Comments on: Heart Talk by Christopher G Moore

By: Catherine

Catherine — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:47:28 +0000

Scott – thanks for your experience with your Thai family. I might just compile instances to see if I can get a better handle on greng jai.

Jessi – Thanks for the tag! I won’t be able to reciprocate as I’m on holiday with a house full of little ones. They sure are a handful :-)

By: Jessi

Jessi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:50:41 +0000

Hello P’Cat

Do you know that you’ve been tagged!! See my blog or Janet Brown’s blog.

Jessis last blog post..A Matter of Reading

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:06:28 +0000

I am similarly unclear about greng jai. Here’s a story from a few days ago that might help a bit:

My Thai niece and nephew (age 11 and 10) stayed with my wife and I for a few weeks while their parents were on vacation. I ordered some food for them and after it arrived I got out plates, silverware, etc. for them. After a while I noticed that they didn’t have anything to drink so I asked them if they wanted me to get them something. They replied “no thank you” so I went back to the computer. I looked over a few minutes later and one of them had gone to the fridge to get a couple sodas.

Later, I asked my daughter about this and she said “that’s greng jai”. Unfortunately her English isn’t good enough to give me a detailed explanation.

My guess is that since I am older than them and they are staying in my condo, they don’t consider it to be proper etiquette for me to be serving them if they can do it themselves.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:19:44 +0000

rikker – Great post. And as usual, you made an important point (one I neglected to add to mine…)

“Remember, ใจ- at the beginning of a compound usually indicates a personality trait (as in ใจดี or ใจแคบ), while -ใจ at the end of a compound is usually a temporary emotional state (as in ดีใจ or เสียใจ).”

Amy – When I created a list of ‘must have’ books on Thailand, I included Heart Words because I felt the same as you, that it’s an important element in Thai culture.

There’s a discussion on the Thaivisa forum on greng jai. There was no real agreement on what it meant so I asked my Thai teacher. I’m still not convinced one way or the other on the real meaning as I believe it’ll take personal experience to understand in depth. I have time…

By: Amy Praphantanathorn

Amy Praphantanathorn — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:56:30 +0000

I purchased this book a few years ago just to get a better idea of the Thai culture, since language and culture are so intertwined. I enjoyed it immensely and while it didn’t necessarily help me with my Thai langauge, I still learnt a lot. The whole greng jai is the hardest and most influential.

Amy Praphantanathorns last blog post..Unexpected aches & pains with flooring

By: rikker

rikker — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:10:15 +0000

That’s an interesting coincidence. I made a post this evening about obsolete “heart words” in Dan Beach Bradley’s 1873 Thai dictionary. Then I come home and read your post. Small world.

rikkers last blog post.."King of Siam" boardgame out of Germany