connda

Sure. Corrupt politicians and corrupt bankers should be tossed into jail, but only Iceland seems to be doing that at the moment.

In the US and London? S**t, launder money for the drug cartels, get caught, and get a wrist slap. And nobody goes to jail.

I'm way, way past be disillusioned with the status quo. Corruption in the West makes this petty corruption in the East look like child's play.

For those who understand, which is a fraction of a percent of TV member, do you realize that when the US passed the last budget, they assumed the responsibility for all the derivatives exposure of the 'To Big To Fail' banks. And for that fraction of a fraction of a percent of US TV members, do you even have an itsy-bitsy clue at to what the Glass-Steagal Act was, why it was repealed, and why it will never be reenacted again short of an economic collapse, and I don't even think that will be enough catalyst. But, but, Warren and McCain (in the middle of an election cycle) introduced the legislation to be reenacted!!!!!

Baaaaaaaa.

Hey, I have a bridge over the Kwai River that I'll sell you for satang on the baht.

Sheep.

I did my 6th renewal last month. We took a witness. I asked the usual lady if she wanted to speak with him, and she asked why I had brought him. I explained that I understood that a witness was now needed, and we had, in fact, phoned to ask, and were told that a witness was necessary. She told me that, as we have been married for 6 years, had a "blue book" with both of our names in it, a witness wasn't necessary !

I would go for the extension as early as possible ( 30 days before it expires ?), and see what happens. If they insist on a witness, you have a month to arrange it.

A bit off topic but when was it possible for a foreigner to have his name included in the tabien baan? I have been told by officials on several occasions that this is not possible so have applied for a yellow house book.

The exception is when the foreigner has PR (permanent residency) status, then you can be added to a blue book.

I have my own Yellow Book. Why the hell do I need to be in the Blue Book. My Tabian Baan is a Thai legal document no different than my families Tabian Baan. Sounds more like a shake down for tea money. Back to corruption.

MJCM, thanks for that thread. I actually commented on that thread back in February, so did you it appears. I think it was that thread that made me think I must check out what is going on with this nearer the time of my renewal in August.

No problem, back then I was still living in Pattaya but not anymore and I have moved to an area with an even more difficult immigration, so my extension days are over and I just went with my wife to Laos and got a Multiple Entry Non-O with no hassle. But this one suits us also as we are frequent travellers and leaving every 90 day is no major issue for us

Unfortunately continuing on that route you will never be able to apply for PR status and make the visa game a thing of the past. That is a question of curiosity I have for OP. You said you have been married for 13yrs, why haven't you applied for PR and retire from the visa game? If you could have done that after your 3rd year of marriage, you could be applying for your citizenship now. Like I said, just curious.

The last time I checked you needed a work permit to apply for a PR. Seeing that I'm not currently working, have no WP, than the PR is out. Also, it seems that PRs are something that are much easier to obtain if your residence is in BKK and not in an upcountry province where the immigration office flatly said that they don't process PR applications. You are basically a tolerated nuisance. I spoke to a well know legal office with branch offices in Chiang Mai, and I couldn't even get an answer from them.

After nine years of marriage, I would ask my wife to explain to the immigration official exactly what she will be doing after I buy a ticket and leave this screwed up country for good leaving her with a house and no income. Then they can hash it out Thai to Thai. Each year I get progressively more tired of this xenophobiac BS.

gun, a knife, two decks of cards, B500, several motorbikes and a small amount of kratom and cannabis.

You've got to be joking. Second highest death rate on the roads, and this is the focus of the BIB. Pathetic.

Yes, by golly, that is an answer!!! Yaba and alcohol. It's the yaba and alcohol that should be but on trial. The man himself is totally without blame. Without any responsibility for his personal actions because, we all know, Yaba and Alcohol are the culprits. The man??? A totally innocent victim of drug lords and distilleries.

Don't feed the aspiring troll.

Don't wake sleeping sheep.

some people will only stop an assult as they are met with gunsmoke and hot lead.. If they are on some of the real mind alternating drugs it may take a multiple of rounds (4 or 5 ) but placed correctly that should be a real put down. then the bib would probably go after the fellow protecting himself, mother and bystanders' handdy to have a dozen spare clips just to show your not up to taking blaming the unseen / unheard voice no one else heard.

lock the crazed lunitic up in the house for deranged human / animal behavior and place him and others like him right next to the monkey pit at zoos around the country, a diet of peanuts, and water might show the errors of this type of behavior to the general public.

