Could someone, especially anyone with kids in a Khmer school, help decipher this?

ផ៓្សស្រះ

ជំ្សស្រះ

It seems to change and be quite interchangeable on a daily basis.

So, one heads to the market, asking for some lemons.
ក្រូចឆ្មា
Krauch Chhma

But what of the green lemons, better known as limes?
ក្រូចឆ្មា
Krauch chhma

Khmer (including the semi feral one at home) are adamant that they are in fact the same, when in actual fact they’re without doubt, different. A couple of centuries of scurvy, and more than a few tequila shots demonstrate this.
Now, I have heard a few people use a slightly different reference, fleetingly. And it’s not appending green or yellow to the request. However, as is far too typical, when asked to clarify, it gets revised to Krauch chhma. Same, same. Or words to that effect.

Does one simply look at the offered items, and berate merchant and say, ‘no, the other ones, dummy!’ Yellow/Green, as appropriate?

This is what I had as feedback in a conversation, earlier.

I had a slice of lime, and a segment of Lemon, side by side. One name offered was Orange!

Apparently, in my country we have different names for these things. I threw in the reference to apples and oranges, to a blank stare.

Krauch chhma green and krauch chhma yellow, it is.

CBEQ wrote: ↑Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:19 pm It's funny because ក្រូច (krauch) means orange and ឆ្មា (chhma) means cat, so a lime is a "cat's/cat orange". My head cannon is that they named the orange, then they saw a lime and was like "What is this? An orange for cats?!"

But yeah, they are definitely limes.

Not quite!

The 'chmar' in lime/lemon has a r on the end, like this ក្រូចឆ្មារ
Where the pussy cat has no r on the end, like ឆ្មា

But Khmer language being what it is, someone will throw a spanner in the works.
For lemon, Headley has ក្រូចឆ្មារលឿង Literally, ក្រូចឆ្មារ yellow.
But then if we add the word 'color' ពណ៌ immediately before the word 'yellow', then the r at the end of ឆ្មារ goes missing, ក្រូចឆ្មាពណ៌លឿង

Ant dictionary expands on the word 'lime'. Along with ក្រូចឆ្មារ
it is expanded as ក្រូចឆ្មារម្យ៉ាងផ្លែតូចមានទឹកច្រើន which we can say is a small ក្រូចឆ្មារ with a lot of juice.
http://dict.antkh.com/dictionaries/lime.aspx

@IraHayes, កំបោរ is lime as in the white powder.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Wed Jul 19, 2023 6:56 pm

CBEQ wrote: ↑Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:19 pm It's funny because ក្រូច (krauch) means orange and ឆ្មា (chhma) means cat, so a lime is a "cat's/cat orange". My head cannon is that they named the orange, then they saw a lime and was like "What is this? An orange for cats?!"

But yeah, they are definitely limes.

Not quite!

The 'chmar' in lime/lemon has a r on the end, like this ក្រូចឆ្មារ
Where the pussy cat has no r on the end, like ឆ្មា

But Khmer language being what it is, someone will throw a spanner in the works.
For lemon, Headley has ក្រូចឆ្មារលឿង Literally, ក្រូចឆ្មារ yellow.
But then if we add the word 'color' ពណ៌ immediately before the word 'yellow', then the r at the end of ឆ្មារ goes missing, ក្រូចឆ្មាពណ៌លឿង

Ant dictionary expands on the word 'lime'. Along with ក្រូចឆ្មារ
it is expanded as ក្រូចឆ្មារម្យ៉ាងផ្លែតូចមានទឹកច្រើន which we can say is a small ក្រូចឆ្មារ with a lot of juice.
http://dict.antkh.com/dictionaries/lime.aspx

It’s curious when talking with several Khmer, I think probably not too literate in Khmer. They will say ‘same as cat’. Obviously referring purely to the similar sound of the words. It adds some confusion when establishing what to ask for. Clearly a direction that Giggle-transmute has headed down. There is no ‘ro’ on the end of there offering.

The risk is a Barang heading to the market, looking for limes, making sucking and meow noises, and looking like a complete lemon.