Guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 This one had me very confused on one of my first trips. It shows that just knowing the word for word translation is often not enough, or even more confusing. This one came up when asking a particular girl if she would, ahem, pay attention to a particular part of my anatomy. The literal translation would be "is not", but I valiantly tried to convince her that it really is. In my head I was thinking: does that mean she doesn't like doing it, that she wants it without a cover, ...? This came up twice in a matter of days. But only a few days after the second time, in completely different context did I figure out what they meant. Just that they didn't know how (they were new on the job, or faking it pretty well). Turns out they did a fine job anyway So if you get this: "tam mai dai" - then that means they can't or won't do something "mai bpen" - means they're not objecting, just that they don't have the ability or knowledge on how to do something E.g.: "wai nam mai dai" - means that you are somehow physically unable to swim (e.g. you have no legs) "wai nam mai bpen" - means that you don't know how to swim and then "mai keuy wai nam" - would mean just that you've never swum before Substitute "wai nam" for your favorite sanuking activity. That's my understanding, does anyone need to correct me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 Farngdang, nothing to correct. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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