Phrases/saying in Khmer that always get a good reaction
- Miguelito
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Phrases/saying in Khmer that always get a good reaction
Are there things that you say, just a word or short phrase, that always make people smile or laugh?
Something such as "sigh-sa-bok" instead of "sok sa bai", which always gets a great response.
Something such as "sigh-sa-bok" instead of "sok sa bai", which always gets a great response.
Haha, yea “sai-sabok” always gets a shocked reaction followed by laughter.
“Ot’jong” (no way) usually gets a laugh
“Ot’jong” (no way) usually gets a laugh
I'm not a negative person, I encourage people all the time...it's usually to f**k off! But, whatever.
- Miguelito
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I guess we should add context to these as well, so people of different abilities can understand their use (and oftentimes it's not about what you say, but how and when you say it).PSD_Kiwi wrote:Haha, yea “sai-sabok” always gets a shocked reaction followed by laughter.
“Ot’jong” (no way) usually gets a laugh
For "Sai-sabok" it is used to ask somehow are they are, or as a response when someone asks you how you are. If they say "sok sabai" to me ("how are you?"), I could answer "baat, sai-sabok?".
How about "ot'jong"? It sounds to me that it's like "ot jaan", or "don't want". Do you make sure you pronounce the "ng" sounds? When do you use it? I might use it if they fill up my glass of wine and then tell me to bottoms up for the second time, no way!
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Sai-sabok is a bit clichéd.
Maybe funny at one stage, but it’s more than a bit tedious to hear someone 3 sheets to the wind yelling it at a waitress then bellowing with laughter themselves.
One phrase that I’ve seen get a funny reception is
‘Jit tha mean mong’ which roughly means ‘you’re having a laugh’
Also using Khmer slang like substituting ‘hong’ for ‘pong’ surprises people.
Like ‘ot dung hong’ instead of ‘ot dung pong’ to mean ‘I don’t know either’
Then mix it up by saying ‘ot dung hong - hong ot dung’
Hong can be a slang substitute for pong or can be a derogatory term for a female.
Careful who you use it with though...
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Maybe funny at one stage, but it’s more than a bit tedious to hear someone 3 sheets to the wind yelling it at a waitress then bellowing with laughter themselves.
One phrase that I’ve seen get a funny reception is
‘Jit tha mean mong’ which roughly means ‘you’re having a laugh’
Also using Khmer slang like substituting ‘hong’ for ‘pong’ surprises people.
Like ‘ot dung hong’ instead of ‘ot dung pong’ to mean ‘I don’t know either’
Then mix it up by saying ‘ot dung hong - hong ot dung’
Hong can be a slang substitute for pong or can be a derogatory term for a female.
Careful who you use it with though...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sok sa bai
sigh-sa-bok
buy some socks
You can't fail with "Ohn-samlanh" on a woman - you're basically saying "you are the chosen one, super special, etc.". Don't use it on other women when you're out with the wife or girlfriend mind you ..
sigh-sa-bok
buy some socks
You can't fail with "Ohn-samlanh" on a woman - you're basically saying "you are the chosen one, super special, etc.". Don't use it on other women when you're out with the wife or girlfriend mind you ..
Meum est propositum in taberna mori,
ut sint Guinness proxima morientis ori.
tunc cantabunt letius angelorum chori:
"Sit Deus propitius huic potatori."
ut sint Guinness proxima morientis ori.
tunc cantabunt letius angelorum chori:
"Sit Deus propitius huic potatori."
You can try to mispronounce "cheers!" (jol vs. jeul) , but beware of the context
After a very tasty meal, it is nice to tell the staff:
សីុមិនកើត or nham / Hop min gaert which means: It is not possible to eat
I get quite good laughters with staff at the restaurants
Give it a try with the right tone
សីុមិនកើត or nham / Hop min gaert which means: It is not possible to eat
I get quite good laughters with staff at the restaurants
Give it a try with the right tone
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yeah its very cliched, i even cringe when i say it out of bad habitផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote:Sai-sabok is a bit clichéd.
Maybe funny at one stage, but it’s more than a bit tedious to hear someone 3 sheets to the wind yelling it at a waitress then bellowing with laughter themselves.
One phrase that I’ve seen get a funny reception is
‘Jit tha mean mong’ which roughly means ‘you’re having a laugh’
Also using Khmer slang like substituting ‘hong’ for ‘pong’ surprises people.
Like ‘ot dung hong’ instead of ‘ot dung pong’ to mean ‘I don’t know either’
Then mix it up by saying ‘ot dung hong - hong ot dung’
Hong can be a slang substitute for pong or can be a derogatory term for a female.