Ridiculous American attitude, typical of the NRA mentality. The motorcycle guys showed that guns were completely unnecessary for apprehending the guy, as they are in the vast majority of criminal cases in the vast majority of countries.

Ridiculous nanny-state mentality where you lay down and allow yourself and family to be victimized, and then blame yourself for the attack, and plead with the court to release the mad-man to go out and continue to attack people at will, because he had a difficult upbringing and it's not his fault. It's your fault, for having more 'privilege' then the attacker.

That's not a knife ( I am from Australia BTW)

Naew, this is a knife! http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/1/24727000/ngbbs51e929b64237f.jpg

But, I'm betting you Aussie ain't allowed to have one of them any more. You'll put your eye out Lol.

Probably Ya Ba or Alcohol and or a loathing for foreigners because of something that happened in the past.

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time...yikes

Cheers

Yes, by golly, that is an answer!!! Yaba and alcohol. It's the yaba and alcohol that should be but on trial. The man himself is totally without blame. Without any responsibility for his personal actions because, we all know, Yaba and Alcohol are the culprits. The man??? A totally innocent victim of drug lords and distilleries.

Nasty and frightening as this attack probably was for the tourist, and not trying to minimize things, but <deleted>, if all of the wicked knife wielding terror attack left with two little nicks to his hands he has to consider himself lucky. I have had a lot worse than that from opening a can of tomatoes and a bite from a bloody Toktaw! Hardly "Jack the Knife"

The "can of tomatoes" attacked you with deadly intent. That has got to be one of the most lame-brain comments that I've heard as a member of TV. There is a huge gap between your own stupidity when opening a can of tomatoes, and someone wielding a knife with the intent of doing you grave bodily harm.

And what's worse, is that you seem to be unable to discern the difference. Where do you folk come from. Ya'll incredibility indoctrinated you know, and totally oblivious to the fact.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Usually Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) for the type of work the OP is referring to.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

Good stuff. The Attribution-ShareAlike is more along the line of what I need. Attribute it, use it, modify it, and be willing to share the modified end-product. I'm a pay-it-forward type of guy. Do something good, and then pass it on in the same spirit. I just don't want someone saying the original concept was theirs. Hence, source attribution. I'll read more about it tomorrow.

Thanks much!

Most fun post I've seen since...April 1. Lol

I was in a small restaurant, getting some take-away, right next door to my condo, and the lady standing there must have said "farang" eight times. I didn't like the tone, even though I really didn't know what she was saying. I did know that the food wasn't good enough to have to listen to an idiot babble for five minutes. I haven't been back since, and I could just as easily been an almost daily customer.

She may well have been saying how much she appreciates all the business the local farang give her, that the farang in the condo next door are some of her best customers and she hopes more farang will stop by in the future.

If you didn't know what she was saying, what makes your think she was an idiot? That 'babble' is the language of the country in which you are living.

Good point. If you live here, you should strive for an understanding of the Thai language at least to a point to where to can understand the 'gist' of the conversation.

Persian language -

Farang = European

Thai bastardisation -

Guava - Ton Farang ( white flesh ).

If we can agree on anything - can we agree that the French aspect has been debunked?

No

Farang = all men and women with white skin.

Try again...

Does that apply to Thai folk who have bleached skin, never step out in the sun, and have a great cosmetic surgeon? They're 'farang' too? Really. Learn something new every day. We need some white skinned farang emoticons. George! Can ya make that happen for us please!!!

I admit to being a farang, and I don't mind limited use of the word. Like yesterday, when the Songtaew driver told me "Farang Som-sip," I simply said "cannot" and that was the end of it. Never heard the word in the bank or dentist office, it does seem to be overused by the foot shuffling class of Thais and it's just repetitive and annoying. Very young kids will often repeat it over and over, like they are name calling, but you know where they learned to do that. Many of the Thai parents haven't realized that teaching their kids to speak is only half the battle; you need to teach them to shut up, too. I generally just vote with my wallet, if they are being rude, and to me that is using the word "farang" more than a couple of times in a brief encounter. I was in a small restaurant, getting some take-away, right next door to my condo, and the lady standing there must have said "farang" eight times. I didn't like the tone, even though I really didn't know what she was saying. I did know that the food wasn't good enough to have to listen to an idiot babble for five minutes. I haven't been back since, and I could just as easily been an almost daily customer.

