิมเสนไปแลกกับเกลือ Don't trade a mango for salt.

I'm going to guess by the context of the story I read it in, it means something like don't diminish

yourself by stooping down to someone else's level. Like if someone is a smart ass to you, you don't

have to be a smart ass back, which would lower your character to that persons level.

I saw it recently when someone wanted to put down a certain individual whose followers were comparing him to Nelson Mandela or Aung san Su Kyi. The message was,"' Don't try to put that person in the same league, they're way way below.''

I feel the same way when younger folks compare Oasis to the Beatles!