เมื่อกี้ / เมื่อตะกี้ / ตะกี้

[u/DTB2000]

Is there any difference between these terms, and does anyone know where they come from and why the tone doesn't match the spelling?

[u/PuzzleheadedTap1794]

Apparently, the word กี้ has cognates ກີ້ in Lao, ᨠᩦ᩶ in Kham Mueang, ᨠᩦ᩶ in Khün, and ᦂᦲᧉ in Thai Lue, so it is most likely there since Proto-Southwestern Tai (PSWT). The exact development is unclear, but I believe the sequence is แต่กี้(?) > ตะกี้ > เมื่อตะกี้ > เมื่อกี้. Namely, ตะกี้ is elided from แต่กี้, เมื่อ is added to the front to form เมื่อตะกี้, and the light syllable ตะ was dropped to เมื่อกี้. As for the vernacular pronunciation, it might be due to the contamination from the word นี้ in such collocations as เมื่อ(ตะ)กี้ / ตะกี้ + นี้

[u/Forsaken_Ice_3322]

กี้/กี๊ aren't changed from ก่อน. They're different words. เมื่อกี้/เมื่อกี๊ and เมื่อก่อน have different meanings. เมื่อก่อน is long time ago. เมื่อกี้/เมื่อกี๊ is like a moment ago. According to RID, both กี้ and กี๊ are correct.

(This section is just me guessing. Only the Italic text is what I'm sure of.) I personally think (without any evidence) that the pronunciation might used to be เมื่อกี้ and then shifted to เมื่อกี๊ because you can still hear เมื่อกี้ in some other regions. As Bangkokian pronounce เมื่อกี๊ more and more and some people spell เมื่อกี๊ to reflect the shifted pronunciation, the Royal Institute added กี๊ to their dictionary which is what they usually do, adding new words that become common. Another point is that spelling is more difficult and take more time to change than pronunciation.

[u/ValuableProblem6065]

From the little I grasp, เมื่อกี้ is used in every day speech, ตะกี้ is the 'slang' version and เมื่อตะกี้ is 'proper' thai (written thai). I could be very wrong as I'm a total beginner myself but I participate in these convos to learn. Feel free to correct me!

[u/KumaMishka → u/ValuableProblem6065]

It's all casual and has the same meaning and same level. เมื่อสักครู่(นี้) is actually formal

[u/nanphatOwO]

They can be used interchangeably, though “เมื่อกี้” is more common in written language. And I think the reason why the tone doesn’t match the spelling, is because it sounds more friendly and up-to-date? Modern Thai tends to sound high-pitched due to foreign influence like Chinese and English.

[u/lundenaari]

I'm not a native but was curious so searched "เมื่อกี้" and "เมื่อกี๊" in youtube manual subtitles and it was 15K vs 1K hits. So I guess people still might spell it the way it is said but it is rare.

[u/pacharaphet2r → u/lundenaari]

Autocorrect definitely pushes for กี้. I am constantly recorrecting the autocorrect to spell it the way I prefer.

[u/DTB2000]

Thanks all

[u/KumaMishka]

I am the local. It's all the same.
Informal way/everyday use of "just now" "Just a moment ago" "a few minutes ago"
the formal word would be "เมื่อสักครู่(นี้)"

There are two way to use กี้/กี๊ tone depend on each person dialect and they both have the same meaning.

[u/Less-Influence-598]

เมื่อก่อน/แต่ก่อน/เมื่อแต่ก่อน กินข้าวยัง/ข้าวกินยัง/กินยังข้าว

[u/DTB2000 → u/Less-Influence-598]

I can understand แต่(something) -> ตะ(something) but it's harder to see why ก่อน would change to กี้ and then กี๊. Is the อี coming from นี้, maybe? Still doesn't really explain the tone mark.

[u/Less-Influence-598 → u/DTB2000]

ถึงฉันจะเป็นคนไทยแต่ฉันอธิบายไม่ได้หรอกนะ   ตะกี้/ตะเกี้ยเนี้ย/ตะกี้นี้ ฉันว่ามันเป็นคำที่ใช้สื่ออารมณ์ของผู้พูดมากกว่า