Just use the word "mia chow" about 8 time while casting a glance in her direction occasionally.

Will they be issuing queue tickets at the bus stop? If not, all slots will be taken by the time folk get to Prom.

Queue tickets will be phased out within 100 days. The new set up will be fast and efficient so they will not be needed. You just get a ticket when you arrive, guaranteed to complete service within 4 hours, if not a free meal voucher for Dukes will be provided.

Check the calendar...nope! Not April 1st. Really? If so, I may be dancing the hula there next July 4th, 2016. Lol

Being and being called a 'farang' in Thailand has never bothered me in the least. Nor did being and being called a 'gaijin' in Japan.

I have very little experience of Japan, but I am interested in it.

My understanding of the word 'gaijin' is that it is basically negative, unlike 'farang'.

Is that true?

That is not my understanding of the word, based on my experience of living in Japan close to fifteen years altogether, of having had and still having many Japanese friends and being now a fluent speaker and reader of Japanese.

But that does not stop, as others have pointed out here, troublemakers from taking offence.

A word is only offensive if there is someone who is offended. If you go back to my analogy of the grade school saying: "Sticks and stone may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.", you start to understand that at least in my generation, most people could just shrug it off. My best friend and I used to just brutalize each other with insults. It was a game, and a fun one at that. Wow, the things I said about his mom. Of course, his comments about my mom and the 7th Fleet were equally a low blow. Ahhh them were the days, may God rest his soul. 41 years old and a heart attack. "See what happens when ya talk bad about my mom, Ski?" Ha ha ha. Love ya and miss ya my brother.

The term racist has been so erringly applied in the last half decade, (with an agenda), that people who use it as a offensive weapon have absolutely NO problem in applying it to words such as farang......

And yes - they are not champions, they are just the opposite = troublemakers ....

Looking for attention. I wonder if they would answer to hae you?

Clearly the word has undergone some semantic amelioration and I've NEVER heard the word "farang" used alone as a pejorative.

I have noticed, however, that when I'm among low-class Thais, they call my a farang and it's almost a term of endearment, definitely has no negative connotation. However, it does make me feel a little bit objectified, as if I'm just another white boy (which I am, to them). However, to some of the Hi-So Thais I have worked with, they never use the word "farang", but refer to me exclusively as a "foreigner".

Contrary to what many want not all Thais speak English.

thanks CMHomeboy78 for clarifying the statement. I have never taken it as an insult and use the word myself. Mind you I am well aware of the fact that the situation and tone of voice can be considered offensive.

You can tell when it's offensive:

Farang khon Kwai

Farang Kee Nok

But in my experience, that sort of garbage mouthed stuff tends to come out of kid's mouths. If I hear it and the parents are around, I'll ask them a question inquiring where the kid learned his respect for elders from. The reaction you get when Thai parents lose face over a comment from their children has never been direct toward me. Now the kid....different story. And I don't really blame it on the parent. I was a disrespectful little twerp when I was younger. It was nothing I learned from my parents, it was what I learned on the playground with other kids.

No problem,just call me SIR.

Sir Farang, Mr. Farang, Farang Sir. I'm good with that too!

Clearly the word has undergone some semantic amelioration and I've NEVER heard the word "farang" used alone as a pejorative.

I have noticed, however, that when I'm among low-class Thais, they call my a farang and it's almost a term of endearment, definitely has no negative connotation. However, it does make me feel a little bit objectified, as if I'm just another white boy (which I am, to them). However, to some of the Hi-So Thais I have worked with, they never use the word "farang", but refer to me exclusively as a "foreigner".

Actually, while I have a problem with the overuse of the term "farang", which as the OP correctly aluded to if used in isolation is not any more offensive than calling someone in the west "Asian" or "Chinese"; however, depending on the context the way in which the term is used, the meaning can change and potentially start to sound derogatory, although in the majority of contexts it isn't.

