Greng Jai

Post by **johnnyk** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:05 pm

Grand total of four posts, bit of a minor detour don't you think?
Ease up mate, its not a crisis.

Post by **STEVE G** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:45 am

Parahandy wrote:

What I am suggesting (am I repeating myself?) is that this 'laid-back' attitude is absolutely essential in a country where people generally don't think much more that eight minutes in front of them, and forget everything that happened to them more than eight minutes ago...

I would agree with this, if you donâ€™t have a laid back attitude to life in Asia it will all tend to become too stressful. I think this was the most beneficial thing I gained from working for some years in the region.
Now I do some contract work in Europe, I find this attitude makes life much lighter and I donâ€™t get as worked up about things as everybody else here. Iâ€™m not sure my boss is so happy about this all the time, but it helps when there is a crisis and you are the only one not doing impressions of a headless chicken.

Post by **DawnHRD** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:23 am

Parahandy wrote:Sorry, is it me? What has all this riveting talk about colostomy bags and water beds to do with Greng Jai?

..............

I'm waiting, I'm waiting...

Well, there you go. Guess, JohnnyK and I have just demonstrated greng jai for you - you are now showing it, waiting patiently and politely until things get back to where you want them to be or feel they should be

Post by **Parahandy** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:52 pm

Thank you - I feel much better now! No worries JohnnyK - I didn't think that it was crisis material - I could just feel my stomach getting a little queasy!

Steve G - totally agree with using greng jai elsewhere, although don't you sometimes feel that the headless chickens become even more headless simply because you are the only one left with a head on?

P.

Post by **DawnHRD** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:32 am

This is going right back to Buksi's OP on greng jai, and the parties on all night with no consideration for others. And before anyone starts, I am perfectly aware it is the Makha Bucha festival today. I also know it is an auspicious time to become a monk. I have a friend becoming a monk on Sunday....

I have a very good sensor when it comes to the dogs who sleep in my house or garden, barking at night. I will "come to" in seconds, and often be shouting at them to be quiet before I've even regained consciousness, fully. Luckily they only do it rarely & it's always at some disturbance. So, last night at 3am, they started to bark & I shut them up. It's only when I "came to" properly that I realised why they had barked.

Somewhere a few streets back they had erected one of those loudspeaker set-ups & had been playing pop & rock music on it for a large part of the evening. Now at 3 am, it was broadcasting a movie at ear-splitting volume. From the soundtrack it sounded like a ghost movie, but I can't be certain, it certainly had a lot of "atmospheric" music & shouting. All the soi dogs were barking & howling at it (mine stopped straightaway & remained silent, impressively), but this kerfuffle kept me awake for a further hour. Goodness knows what it was like for the poor people in the streets nearer to the loudspeaker.

I assume it was a party for someone becoming a monk, but, not a lot of greng jai shown there...

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:56 am

I am getting lost here jai dee is good heart jai lorn is hot heart jai yen yen is cool your heart geng jai good heart geng as in geng dee very good
I always thought that greng jai was selfish heart
ie the ones jumping the qeue the ones making the noise were greng jai

Buksi somebody anybody heeeelp ????

Post by **buksida** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:02 pm

sargeant wrote:I am getting lost here jai dee is good heart jai lorn is hot heart jai yen yen is cool your heart geng jai good heart geng as in geng dee very good
I always thought that greng jai was selfish heart
ie the ones jumping the qeue the ones making the noise were greng jai

Buksi somebody anybody heeeelp ????

"geng" and "greng" are two different words - "greng jai" loosely translates to consideration which is severely lacking when these street parties are still cranking out noise at full bore at 3am in residential areas.

Post by **Wanderlust** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:39 pm

buksi (or someone else),
Am I correct in thinking that 'geng' means clever, or is that only when it is used with 'maak' (i.e. 'geng maak')? I must admit I have never heard anyone say 'geng dee' sargeant - in what context has that been used? As far as I knew 'very good' in Thai is 'dee maak' or 'dee maak maak'. And good heart is simply 'jai dee' I thought.

Post by **buksida** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:20 pm

Thats about right, "geng" roughly means to be good at something, I too haven't heard "geng dee" used.

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:47 pm

Thanks chaps goes to show been learning thai for 22 years and had it completely arse about face for years

Just had lesson from mrs sarge and looksow nim the geng should have the R in it as written by you Buksi not geng as i wrote (although in my meagre defence i never heard the R spoken yet) geng dee to quote mrs sarge is one i made myself

although for nine years she did not correct me until today bummer how many more have i got to go ???

I asked what the thai word for the people that jump the qeue was and she said quote "arseholes" (mai poo dee when pressed) i think her first answer was correct

I think i will stick to poot thai nit noy khoa jai yut/maak

Post by **barrys** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:04 pm

A slightly different slant on "greng jai" from my own experience.

Not long ago I saw somebody leaving our place with our electric angle grinder, drill and a few other tools.

I asked our housekeeper what was going on and she explained that a relative of our skipper had come to borrow some tools.

As I was home at the time I felt I should have been consulted and asked why the person didn't come to me personally as the owner of the items.

The reply was - you guessed it - that the person concerned was "greng jai", presumably meaning that out of overwhelming consideration for my feels they felt it better to take the things without my permission or knowledge.

Is that a cop out or what?!

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:59 pm

you gorra luv em though aintcha i have the same problem all the time

but at least they always bring them back in my case so far anyway

Post by **STEVE G** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:12 pm

Barry wrote:

The reply was - you guessed it - that the person concerned was "greng jai", presumably meaning that out of overwhelming consideration for my feels they felt it better to take the things without my permission or knowledge.

If this is a Thai custom, Iâ€™m going to try it the next time Iâ€™m in a bar and the staff have disappeared. I can see now that it will embarrass them if I stand there shouting, so I will just help myself and they will be much happier; â€œwhen in Romeâ€

Post by **PeteC** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:46 pm

[quote="STEVE G"]If this is a Thai custom, Iâ€™m going to try it the next time Iâ€™m in a bar and the staff have disappeared. I can see now that it will embarrass them if I stand there shouting, so I will just help myself and they will be much happier; â€œwhen in Romeâ€

Post by **johnnyk** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:50 pm

barrys wrote:A slightly different slant on "greng jai" from my own experience.

Not long ago I saw somebody leaving our place with our electric angle grinder, drill and a few other tools.

I asked our housekeeper what was going on and she explained that a relative of our skipper had come to borrow some tools.

As I was home at the time I felt I should have been consulted and asked why the person didn't come to me personally as the owner of the items.

The reply was - you guessed it - that the person concerned was "greng jai", presumably meaning that out of overwhelming consideration for my feels they felt it better to take the things without my permission or knowledge.

Is that a cop out or what?!

Maybe it was a huge compliment to you. The taker and accomplice knew you are a kind and generous soul, so no need to ask.