RURAL CAMBODIAN IDIOMS

[ombarang]

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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[giblet]

These are really interesting. I'm going to start using "not enough water."

[dancingroads2]

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.

[ombarang]

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?

[dancingroads2]

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?

[Jacked Camry]

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.

[OrangeDragon]

see i though he just meant something specific... invention of the people of a specific region, not known in the region he's in.

[Playboy]

"You are as stupid as the cow from Kompong Chhnang"

[Playboy]

"You are talking to me like I am a frog in a well."

[ombarang]

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.

[giblet]

Thank you Giblet and Jacked Camray for the encouragement; I'll certainly keep my ears open.

Please do, you have access to some very interesting uses of Khmer and I'd love to hear more.

[Falcon Randwick]

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.

I once heard the expression "dancing road" in the singular, applied to the notorious Poipet - Siem Reap road...

[andyinasia]

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.

I once heard the expression "dancing road" in the singular, applied to the notorious Poipet - Siem Reap road...

Me too - dancing around the potholes makes perfect sense to me.

[ombarang]

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.