Rhyming expressions

[DogoDon]

And here's an interesting expression that has a rhyme buried in it:

อยู่กับเหย้าเฝ้ากับเรือน: to stay at home and look after things

DogoDon

[TK]

อิ่มหมีพีมัน
means อิ่ม + with satisfaction and enjoyment of what you have just eaten.

อิ่มหนำสำราญ
means อิ่ม + enjoyed in both food and atmosphere (of the party, etc.)

ข้าวปลาอาหาร
= food (in general, not just rice and fish, sometime you heard the question 'Do you have anything to eat yet? = กินข้าวกินปลาหรือยัง)

อยู่ดีมีสุข
= (with) well-being (life)

กินดีอยู่ดี (I'm not sure how would we consider this one, is it repeating word, rather than rhyme?)
= live happily and comfortably

(you can get my theme here, I just had my dinner )

[Tim]

These are nice, and very useful. It seems to me that there is some ambiguity, however. I presume we want expressions that rhyme for the express purpose of sounding good to the ear, and maybe also expressing a nuance that the individual words don't have on their own. For example, I wouldn't think ที่นี่ or วันนั้น or ไปไหน would qualify, even though there is rhyming and they are common expressions. Also what about acronyms? I'd say most of them wouldn't qualify either, but consider the common spoken expression for bus station สถานี ขส. (pronounced ขอ-สอ) instead of สถานีขนส่ง. The syllable lengths are the same, but saying the acronym as opposed to the word gives it the rhyme.

I wonder about the words like อพยพ or สกปรก. Don't they have more of an "accidental rhyme" than one designed to purposefully have a rhyme? Since there are only a limited number of vowel sounds in the language, it's fairly likely that any expression of several syllables will have some rhyme scheme.

Anyway, there are obviously many unambiguous examples of these rhyming expressions, and knowing some of them can help us a lot to come up with Thai speech that sounds more natural and pleasant to the Thai ear. So keep 'em coming, everyone! One that I came across today is ล้างหน้าล้างตา = to wash one's face.

[Rikker]

The Isan equivalent of อยู่ดีมีสุข that I heard all the time when I lived there is อยู่ดีมีแฮง (those aren't quite the right tones), but here แฮง means แรง.

There's also: อยู่เย็นเป็นสุข

And a rather long one: อยู่ดีมีชัยปลอดภัยสวัสดี

Question about อิ่มหมีพีมัน: I have this one recorded as อิ่มหมีพลีมัน. Looking around on the internet, I found a site that explains พี means อ้วน, and พลี is probably a folk reanalysis. If based on the number of hits on the net, อิ่มหมีพีมัน would win.

What say our resident Thais?

[Rikker]

Funny you should bring up ambiguity, Shuba. The one you mention actually fits into another category, too: semantic pair expressions. It just so happens that this pair also rhymes! หน้า and ตา often appear together to mean face (in more than one sense):

ล้างหน้าล้างตา = to wash your face
ถือหน้าุถือตา = to consider "face" very important
ก้มหน้าก้มตา = to concentrate

There are lots of these, too. Enough for another thread... บ้าน/เมือง (e.g. กินบ้านกินเมือง), เนื้อ/ตัว (e.g. หมดเนื้อหมดตัว), หู/ตา (e.g. ลืหูลืมตา), เล็ก/น้อย (e.g. เก็บเล็กผสมน้อย)... the list goes on and on.

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'll respond to your actual topic.

[Rikker]

On ambiguity: You're absolutely right, Shuba. Words like อพยพ and สกปรก could be called "accidental" rhymes, but it just goes to show how much the language "likes" rhyming, since these sorts of rhymes are scattered all over. And even though all abbreviations rhyme when pronounced, it makes sense why they have currency over the full expression--they're brief and they rhyme. It's a double bonus!

I'm not sure about others, but I'm interested in expressions that rhyme both for euphony and accidentally.

But yeah. We're dealing with at least several kinds of rhyming expressions here:

• Expressions that "accidentally" rhyme. They are "accidental" because they are single morphemes, and can't be analyzed into smaller meaningful rhyming units. They are not "elaborate" expressions. e.g. สกปรก
  (+rhyme -analyzable -elaborate)

• Expressions that rhyme, are analyzable into smaller rhyming morphemes, but are arguably not "elaborate" expressions, because they express a semantically distinct idea. e.g. เอื้อเฟื้อ
  (+rhyme -analyzable -elaborate)

• Expressions that rhyme for euphony, can be broken down into smaller morphemes, and are elaborate (that is, they have at least one non-elaborate semantic equivalent). e.g. เอื้อเฟื้อเผื่อแผ่
  (+rhyme +analyzable +elaborate)

There are probably more ways to divide it up than that, even.

[Tim]

ขวางทาง = to block the way, bar the way.

ของ้อ = ask for forgiveness, make up to; try to conciliate; try to reconcile

งานเบ็ดเตล็ด = odd jobs

This one is for Pailin:
เฉยเมย = to be indifferent, passive.

Here's one that goes well with DogoDon's โกโรโกโส:
ชำรุดทรุดโทรม = be worn out, be damaged; be out of order; be in a state of decay; be in disrepair; be ruined; be dilapidated; be tumbledown

ตะแลงแกง = gallows, scaffold; gibbet; place where prisoners are executed; place for the execution of criminals

Two that are related:
เรื่อยเจื้อย = on and on, continuously.
เรื่อยเปื่อย = continuously and aimlessly

ตะลึงพรึงเพริด = to be stupefied, stunned (with surprise, fright).

แตกแยก = 1) to break up and separate (as a group of friends), to split up. 2) to break off a friendship. 3 ) to be split off, separated.

ทางช้างเผือก = the Milky Way.

เนื้อเยื่อ = tissue (as in part of the body)

แน่แท้ = certainly, surely, actually

Two more related ones, with very different meanings:
ปะทะ = 1) to collide; to clash. 2) to encounter and assault; to attack. 3) to strike.
ปะทะปะทัง = 1) to sustain, keep from falling. 2) to alleviate temporarily.

ม้วนต้วน = 1) curl oneself up, roll 2) bashful

ทับศัพท์ = 1) to borrow a word (from another language); to transliterate. 2) to be borrowed; to be transliterated.

And finally, an example of the previous one:
ปิกนิก = picnic

[Nu]

Got 2 more:
ผีสางนางไม้ ghosts and tree nymphs
หูป่าตาเถื่อน uncivilized

[TK]

Rikker, re:อิ่มหมีพีมัน, this is the only way I've ever heard, and I always associate อิ่ม with อ้วน, like you've already said it พี means อ้วน but it is not imply unhealthy fat, it is more like heathy kinds, and also heard them together = อ้วนพี

My theme here is about happiness I am sure there are a lot more.

อุดมสมบูรณ์ = plentiful
สมบูรณ์พูนสุข = healthy and full with happiness.
สุขกายสบายใจ = healthy & happy both in body and mind.
สุขสันต์หรรษา = happy and cheerful
สรวลเสเฮฮา = be merry and happy
เฮฮาปาร์ตี้ = having fun and enjoyment (obviously, it's hybrid but look at the hits you've got in google !!)

[smiaw]

I remember a song with the name "nong ruk nuk rong".

Also, as our society becomes more materialistic, well,
"mee ngern gaw riak pee, mai mee gaw riak pee".
(Guess you can figure out the 2 "pee"s.)