This is interesting. I assumed the reason gold is called platin here was to do with something like this.Ot Mean Loi wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:44 am"Platin" is just one of those Cambodian pronunciations for a foreign word and in this case for the words "Plating or Plated" as in electro-plating/plated. Exactly the same applies to the original word "Lorry" for a truck which becomes Norry in spoken Khmer.
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With very little experience it is possible to tell the purity of a gold article simply by weighing it in the palm of one's hand.
Curious how 'Platin' has entered the local lexicon to now mean proper 18k, 20k gold jewellery ect rather than gold plated jewellery as you mentioned it originated from. Often now people will say 'platin dap pram bai" for 18k as an example.
I would argue your assertion that with very little experience people can tell the purity of gold simply by holding it in their hand as quite incorrect though. Seasoned goldsmiths wouldn't be able to tell accurately if something is 22karat or 18 karat just by holding a small bracelet, ring or chain in their hands. That even an experienced Goldsmith would be able to hold something in their hand and tell you what purity it is, just isn't possible. But, if a Goldsmith were to inspect two exact copies of two gold rings one of which is 14-karat and one of which is 22 carat most if not all would be able to give a very educated guess as to which one has more gold content by the weight but probably not by how much more or less karat wise. I would say it takes years of experience and it's not at all easy to even give an educated guess without testing or properly weighing a piece of gold jewelry.