Lung Addie meets the KIET
Recently, while visiting the local weekly market, Lung Addie heard it again: the word Kiet. He had already become acquainted with it while shopping at the daily morning fresh market (talaad) but then paid no attention to it; after all, a person hears so many new things here.
Lung Addie wanted to buy 500gr of minced meat, Garoena, ha roi grem moe sab khap… The young saleswoman scooped the requested product into the well-known plastic bag and passed it on to a grandmother, who apparently served as the weigher, with the words “Ha Kiet” . There the word Kiet came up again… what can this mean? I asked ha roi grem and what did that kiet do now? Is the Thai language so complicated and will I never learn it?
During the construction work here, Lung Addie had already heard that word being used during length measurements. Even more, when he used a measuring cup to measure a liquid, also heard the word kiet fall, he was completely lost. So it is not a measure of weight, no measure of length, no measure of volume, it had to be something magical that can be used for anything. Lung Addie wanted to know all about it, so we went to investigate. Who better to be with than his neighbour, a purebred professor and his girlfriend, a mathematics regent. They both had to be able to provide a plausible explanation for this mysterious measure.
The question was asked and in preparation for the answer, the regent started counting on her fingers. Oops, this could become a serious math problem and Lung Addie expected complicated mathematical formulas with logarithmic and who knows, even integral calculations in it... that was a long time ago, would he still understand something about that and have to go off like a watering can? Was it wise to question such a complex problem? Lung Addie was already starting to sweat and left the apparently heavy discussion between the professor and the regent for a while to quickly drink up some courage with a cool Leo.
They had come to a compromise, so they would clarify it for Lung Addie. Everyone here knows the usual balances, commonly used in the market. Such an old-fashioned metal thing with a vertical disc and pointer. On that metal disc there are stripes, long and short stripes. Well, such a long line represents 100gr and a short line 50gr. So the long stripe is the KIET and the short stripe is Khrung Kiet. The same on a meter, the long stripes are 10cm and the short stripes 1cm. The regent even explained to Lung Addie that there are 10 kiet in a kilogram and 20 khrung kiet in the same kilogram. It was even demonstrated with didactic material because two hands, each with 5 fingers, went up. Older people apparently do not know the unit sizes and do not need to know them because their Kiet can be used for everything.
How simple life can be in a beautiful country like Thailand. Why do the Farangs always have to complicate things with their annoying and complicated weights and measures? Just use the KIET.
– Reposted message –
Nice story, but the conclusion is something to note. Just Google “Old weights and measures” and see how complicated all kinds of measurements in the Netherlands once were. Who remembers the great cubit, the little cubit, the bushel, the mud, the thumb, the foot, the stab. The stripe is also an old-fashioned measure of content. The metric system has put an end to that labyrinth of weights and measures.
No, it is precisely the Thai who make it even more complicated, because what about the rai and the wah?
What's wrong with the rai and the wah?
In the Netherlands we still have the hectare and the are.
There is indeed nothing wrong with the rai and wah, other than what the word expression makes it seem. The hectare and the are belong to the metric (or metric) system. This assumes uniform standard dimensions. The Thai (area) dimensions are derived from this. These also assume uniform standard dimensions. Just take a look at the Siam Legal website. they have put a simple table on their website for conversion.
http://www.siam-legal.com/realestate/thailand-convert-rai.php
That's how different it is with the old "English" bars that Gringo refers to. Yes, I do remember it because of my education in the distant past. The yardstick, used by carpenters, still indicates both systems in cm and inch (= 1 inch). The cubit comes from the length between the hand and elbow. Formerly used by sellers of fabrics on rolls. You were better off if you went to a tall salesman, because he has longer arms and then the "ell" was longer. You then had more fabric for the same money. That difference was apparently solved by taking an average size and making a stick for that size. I still have that stick. A square hardwood stick (presumably ebony) with an inlaid brass stripe all around at the place just before where the thumb rests on it. As a result, the cubit was measured relatively uniformly, from thumb to end of stick.
For the enthusiasts among us:
A meter is officially defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum environment in 1/299, 792458 seconds.
And what about the American size 'yard'. A yard can be defined as the length that a pendulum rotates in an arc during exactly 1 second. The nautical mile is the distance in 1' (1/60 of a degree) around the Earth's surface.
A rod consisted of a number of feet ranging from 7 to 21. For measuring long distances, the Rhenish rod of 3,767 m was most common.
Who remembers how a milkman wears out half a liter of milk?
The word ออนช์ also occurs in the Thai language, according to the dictionary as a conversion of ounce.
But because it is pronounced as /on/ and not as /aun/, I suspect that the origin is the Dutch 'ons'. It then comes from the time of the VOC in Ayuthaya.
ขีด or khìe:d indeed has two meanings: 1 an (old) word for 100 grams, one ounce 2 to draw, scratch, write; a line, a line (eg also in the word strike through and underline).
It could well be, as Lung Addie indicates, that these two meanings are connected via an (old) scale ('line'). ('an ounce is a line'). It is certainly not a measure of length (centimeter or meter).
If you say 'kiet' as written in Dutch (compare-don't-), a Thai person will not understand it unless you point to the scale. The –k- in an aspirated –kh- (a burst of air comes out of your mouth), a really long –ie- (longer than in –beer-) and, equally important, a low tone. 'Kiet' and 'khìe:d' therefore differ from each other in terms of pronunciation in three ways, even more so than the difference between the Dutch –pen- and –been-.
Dear people,
So the kite appears to be open to multiple interpretations? When I was still allowed to smoke, on the lung that is, I sometimes had the unfortunate circumstance that my lighter refused. My wife taught me that I then had to say to a lung or other Thai: Mai kiet faai. I actually got a fire.
Now the question of what kiet means here…
ไม้ขีดไฟ or 'máai khìe:d fai' (máai, long –aa-, is wood, khìe:d dash, fai is natural fire), which must be an old-fashioned match (sometimes just máai khìe:d)
ไฟแช็ก 'fai chék' which is a lighter (sometimes just chék)
Nice tidbit.
Have you ever heard of it and wondered. At the market in Dan Khun Tod, Isaan.
At first thought it meant 'approximately' in the sense of 'may it be a little more or less', as our butcher invariably asks. Just say a khi'e:d more or less. Or a krung khie:d 'you more or less.
:~)
An old word for 100 grams is simply an “ounce” in Dutch.
So Kit is just an ounce.
Yes right?
a yard is an English measure of length, not an American one.
You're right. The yard is an Anglo-Saxon measure of length. Thanks for your correction.
I have a handy app on my Windows phone for "conversion" of Thai sizes: Thai units converter. From Thai to metric (read French) and English measures, for area, length, volume of gold (Bath to Bai, Bath to Solot, Bath to At, etc…) and even for weights and measures of eggs and fruits.
You will be amazed at how many (Thai) sizes there are. Such an app is useful, even on the road in Thailand.
If you google Thai units “converter app” you will get several similar apps for Android and Iphone.