Another rural idiom
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Another rural idiom
This is an interesting idiom in that the English equivalent is obvious, but the Khmer verbiage requires some sweat. So I'll translate it first word by word
Roeui(fly or flies) thum(land on, roost, perch) meun bak(can't be brushed off), roeui
fly flies) meun p'al(don't fly away).
This is never preceded by a pronoun or a noun as a subject; this is the full idiom and is used to describe gentle people. And the English?
He's so gentle he wouldn't hurt a fly.
Roeui(fly or flies) thum(land on, roost, perch) meun bak(can't be brushed off), roeui
fly flies) meun p'al(don't fly away).
This is never preceded by a pronoun or a noun as a subject; this is the full idiom and is used to describe gentle people. And the English?
He's so gentle he wouldn't hurt a fly.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Re: Another rural idiom
You may well be lost, but the idiom isn't. What do you hold the meaning to be?
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Re: Another rural idiom
haha i like it, although im not sure meun for both parts would be right going off your English too, let me know (it could be the different ways we write Khmenglish lol)taabarang wrote: ↑Wed May 09, 2018 8:12 pm This is an interesting idiom in that the English equivalent is obvious, but the Khmer verbiage requires some sweat. So I'll translate it first word by word
Roeui(fly or flies) thum(land on, roost, perch) meun bak(can't be brushed off), roeui
fly flies) meun p'al(don't fly away).
This is never preceded by a pronoun or a noun as a subject; this is the full idiom and is used to describe gentle people. And the English?
He's so gentle he wouldn't hurt a fly.
រុយទំមានបក់ រុយមិនផ្អើល
Ruy Dtom Meun Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and have to wave it away, (but) the fly doesn't panic(fly away)
or this sounds closer to your English translation
រុយទំមិនបក់ រុយមិនផ្អើល
Ruy Dtom Min Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and cant wave it away, the fly doesnt panic(fly away)
Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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Re: Another rural idiom
Once again your literacy in Khmer profoundly elucidates the text. I assure you that your "min' and my " meun" are supposed to be one and the same. Clearly, It wasn't intended to mean 10,000
Still, all in all we concur.
Still, all in all we concur.
Last edited by taabarang on Thu May 10, 2018 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Re: Another rural idiom
yeah i was only unsure because your Meun looks similar to how i write Mean (To Have), and so though your Meun might be the same as my Mean,
Transliteration of Khmer is a pain in the arse
so yeah 'twill be thissun then...
រុយទំមិនបក់ រុយមិនផ្អើល
Ruy Dtom Min Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and cant wave it away, the fly doesn't panic(fly away)
Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
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Re: Another rural idiom
Hi Jamie,
I call most of the idioms I post as "rural" while some undoubtedly aren'i all that isolated. But this one strikes me as the real McCoy. In fact the English meaning is pretty straight forward. When I was trying to translate the Khmer, the difficulty brought to mind a rural idiom from the South of the US which goes, " It's bout as hard as reachin over your back with your right hand o'er your left shoulder to scratch your butt."
I call most of the idioms I post as "rural" while some undoubtedly aren'i all that isolated. But this one strikes me as the real McCoy. In fact the English meaning is pretty straight forward. When I was trying to translate the Khmer, the difficulty brought to mind a rural idiom from the South of the US which goes, " It's bout as hard as reachin over your back with your right hand o'er your left shoulder to scratch your butt."
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Re: Another rural idiom
FTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is impliedJamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 6:33 pmRuy Dtom Min Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and he/she won't wave it away, the fly knows and doesn't panic(fly away)
It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism
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Re: Another rural idiom
Could be. But it was used in the context of a villager who was in a deep state of inebriation which did not resemble enlightenment.that genius wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 7:12 pmFTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is impliedJamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 6:33 pmRuy Dtom Min Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and he/she won't wave it away, the fly knows and doesn't panic(fly away)
It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Re: Another rural idiom
....taabarang wrote:Could be. But it was used in the context of a villager who was in a deep state of inebriation which did not resemble enlightenment.that genius wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 7:12 pmFTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is impliedJamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 6:33 pmRuy Dtom Min Bach, Ruy Min P'al
The fly lands and he/she won't wave it away, the fly knows and doesn't panic(fly away)
It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism
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