However, strictly speaking, when we are trying to be inclusive and non-racist, the terms "khon dang chart" or "khon dang prathet", meaning "foreigner" are not actually more politically correct or neutral terms to refer to a westerner. I mean, who's to say that a "farang", a westerner can't be Thai? Logically speaking, if you are being referred to as a foreigner when in fact you could hold Thai nationality, just because you are non-Asian doesn't mean you can't be Thai, even if Thailand is not a multicultural country and doesn't have a policy of immigration that allows for easy transferance of the Thai nationality to foreigners. Therefore, using one of those terms may actually be more offensive than merely being referred to as a farang. Because while you may be a farang, that doesn't preclude you also holding Thai nationality.

Therefore, I'm actually more offended at the use of the term "khon dang prathet" or similar to refer to a westerner, whom the speaker may not even know personally and has no idea about their present status in Thailand being used to pre-emptively make the assumption that they aren't Thai. After all, the use of the terms "khon dang prathet" or "khon dang chart" can have only one meaning - that is a foreigner, a non-Thai person. They are therefore exclusive words and paint a picture of "otherness", in a way more so than just the term "farang". Imagine if we used the term "foreigner" to describe all Asians living in the west, even if they happened to be citizens, even born in our countries. Do you think they would accept this? No, that's why we refer to them as Asians, which implies their heritage and physical appearance associates them with another region of the world, but that doesn't mean they aren't part of our society. I think we could say the same about the term "farang".

But what I don't get is why isn't the most politically correct term, which is "white person" in English or "khon khao" or "khon piu khao" in Thai, the latter also meaning white person, or white skinned person used more often by Thais (or Thai speaking foreigners)? That way, you get a non-offensive politically correct term, which is used to describe someone with light skin but without political or nationalistic connotations? I personally try to use that term as much as possible, because it is not only the most accurate term to refer to us, it's also politically correct and inclusive. Another possibility would be "chao tawandok" or "westerner", although strictly speaking the Thai makes it sound like "a person of western nationality", rather than merely someone originally from the west. Again, in Thai it sounds a little bit too exclusive for my ears. But it's still somewhat better than "khon dang chart" or "khon dang prathet".

If I walked down the line of reasoning much further, my head would explode. The word 'farang' and the KISS principle go hand-in-hand. Think too much about it and you go back to the traffic circle diagram. Tywais post #16.

So, what do you think about the word kɛ̀ɛk. Same-same, but different? I've heard that used in a way that is definitely derogatory.

I'm not a conservative so I don't have strong opinions on things I know virtually nothing about.

Excellent. Good for you. You sound like a nice person!

In the village I'm called:

Uncle - Luang

Uncle Farang - Luang Farang

Grandad Farang - Daa/Bpuu Farang

Older brother Farang - Pee Farang

Older brother - Pee

Older brother who is a disrobed monk - Pee Naan Farang <Lanna>

It's a descriptor: it sets me apart from the non-Europeans in the village, of which I'm the only one.

Is it racist or derogatory? Not in my wildest dreams. If anything, it make me feel more a part of the village. When I hear _________ Farang, they only talkin' about one guy, and I know who that is!

Then it's time to prick the ears up and start listening. Not everyone knows my Thai language level. If they did, they wouldn't say some of the stuff they do, Lol. Mostly good, or somewhat ignorant and misinformed. Seldom bad.

So, what do you think about the word kɛ̀ɛk. Same-same, but different? I've heard that used in a way that is definitely derogatory.

Topic closed pending moderation.

/Closed.

/Edit - A number of flame posts, petty bickering, and off-topic posts have been removed from this thread.

Topic re-opened for civil discussion only please.

Dude, I love your signature! Good shit:

Taoism: shit happens

Buddhism: if shit happens, it isn't really shit

Islam: if shit happens, it is the will of Allah

Catholicism: if shit happens, you deserve it

Judaism: why does this shit always happen to us?

Atheism: I don't believe this shit

During my time in the military, we referred to Thai women as LBFMs. I won't expound on that. Lol Racist? Word in the wind imho.

So does the word 'farang' stimulate feelings of racial indignation in my mind? Not in the least. It just a word; wind in the air

But I'm not a liberal either, so I still hang with what I learned in my conservative grade school: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." How true, how true.