Careful who you use it with though...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ive got a Cambodian name which i use when meeting people for the first time, which gets a laugh as its the same as a famous singer, no one ever forgets it lol
Mean Dtuk Mean Trey, Mean Loy Mean Srey
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
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I think any very khmer slang will get a good rise out of them or using part of the spoken language in a way that makes it sound like you are actively listening. Off the topic of my head I have a few examples
I said មានណា to mean I didn't have which surprised because it means the opposite of what you'd think. មាន.... (អេ) ទេ is a standard spoken negative construction
any of the constellation of ម៉ង phrases ម៉ាច់ម៉ង means correct or it fits but it is a veryyyy spoken phrase. ខុសម៉ង means very wrong ចំម៉ង or យ៉ាប់ម៉ង mean like crap
តាស means yes. Like បានតាស ok
khmer often have colloquial ways of referring to life events. ឆ្លងទន្លេ is giving birth or ដាក់ក្បាលលើកន្តេល means to marry. ទាន់ខែភ្លឺ means while moon is shining or person still alive and អង្គរក្លាយជាបាយ means a couple is now finally doing it or living together before marriage. I used all of these and got positive reactions from bemused khmer
I said មានណា to mean I didn't have which surprised because it means the opposite of what you'd think. មាន.... (អេ) ទេ is a standard spoken negative construction
any of the constellation of ម៉ង phrases ម៉ាច់ម៉ង means correct or it fits but it is a veryyyy spoken phrase. ខុសម៉ង means very wrong ចំម៉ង or យ៉ាប់ម៉ង mean like crap
តាស means yes. Like បានតាស ok
khmer often have colloquial ways of referring to life events. ឆ្លងទន្លេ is giving birth or ដាក់ក្បាលលើកន្តេល means to marry. ទាន់ខែភ្លឺ means while moon is shining or person still alive and អង្គរក្លាយជាបាយ means a couple is now finally doing it or living together before marriage. I used all of these and got positive reactions from bemused khmer
I was once eating out with some Cambodian friends who were making a play on words based on 'Bo Bo Khdao' (hot porridge) and giggling hysterically. I didn't understand the joke and they were reluctant to tell me what was do funny but eventually explained that it involved 'bao bao kdor' which I believe refers to fellatio.
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I have one Khmer phrase I use in hostess bars.
I’ll tell you guys, but you have to promise not to use it, because I want to be original.
Every time I get up and head to the toilets for a piss, I point towards the toilet and say “ toe Jew ack “
which means “I’m going to take a shit” and they laugh uproariously.
I’ll tell you guys, but you have to promise not to use it, because I want to be original.
Every time I get up and head to the toilets for a piss, I point towards the toilet and say “ toe Jew ack “
which means “I’m going to take a shit” and they laugh uproariously.
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- Lucky Lucan
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Any chance you could transliterate those words? I know it's difficult to do accurately but just to give some sort of context for those of us who can't read the script but speak and hear Khmer language every day?merchantsmutual wrote:I think any very khmer slang will get a good rise out of them or using part of the spoken language in a way that makes it sound like you are actively listening. Off the topic of my head I have a few examples
I said មានណា to mean I didn't have which surprised because it means the opposite of what you'd think. មាន.... (អេ) ទេ is a standard spoken negative construction
any of the constellation of ម៉ង phrases ម៉ាច់ម៉ង means correct or it fits but it is a veryyyy spoken phrase. ខុសម៉ង means very wrong ចំម៉ង or យ៉ាប់ម៉ង mean like crap
តាស means yes. Like បានតាស ok
khmer often have colloquial ways of referring to life events. ឆ្លងទន្លេ is giving birth or ដាក់ក្បាលលើកន្តេល means to marry. ទាន់ខែភ្លឺ means while moon is shining or person still alive and អង្គរក្លាយជាបាយ means a couple is now finally doing it or living together before marriage. I used all of these and got positive reactions from bemused khmer
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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I’ll have a go. In brackets above in original post. It’s not perfect but it’ll give you an idea.Lucky Lucan wrote:Any chance you could transliterate those words? I know it's difficult to do accurately but just to give some sort of context for those of us who can't read the script but speak and hear Khmer language every day?merchantsmutual wrote:I think any very khmer slang will get a good rise out of them or using part of the spoken language in a way that makes it sound like you are actively listening. Off the topic of my head I have a few examples
I said មានណា to mean I didn't have which surprised because it means the opposite of what you'd think. មាន.... (អេ) ទេ [men... (ay) day] is a standard spoken negative construction
any of the constellation of ម៉ង [mong] phrases ម៉ាច់ម៉ង [mej mong] means correct or it fits but it is a veryyyy spoken phrase. ខុសម៉ង [koh mong] means very wrong ចំម៉ង [jom mong] or យ៉ាប់ម៉ង [yab mong] mean like crap
តាស [dah] means yes. Like បានតាស [ban dah] ok
khmer often have colloquial ways of referring to life events. ឆ្លងទន្លេ [ chlong tonle] is giving birth or ដាក់ក្បាលលើកន្តេល [dak kbal lurg kdel] means to marry. ទាន់ខែភ្លឺ [doan Kai pluu] means while moon is shining or person still alive and អង្គរក្លាយជាបាយ means a couple is now finally doing it or living [angkor klie Jea bay] together before marriage. I used all of these and got positive reactions from bemused khmer
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The Khmer username above me did a pretty good job of transliterating. It is not an exact science with Khmer and the variation is enough to drive me crazy. I actually question how well Khmer understand English whenever I see them write something like "Torl" and think to myself that there is no "rl" in it or even a "to" sound.
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