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gawguy

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We were talking about people in general being trustworthy or not. It sounded like she said these two words - "people" and "us". I may be mistaken. I'm familiar with "rao" and "puak rao", but not "khon rao." Did I misunderstand the words she was saying? Or is this a phrase, possibily Issan, also meaning "us" or something like that?

 

(She also used an interesting Thai expression "a coin has two sides" which I had not heard before. I think she was saying that as far as people are concerned there are two types - trustworthy and not.)

 

Thanks,

Gaw Guy

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Us folks ...

 

Aha... "Us folks" .. that makes sense. I guess the "us folks" she might be talking about would be "regular" people, salt-of-the-earth types?

 

It may not be legit to draw a parallel to English, but in English, "us folks" would be a colloquialism. I wiki-p'd that word and the article was very interesting:

 

"A colloquialism is a word or phrase employed in conversational or informal language but not in formal speech or formal writing.

Colloquialisms include words (such as gonna and wanna), phrases (such as old as the hills, raining cats and dogs and dead as a doornail) and aphorisms (such as There's more than one way to skin a cat).

 

Generally, colloquialisms are specific to a geographical region. They are used in "everyday" conversation."

 

(They are also used when big-shot politicians are trying to bond with the masses by using salt-of-the-earth expressions, like when they are forever calling citizens "folks" - one of Obama's favorite words. "Folks just want this and folks just want that." Also, if you go to someplace like Denny's you are sure to be greeted, "How are you folks today.")

 

Anyway... "khon rao" might be an Issan colloquialism, you think? The girl who was talking is a bright, somewaht educated 33 year old from Khon Khen. She's attending a university in BKK on the weekends and says she will be graduating in about two more years. She really likes to talk.

 

Thanks for the input... GG

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Flashermac is correct, "us folks" is accurate, but it's not a colloquialism (and yes, it is Central, or standard, Thai)...it might be said to be analogous to "We Americans," "We Brits," "We Aussies," etc. in the right context...except Thais say คนเรา a LOT, and never ironically, either...

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Flashermac is correct, "us folks" is accurate, but it's not a colloquialism (and yes, it is Central, or standard, Thai)...it might be said to be analogous to "We Americans," "We Brits," "We Aussies," etc. in the right context...except Thais say คนเรา a LOT, and never ironically, either...

 

Okay Lads!

 

Thank you very much. So a somewhat educated Issan woman speaking standard Central Thai. I looked for the phrase before I posted and the dictionary at http://www.thai-language.com/ translated it as "we." It needed more explanation and much appreciated!

 

GG

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