Guest Posted January 23, 2002 Report Share Posted January 23, 2002 A common Thai expression: choey choey เฉยๆ. Just want to gather some thoughts on this and its usage. It's one of those expressions that can be used in many different contexts. The dictionary's definition of it is: เฉย vi .to be still, to be silent, to keep one's peace, to be indifferent. But this doesn't really help me too much. Ok, just through experience I think I have a basic idea of when and how to use this.. For example; you can yoo choey choey (exist peacefully in the moment without need for too much stimulation) pood choey choey (just be talking for the sake of talking... chit-chat). In fact there are many actions that can be done choey choey; asking questions, walking, playing, sleeping etc...... But there are other instances where this can be used though, for example: - try asking someone to explain a phrase to you in Thai and they might say something like... "mai ka, mai tong pood 'phom yak ja pai teeow duay gan gup khun' na, pood 'yak pai teeow gan' choey choey gor dai.. " This meaning that it's not so necessary to be so formal.. So can I therefore translate this phrase เฉยๆ (choey choey) as meaning 'simply' or 'without complexity'?? Any thoughts?? Cheers, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodthaigirl Posted January 23, 2002 Report Share Posted January 23, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dan: So can I therefore translate this phrase ???? (choey choey) as meaning 'simply' or 'without complexity'?? Any thoughts?? Cheers, Dan I would say - more or less - YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfarang Posted January 23, 2002 Report Share Posted January 23, 2002 CHOEI® CHOEI® is a pure Thai idiom , such as GAW(f), and takes some practice to get used to using it like the Thais do. "mai ka, mai tong pood 'phom yak ja pai teeow duay gan gup khun' na, pood 'yak pai teeow gan' choey choey gor dai.. " This meaning that it's not so necessary to be so formal..." I would agree that it would translate simply as “simply” in this case. I also think a Thai might use the word PAW(l) rather than DAI(f) in this sentence. YOO(l) BAAN(f) CHOEI® CHOEI®…… just hanging around the house, doing nothing in particular. An answer you might expect to the question “MEUA(f) KEUN(f) PAI THEEO(f) NAI®?” “Mai dai pai theeo, yoo baan choei choei…” An example of Choei Choei used to mean indifferent: You are shopping with the girl friend and she points out a hideous dress she is interested in buying and says “KRA-PAWNG® TUA NAN(h) SOOAI® MAI(h) KA(h)?” and you answer “CHOEI® CHOEI®” You don’t want to hurt her feelings and tell her the dress is butt ugly, and you don’t want to tell her it’s pretty and have her pester you to buy it. By saying you are indifferent, it conveys the meaning that you don’t really like it but are too polite to tell her so. I don’t usually go for the stunners, but two years ago I hooked up with one in Patpong, and even though it was a less than girlfriend experience for me, I kept seeing her for a few days because the eye candy was so sweet, she would come to my room during the day which I really liked, and she was plenty hot in the sack. Hell, I’m only flesh and blood and it’s hard to resist when a major fox like this comes on to me hot and heavy, even though I know she was more interested in the thickness of my wallet than the size of my sausage. One day she called and said she’d come by at noon, and stood me up completely. When she called at 6PM to ‘apologize’ she said “YAK(l) HEN® NAA(f) CHAN® IK(l) MAI(h)” (Would you like to see me again?) and I answered “CHOEI® CHOEI®”. Maybe in farangland I would have kissed her ass and let her walk all over me and said “Yes”, and I didn’t want to offend such a fine looking specimen of Thai womanhood too badly by saying “No”, so I let her know that fine lookers like her are a dime a dozen in LOS by saying I was indifferent. My meaning was clearly understood. [ January 23, 2002: Message edited by: luckyfarang ] [ January 23, 2002: Message edited by: luckyfarang ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 quote: Originally posted by luckyfarang: I would agree that it would translate simply as ?simply? in this case. I also think a Thai might use the word PAW(l) rather than DAI(f) in this sentence. Yeah, I agree with you here. Paw or Por or even พอ is more appropriate here. And i guess the dictionary definiton of 'indifference' is probably the closest translation to English you'll get. Thanks for your reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 The term choey choey basically means... "whatever" or "I could care less". It's sort of like that. The other way to use the term is exactly the way you pointed out. [ January 24, 2002: Message edited by: GoldenChild ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 I've always taken the most common use of "CHOEI® CHOEI®” as just meaning "so-so". Not good, not bad; you're indifferent (just as luckyfarang used it). The "without complexity" meaning is valid, but rare. I would never say this in response to a girl asking if I wanted to see her again. It would strike me as being a little rude (even if it's true). Wouldn't "arai kow dai" (not sure of the tones or spelling) be more polite, but give the same meaning? Well, I might use it as a joke, but I'd be very careful (Thai people don't find my Thai jokes nearly as funny as I do myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfarang Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 I thought it was way more polite than saying "No". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 It certainly was more polite and probably given the situation (her having stood you up) it was probably the right level of politeness. I would take it as "you had your chance, but stood me up; now I don't really care if you come over or not". But then I "kit mak koen pai"; it probably came and went out pf her brain in less time than it took for me to write this message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfarang Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 Girls as fine as her are really not so common. They place her topless in front of the front door as a drawing card. But her complexion without makeup is not so great. Even so, she has a full time corp of droolers every night, I'm sure. She'll never miss my business. And she wasn't calling asking to come over, just to see if she could salvage a customer. She probably woke up around noon and just said fuck it, blow the guy off. Had she called at a reasonable time I could have forgiven the bimbo for blowing me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.