Guest Posted March 15, 2003 Report Share Posted March 15, 2003 Yo Markle, Just noticed something in your post. The Thai spelling you've listed has (looks like) the "mai ehk" tone mark above the letter, and this word means "to ride", as in "kee mah" (horse), or to sit on one's back, "kee luhng", or even to drive, "bpai kahp kee". It can also mean driver's license. The "kee" for the other stuff has the "mai toh" marker. Ask someone to say "horseback riding" and the other word for "kee" and you'll go WTF :: because they sound soo alike in tone, even though they aren't. Uhm, this crap's starting to get to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted March 16, 2003 Report Share Posted March 16, 2003 Yo Um, that wasn't me it was Friendlyfiend - I'm too lazy to write in Thai. Anyhow I still think I'm right, sometimes we hear things but understand something else (this will happen often). There are a couple reasons that I'm confident that I'm right 1. Kow bpen kee - Thai's don't use 'bpen' in this structure. In English we say "He is crazy" (kow bpen ba) but Thai's don't the just say "kow ba" (He crazy) - Now you know why BG's speak English that way. 2. kee motosy - is a nonsensical word/phrase. 'Kee' always precedes an adjective. 'Motosy' is a noun. No one says that a beer lover is kee beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmine Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 [color:"red"] I think you misheard there because the sentence doesn't make sense. I think the monk said "kow bpai kee motosy" -'he went riding motorcyles' The 'kee' in this sentence being the verb 'to ride' [/color] I concur with your interpretation. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2003 Report Share Posted March 18, 2003 Well guys, we can agree to disagree, but I still think I'm right on this. Hear me out, though. Two monks chatting in their native tongue are going to speak smoothly and without pause, so it's VERY possible I got the 'bpen" wrong. But I will go to my grave knowing I heard the other words as they were said. The new monk was certainly asking not about my presence, but about my appearance. This is because I wear riding gear that virtually no one else does. His reaction was the same as most everyone else who sees me for the first time (except for my sportbike buds) in such colorful garb. Therefore, I knew he wasn't asking where I was going. That plus observing me settling down for a meal made it patently obvious I wasn't preparing to leave. I must confess I am blessed/cursed as being somewhat of an idiot savant, having somewhat of a Rain Man ability to recall bits of useless minutae everyone else normally forgets about. People can say something and certain words just get locked into my brain. And this monk definitely said "kee moto-sy" along with the rest of his sentence. I just looked at my Thai dictionary (written and published in Thailand by Thai people) and "kee" - the same word for poop - can be used to mean and I quote, "5) like; be fond of; take (find) delight in;..." So you see, the one monk who is bewildered by my power ranger get up says to the one who knows me, "Why is that farang dressed like that?", to which the other monk replies, "because...**blah blah blah**... kow...whatever...kee moto-sy...etc." This makes perfect sense given the context of the situation, and is backed up by the dictionary. So there. j/k :: You know, when we as foreignors try and figure out what Thai peeps are saying, there ought not to be a presumption of grammatical correctness in every single word spoken. Not really talking about this case, but I've observed it elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2003 Report Share Posted March 18, 2003 Wait a minute...STOP THE PRESSES! If the monk meant "kee" as in kaw kwai (?) - sa ra ee - mai ehk, then indeed that could make sense and be gramatically correct. However, if I was a Harley type with my wife beater, leather vest and beanie helmet on, my appearance wouldn't have elicited the question, because it's not that extraordinary. But to see some dude dressed in race leathers evokes a different response. "Why is he dressed like that?" To which (in Thai) someone might very well say, "Because he likes - is fond of - takes delight in, riding bikes" using "kee" with the "mai toh" marker. Getting back (thank god) to the original post, this meaning of "kee" is, in fact, spelled the same way as the word for doo-doo. I'm not so sure about the pronounciation. Can the same character share several meanings but be pronounced differently (si-ang)? Okay, I'm done now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 21, 2003 Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 **Sigh**...kaw kai... Gawd. I'm on my way to put the stick back. The one I've been using to beat this dead horse with. Ignore me, people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.