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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.

Lost in translation

Artful Dodger wrote: ↑Wed May 09, 2018 8:17 pm Lost in translation

You may well be lost, but the idiom isn't. What do you hold the meaning to be?

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.

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)

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)

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.

taabarang wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 4:20 pm 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 1,000.
Still, all in all we concur.

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)

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."

Jamie_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)

FTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is implied

It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism

that genius wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 7:12 pm

Jamie_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)

FTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is implied

It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism

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.

taabarang wrote:

that genius wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 7:12 pm

Jamie_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)

FTFY..or how I think it makes better sense...the English at least, my Khmer is minimal, but much the meaning is implied

It involves a kind of communication/knowing between animal and man, which is very prevalent in animism/Theraveda Buddhism

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.

....




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