Jang Loei

[sebastian]

Hi all, can anyone tell me what 'jang loei' means ? It doesn't seem to mean anything but my friends family use it a lot i.e. suey jang loei or na gliat jang loei.

Thanks

[ProfessorFart]

It gives emphasis a word.

Can be roughly translated as 'very'

e.g

suey jang loei = Very pretty.

Edited May 25, 2006 by ProfessorFart

[chonabot]

It means the same as "elee dur" or " Lai Lai" or "Mahk Mahk".

Basically it's used to increase whatever sentiment is being used , " Very Much so " "Extremely"

Na gliat (jang loei) = (very very) ugly

Suay (jang loei) = (Very) beautiful

A phrase that I heard many times in Isaan before understanding was " yee-um"

It means literally " Fantastic"

HTH

[Simmo]

Hi all, can anyone tell me what 'jang loei' means ? It doesn't seem to mean anything but my friends family use it a lot i.e. suey jang loei or na gliat jang loei.

Thanks

Think of it like American teens use "totally" ..

[skylar]

Don't females usually use jung loey?

[meadish_sweetball]

'jang loei' is used by both men and women, but I think it sounds slightly more effeminate - in other words, and arguably more common among women and younger people than among men and adults.

"elee dur" and " Lai Lai" are Isarn / Lao words for emphasis, but commonly understood by Thais everywhere. Guaranteed to bring out a laugh if you use them as a farang outside of Isarn.

[Totster]

"elee dur" and " Lai Lai" are Isarn / Lao words for emphasis, but commonly understood by Thais everywhere. Guaranteed to bring out a laugh if you use them as a farang outside of Isarn.

The way I understood it is..

Elee = Jing (true/really)

Durr = the emphatic particle

elee bor ? Really ?

elee (durr) Really ! (so much)

Lai = Mahk (very/very much/alot)

Saep lai bor ? very tasty ?

Saep lai (durr) (so) very tasty !

or

Saep lai lai very very tasty !

totster

[Rikker]

You might compare it to the use of "so" in English.

สวย - pretty

สวยจังเลย - (that is/she is/you are) so pretty!

Also, จัง is used by itself for emphasis. สวยจัง and สวยจังเลย probably only differ in degree of emphasis, and re meadish's comments, what are folks' opinions on จัง as being more generally used/less effeminate than จังเลย? Or are the associations roughly the same as จังเลย?

[sabaijai]

I would translate the phrase as 'really' in the way American use 'really', e.g., It's really hot,' or 'He's really handsome. All the more since จัง itself is a variation of จริง (jing/'real', often collocated as จริงจัง - jing-jang). And combined with เลย ('completely') for more emphasis.

[Rikker]

What exactly do you mean by variation? Are you saying you think it is a synonymous phonological variant form that was used independently and also combined with จรืง to form จริงจัง, or rather that it's the euphonic reduplicant of จริง (a la จริงจัง) that has come to be used independently in a similar meaning?

Thai has lots of both (actually, all three possibilities): (1) Reduplicative pairs in which both parts are meaningful independently (e.g. เปลียนแปลง); (2) pairs in which one has no meaning without its pair (e.g. ประเดี๋ยวประด๋าว); and (2) pairs in which neither means anything outside of the paired (e.g. พะว้าพะวัง). And I'm sure they change categories over time, though I don't have any direct examples of this happening.

I'd like to know just how จัง developed. Do you happen to know of any evidence or direct discussion?

[Rikker]

Oops, turns out I can't count to three. (1)(2)(2). Great work, me!

[skylar]

We're not going to let that one go, Rikker

[samran]

We're not going to let that one go, Rikker

watch out...mis-counting is against forum rules and can lead to a temp banning on Thai visa!

[sabaijai]

What exactly do you mean by variation? Are you saying you think it is a synonymous phonological variant form that was used independently and also combined with จรืง to form จริงจัง, or rather that it's the euphonic reduplicant of จริง (a la จริงจัง) that has come to be used independently in a similar meaning?

Yup, one or the other of those options, wouldn't know which, dunno how you'd tease that one out, will leave it for you or Richard W to puzzle out ...