"It has nothing to do with chas/old. It's just a shortened version of teaCHER. I don't know why they say it, maybe the first batch of Khmer English teachers thought it was OK and it trickled down for years. I have some teacher friends who mention it as well as say it annoys them to no end, so they force them to say the full word (since it's not even an accepted word/abbreviation). I don't know how/why they started that. Maybe they think it's OK because in Khmer one can shorten nekrou/lokrou to simply krou."

I'll definitely need more verification before I'll buy into that explanation. In any case it doesn't negate the possibility of the bilingual pun I referred to.

"But, surely you wouldn't precede 'sngat' with 'som'.
Sngat !!! (noisy little brats)"

I misread your post; I thought you were saying that sngat meant both quiet and noisy little brats.

taabarang wrote: I'll definitely need more verification before I'll buy into that explanation. In any case it doesn't negate the possibility of the bilingual pun I referred to.

Go ahead and ask a sample of 100 students/people and tell us what you come up with... I guarantee you're reading way too much into this and imagining things that aren't there.

"Didn't they say that at ACE?"

No never heard that or "teach" either to refer to a teacher. In the beginning of a term they called me teacher t hen later Mr. + first name.

OK I just asked the lady and she said it's just short for teacher because they're lazy (she's a teacher herself). She did add an interesting tidbit which makes sense: if they call you 'cher it's a term of endearment as they feel close/ comfortable with you, while if they call you teacher it's more respectful.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:10 pm OK I just asked the lady and she said it's just short for teacher because they're lazy (she's a teacher herself). She did add an interesting tidbit which makes sense: if they call you 'cher it's a term of endearment as they feel close) comfortable with you, while if they call you teacher it's more respectful.

Pretty sure I said this earlier, but nice to have it confirmed! I was addressed as Char for all the time I taught young adults at private firm, but never anywhere else - so I wasn't sure if it was just a local idiosyncrasy.

"so I wasn't sure if it was just a local idiosyncrasy."

I'm still not sure it isn't. Perhaps the poor comparison given of shortening Lok & Neak Kru to Kru prejudiced me in addition to having never been called that. In any case I want verifiable testimony which is not available here.

taabarang wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:48 pm UT, I' be never heard that in Khmer in the 15 years I've been living with 2 noisy children, except in the context of quiet. Are you funning me and punning on snot?

If not can you copy out the Khmer so my equally unbelieving wife can read it. Thanks.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:12 pm Translation courtesy of Google Translate:

to add to UT's post, ស្ងាត់ - Sngat does in deed mean "quiet"

maybe youre more familiar with "Sngeum/Sngiem"
ធ្វើអោយស្ងៀម - Tver(Twer) Ouy Sngeum - to make or become quiet, to quiet a child

Jamie, Jamie I know. I explained the confusion a few posts back. Reread the thread and assume a bit more knowledge on my part.