Thai Language Thai Culture: Old Snake Heads and Butterflies of the Night
Old Snake Heads and Butterflies of the Night…
The Thai language is as rich in metaphor as any language is. The kinds of metaphors that you will come into contact with will all depend on what level of society you hang out with. It is a good idea to keep the drinking buddies’ metaphors separate from the HiSo matron metaphors.
One group of metaphors goes over well with just about any crowd. They are the ones that use animals. They are also pretty easy to understand and therefore remember. Here is a sample. If you know more, drop them in a comment below.
ปากหมา
bpàak măa
Literal meaning: Dog mouth
Metaphorical meaning: Dirty talk; crude talk; to use vulgar speech
ภาษาหมา ๆ
paa-săa măa măa
Literal meaning: Dog language
Metaphorical meaning: To talk trash; to act silly
โรคหมาบ้า
rôhk măa bâa
Literal meaning: Mad dog disease
Metaphorical meaning: Hydrophobia; rabies
หมาขี้เรื้อน
măa kêe réuan
Literal meaning: Mangy dog (leprous dog)
Metaphorical meaning: Pariah
หมาเน่า
măa nâo
Literal meaning: Rotten dog
Metaphorical meaning: A foul person
ควาย
kwaai
Literal meaning: Water buffalo
Metaphorical meaning: Buffoon, ignoramus
แมงดา
maeng-daa
Literal meaning: Giant water bug (male rides on female’s back)
Metaphorical meaning: Pimp, procurer, gigolo
เสือผู้หญิง
sĕua pôo yĭng
Literal meaning: Girl tiger
Metaphorical meaning: Womanizer, lecher
เหี้ย
hîa
Literal meaning: Monitor lizard (water monitor)
Metaphorical meaning: A despicable or bad person, a worthless character
เสือสิงห์กระทิงแรด
sĕua sĭng grà-ting râet
Literal meaning: Tiger, lion bull, rhinoceros
Metaphorical meaning: Experienced con men
หาเหาใส่หัว
hăa hăo sài hŭa
Literal meaning: Look for lice to put on your head
Metaphorical meaning: Looking for trouble, cause your own problems
หนีเสือปะจระเข้
nĕe sĕua bpà jor-rá-kây
Literal meaning: Run away from the tiger and meet the crocodile
Metaphorical meaning: “Out of the frying-pan and into the fire.”
แพะรับบาป
páe ráp bàap
Literal meaning: The goat that takes the sin
Metaphorical meaning: Scapegoat; fall guy
ไก่
gài
Literal meaning: Chicken
Metaphorical meaning: Woman
ผีเสื้อราตรี
pĕe-sêua-raa-dtree
Literal meaning: Night butterfly (moth)
Metaphorical meaning: “Lady of the night”, prostitute
ยิงกระต่าย
ying grà-dtàai
Literal meaning: Shoot the rabbit
Metaphorical meaning: Male urination, often done at the side of the road
เฒ่าหัวงู
tâo hŭa ngoo
Literal meaning: Old man snake head
Metaphorical meaning: Old man who runs after young girls, dirty old man
งูงูปลาปลา
ngoo ngoo bplaa bplaa
Literal meaning: Snake snake fish fish
Metaphorical meaning: Mediocre, not very good
Hugh Leong
Retire 2 Thailand
Retire 2 Thailand: Blog
Hi P’Cat
Check out “ผีขนุน”… (it’s fruit, but it’s funny)
.-= Jessi´s last blog ..Piggy In the Middle =-.
ผีขนุน – now watching หลวงพี่กับผีขนุน :-)
P’Cat
sorry this isn’t related to your latest entry, but you mean the new iPhone 0S4 is coming in 2 years+?? Really? I really need to buy a new one now. Mine is not 3G because I bought it when it didn’t come into Thailand yet. Now I’ve just sent it to upgrade to version 3. I’ve got to wait that long really?
Jessi
.-= Jessi´s last blog ..Piggy In the Middle =-.
ชายช้างเท้าหน้าหญิงช้างเท้าหลัง
This is a very progressive one : the traditional wife should follow her husband, but women have their revenge :
นางหงส์บนบันลังก์มังกร. They (swan) take power over their husband (dragon), บันลังก์ means “throne”. To be used when speaking about HiSo chinese. Be careful, the word “throne” is very important, because this one :
หงส์เหนือมังกร cannot decently be translated here. If you make the mistake and use this one instead of the “throne” one, an animal response could be :
กวางเหลียวหลังร่านกว่า !
Morning N’Jessi, the new iPhone I’m talking about hasen’t been developed (a different vendor is working on improving camera capabilities). I purchased an iPhone not too long ago, so I’m good for awhile. But technology being what it is, I’m planning on the upgrade already.
.-= Catherine´s last blog ..Thai Language Thai Culture: Old Snake Heads and Butterflies of the Night =-.
Sua noy, Thank you for adding to Hugh’s list! I have a Thai class tomorrow and will bring them up then ;-)
Catherine there are some brilliant metaphors in Hugh’s post and my favourite is ying grà-dtàai Shoot the rabbit. Quite often when travelling the 65 kilometres from Udon Thani back to the village I have to shoot the rabbit by the side of the road (very wary of snakes). I am going to surprise Wi with this one and a few of the others. I’ll definitely put a few of these in my notebook.
Martyn, I’ve always been envious of guys and their freedom to shoot the rabbit. And I do believe I’ve seen more Frenchmen shooting rabbits than any other male.