RURAL CAMBODIAN IDIOMS
RURAL CAMBODIAN IDIOMS
i"m an American who has been living in Cambodia for years. Not in the big city living with foreigners, but in the countryside with my Cambodian wife and neighbors. As a consequence, I've learned some of the language and I've found a reservoir of humor and intelligence in their language that has irresistibly drawn me to know even more
One of the problems one always encounters is finding a satisfactory phonetic language to transliterate Khmer into English. There is simply no way outside of the international phonetic alphabet, which almost no one knows. My offerings are primarily for speakers of Cambodian, who will immediately recognize both the deficiencies and the goal. For non speakers the translation will have to suffice. So, let's start off with a few idiomatic expressions.
ot krup teuk, "not enough water" This phrase generally refers to plants that are not completely whole or are mal-formed in some way due to a deficiency of water. With people however, the phrase means "stupid". For example: samrai otkrupteuk- stupid hillbilly.
Meul neaknaamuey doch kbai meul turatua. To look stupidly with total non comprehension at some body or something. Literally "to look at someone like a water buffalo looking at television.
There are also many idioms dealing, not surprisingly, with poverty. One of my favorites,
rosi ban m'ke, m'ke refers to a bird's crop. "To earn a lving from one crop to the next. Here, again, crop does not mean harvest. To live from one day to the next or to scratch out a living.
Toat kchhawl- "to kick the wind" to be unemployed
tweer kaa peak kandaal kuot- to work half assed, ""to work with the shirt covering only half of the ass.
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One of the problems one always encounters is finding a satisfactory phonetic language to transliterate Khmer into English. There is simply no way outside of the international phonetic alphabet, which almost no one knows. My offerings are primarily for speakers of Cambodian, who will immediately recognize both the deficiencies and the goal. For non speakers the translation will have to suffice. So, let's start off with a few idiomatic expressions.
ot krup teuk, "not enough water" This phrase generally refers to plants that are not completely whole or are mal-formed in some way due to a deficiency of water. With people however, the phrase means "stupid". For example: samrai otkrupteuk- stupid hillbilly.
Meul neaknaamuey doch kbai meul turatua. To look stupidly with total non comprehension at some body or something. Literally "to look at someone like a water buffalo looking at television.
There are also many idioms dealing, not surprisingly, with poverty. One of my favorites,
rosi ban m'ke, m'ke refers to a bird's crop. "To earn a lving from one crop to the next. Here, again, crop does not mean harvest. To live from one day to the next or to scratch out a living.
Toat kchhawl- "to kick the wind" to be unemployed
tweer kaa peak kandaal kuot- to work half assed, ""to work with the shirt covering only half of the ass.
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- 5 minutes to kill
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I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that 'teuk' in "ot krup teuk" referred not to water, but to decimetres?
10cm is one 'teuk', and therefore 50cm is '5 teuk' and so on.
You can say that some one is "ot krup teuk" or "pram boun tuk konlah" (9 and a half tuk), meaning basically 'half a decimetre short of a metre" , not a full measure.
10cm is one 'teuk', and therefore 50cm is '5 teuk' and so on.
You can say that some one is "ot krup teuk" or "pram boun tuk konlah" (9 and a half tuk), meaning basically 'half a decimetre short of a metre" , not a full measure.
I don't know that you are wrong, however the locals here refer to malformed rice as öt krup teurk". Since rice grains are measured by the kilo and not linearly the local meaning refers indeed to water and not the "teuk measurement of fabrics. By the way no of the locals in this village have ever heard of the expression "dancing roads" referring to a bumpy road. Personal invention of regionalism? And if the latter-where?
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I propose an alternative explanation and you have to get in there with a little personal dig. Very mature. And in 2000 when we set up the business, the term dancing roads was certainly used by locals frequently. Why would it be be personal invention of the 2 Cambodians who named the business?
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Great stuff Ombarang, keep 'em coming. Definitely want to use the "ot teuk" one.
Dancingroads - I didn't think he was taking a dig at you. I think he accidentally typed "of" instead of "or". He was just interested in the origin of your user name.
Dancingroads - I didn't think he was taking a dig at you. I think he accidentally typed "of" instead of "or". He was just interested in the origin of your user name.
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see i though he just meant something specific... invention of the people of a specific region, not known in the region he's in.
Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
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Robert H. Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette
Thank you Giblet and Jacked Camray for the encouragement; I'll certainly keep my ears open. As far as why someone named the business "Dancing Roads" I of course have no idea. Neither taxi nor bus drivers I have talked to have never heard of the expression. And I would hope that alternative explanations would be based on Cambodian usage, not poetic guessing.
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Please do, you have access to some very interesting uses of Khmer and I'd love to hear more.ombarang wrote:Thank you Giblet and Jacked Camray for the encouragement; I'll certainly keep my ears open.
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I once heard the expression "dancing road" in the singular, applied to the notorious Poipet - Siem Reap road...ombarang wrote:Thank you Giblet and Jacked Camray for the encouragement; I'll certainly keep my ears open. As far as why someone named the business "Dancing Roads" I of course have no idea. Neither taxi nor bus drivers I have talked to have never heard of the expression. And I would hope that alternative explanations would be based on Cambodian usage, not poetic guessing.
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Me too - dancing around the potholes makes perfect sense to me.Falcon Randwick wrote:I once heard the expression "dancing road" in the singular, applied to the notorious Poipet - Siem Reap road...ombarang wrote:Thank you Giblet and Jacked Camray for the encouragement; I'll certainly keep my ears open. As far as why someone named the business "Dancing Roads" I of course have no idea. Neither taxi nor bus drivers I have talked to have never heard of the expression. And I would hope that alternative explanations would be based on Cambodian usage, not poetic guessing.
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Well, I can only say that your idea of dancing-either Western or "roam" is entirely different than mine. It may make sense to you, but do Cambodians actually use this expression? So far, I've found Westerners here who do, but no Cambodians I' ve asked know it. Suspicious to say the least.