Khmer Idioms

Post by **Username Taken** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:47 pm

^^^ You might have that back to front.

Kammekor · Post by **Kammekor** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:00 pm

explorer wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:43 pm
Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:11 pm When you have the water you have the fish, when you have the money you have the girl.
That is what a lot of foreigners say, and now some Cambodians also say it.

It used to be:

Where you have water, you have fish. Where you have girls, you have boys.

I don't know, it's what my Cambodian teacher taught me in 2009, your knowledge must go back even longer.

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:01 pm

Some of the things discussed previously are not actually idioms.

I can think of one Khmer idiom right now.

ឆ្លងទន្លេ pronounced something like 'chlong tdoonle,'

It literally means 'cross the river.'

As an idiom, it means 'to give birth to a baby.'

I have heard it originates from, giving birth to a baby is difficult like swimming across a river.

khmerhamster · Post by **khmerhamster** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:55 pm

We are getting idioms confused with proverbs, and then there are colloquialism which are similar again.

Are 'dead funny' and 'dead boring' english idioms? Khmer has loads of those... I suspect they aren't idioms though.

Kadow jung ngoab... Hot want to die
Tonh jung ngoab... Bored want to die
Klein jung ngoab... Hungry want to die
Kompline jung ngoab... Funny want to die

What about 'eat money' ... 'see luoy' as is 'smart see luoy'

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:00 pm

khmerhamster wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:55 pm We are getting idioms confused with proverbs, and then there are colloquialism which are similar again.

Are 'dead funny' and 'dead boring' english idioms? Khmer has loads of those... I suspect they aren't idioms though.

Kadow jung ngoab... Hot want to die
Tonh jung ngoab... Bored want to die
Klein jung ngoab... Hungry want to die
Kompline jung ngoab... Funny want to die

What about 'eat money' ... 'see luoy' as is 'smart see luoy'

The expression I have heard from Cambodians, is 'klaj jong ngoup,' which is very close to 'frightened to death' in English.

I joke a lot with Cambodians and say things like, hot want to die, and happy want to die. I think the people you are dealing with have a sense of humor, and are joking the same way I do. Hungry want to die, seems legitimate, but I dont remember hearing it used.

See loy is actually correct Khmer. See can be translated eat. It can also be translated consume. So Smart consumes a lot of money.

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:55 pm

Expanding on the post above, add these two to the list of idioms.

klaj jong ngoup
pai jong ngoup

The closest translation in English for both of them is 'frightened to death.' Since you don't actually die, these are idioms.

klaj translates as 'frightened' or 'scared.'
pai is usually used the way we use 'to get a fright.' Bit it is sometimes used as 'frightened' or 'scared.'

explorer · Post by **explorer** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:59 pm

Not an idiom, but correct Khmer.

vool mook means dizzy.

vool means rotating or spinning.
mook means face.

So vool mook means my face is spinning, which translates as dizzy.

In English we have my head is spinning, which usually has a different meaning, and is an idiom.

syntaxresearch · Post by **syntaxresearch** » Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:21 pm

Alex wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:15 pm So you want us to do your research for you? Let's hope you're just a lazy highschool student. There's a nice idiom for this in the English language: Cutting corners.

Well no buddy... First off Khmer is a pretty low resource language and I've already read through literature and researched a bit. There isn't much. Asking around and getting data from real people is a part of the research smart one? Do you think a historian going out into the field to ask someone about some subject is them doing the research for them? But thanks anyway.

syntaxresearch · Post by **syntaxresearch** » Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:24 pm

Freightdog wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:41 pm I don’t know- in fairness, asking questions here surely doesn’t preclude asking questions elsewhere. It’s all reasearch. Now, if you asked a Khmer, or anyone who as a normal part of conversation might talk in idioms, turns of phrase, etc, they might not understand what the question is. It’s just talking normally for the locals, but something else to us.

As an example- her in doors Might say we go ‘nam bai’*. I asked her one lunch where was the rice? Eat ri later, now eat sup.

*propa spelling l8r

Thank you for understanding about research lol.... When I saw that other guy's post as the first comment I just facepalmed hard and assumed the rest of the comments weren't worth reading. Also thank you so much for your data

syntaxresearch · Post by **syntaxresearch** » Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:26 pm

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:11 pm Actually there's loads of idioms in Khmer, and if you're able to speak the language you should know a dozen or so already.

In English:

When you have the water you have the fish, when you have the money you have the girl.
A good leg.
Died in the hinges (maybe hinges is translated wrong, it's the stand(s) you use for a boat pulled out of the water)
Climbing a person.
etc etc

I know some and I talked with family and friends to get more but we are Khmer who live in the states and are not as connected culturally / with the language anymore as someone living there. (The slang is very different and I'm sure there's been some linguistic drift).

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