Why are westerners so offended over the word farang? Get over it.

[trevoromgh]

My wife says it's a term of endearment when Thais call us farang but I don't think so.  It is a lazy way of pointing out the obvious which is you are a foreigner and I find its use discourteous sometimes.   In the UK we wouldn't usually use such generalisations like foreigner or worse alien when referring to someone within earshot preferring instead the more polite 'lady' or 'gentleman' but things are starting to get confusing over here nowadays with the various gender misfits who we are all supposed to be conscious of and not offend.  It won't be long until everyone is called 'Ms'.

[RafPinto]

44 minutes ago, jing jing said:

Then you are are a Thai citizen, but you are obviously not ethnically Thai.  Maybe Scottish-Thai would be appropriate -- as in African American.

Even Neeranam now having Thai citizenship, he will NEVER be considered Thai.
He is and always will be a farang. He can show a million times his thai ID card, he will never be considered "one of them".
Period.

[NanLaew]

59 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Basically, Cod, it's the same as you being called Chinaman in the US, if you can't see why this is racist, you are not worth replying to. There was nothing racist about Chinaman, yet the Chinese rebelled against it. Farang here don't integrate the same as the Chinamen in the USA but I have a dream that one day, every  valley shall be exalted..... and all flesh shall see it together. 

We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns.

[TropicalGuy]

5 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

And the locals like it when you think you're being treated exactly the same as them.

Couldn’t care less about anything Thai. Their country = their backward low IQ business.
 

Minimum / Essential Interaction Only  with govt -society- culture ( Thai lady / son/ house).
 

Here for Safe - Warm - Cheap - Simple -Friendly-  Stable- Flexible- Lifestyle- Passive Religions .

 

NOT here for Culture- Society- Govt.- Politics - Work. 

[transam]

58 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Just your opinion, do you think half-caste is offensive? If so, why?

Here is just one of many links that tell you the term "Half Caste" is derogatory......

 

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/half-caste

[RafPinto]

40 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Not me and I'm (still a Scottish) farang with ALL of my own home-grown, deeply-ingrained, cultural bigotries intact.

 

Maybe it's just the woke farangs who aren't very happy with where their parents hatched them?

My daughter is Scottish too.
Born in Aberdeen.

[metisdead]

Some off topic posts have been removed.

[NanLaew]

30 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Banchory, which was Kincardinshire or the Mearns but now Aberdeenshire. I have said 'Grampian' to make it easier but most still have never heard of it.  Kincardine ceased to exist before the US was discovered. 

Aha! So you're a teuchter.

 

Thought as much.

[transam]

1 minute ago, TropicalGuy said:

Couldn’t care less about anything Thai. Their country = their backward low IQ business.
 

Minimum / Essential Interaction Only  with govt -society- culture ( Thai lady / son/ house).
 

Here for Safe - Warm - Cheap - Simple -Friendly-  Stable- Flexible- Lifestyle- Passive Religions .

 

NOT here for Culture- Society- Govt.- Politics - Work. 

Oh dear, oh dear, ..........????.......????

[TropicalGuy]

1 minute ago, RafPinto said:

Even Neeranam now having Thai citizenship, he will NEVER be considered Thai.
He is and always will be a farang. He can show a million times his thai ID card, he will never be considered "one of them".
Period.

So what ? Many “ farang” like me couldn’t care less about backward low IQ Thai “culture” ….not here for that….

Thai citizenship is materially highly valuable giving rights like Land Owning / Residence/ No Work Permit etc . … very well done to those getting it ……???????????? but it will never be for me & others like me????

[asean]

Maybe someone should explain to the ignorant author that farang is simply a shortened version of the original white foreigners Francais. In Cambodia it is Barang because there is no F in their alphabet. Don’t know a single person offended by this. But if someone called me a Somchai that would be different. 

[NanLaew]

7 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

Couldn’t care less about anything Thai. Their country = their backward low IQ business.
 

Minimum / Essential Interaction Only  with govt -society- culture ( Thai lady / son/ house).
 

Here for Safe - Warm - Cheap - Simple -Friendly-  Stable- Flexible- Lifestyle- Passive Religions .

 

NOT here for Culture- Society- Govt.- Politics - Work. 

Ah... so no real dog in this 'fight' then.

 

Understood.

[NanLaew]

4 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

So what ? Many “ farang” like me couldn’t care less about backward low IQ Thai “culture” ….not here for that….

Thai citizenship is materially highly valuable giving rights like Land Owning / Residence/ No Work Permit etc . … very well done to those getting it ……???????????? but it will never be for me & others like me????

We get it. There's no way we can mistake TropicalGuy for TempleGuy.

[Berkshire]

4 minutes ago, asean said:

Maybe someone should explain to the ignorant author that farang is simply a shortened version of the original white foreigners Francais. In Cambodia it is Barang because there is no F in their alphabet. Don’t know a single person offended by this. But if someone called me a Somchai that would be different. 

I agree that the term farang is not offensive.  But why call the author ignorant?  As clearly demonstrated on this thread, there are a few (misguided) folks who are offended.  Honestly, I've never met anyone who's offended by the term.  But apparently there are a few.

[TropicalGuy]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Strangely, when I meet some US people, they say things like 'I am from CA' as if other nationalities should know US state abbreviations to which I reply, "I'm from Kincard". 

Maybe also short for CIA ?????When mobilizing to Iraq from Houston, around 3/4 Americans mobilizing needed their first passports , with many never before never having left their home county, let alone State !  Caught several wanted murderers this way …

[candide]

1 hour ago, Gecko123 said:

Further evidence that farang is colloquially used as a catch-all for  foreigners. Farang dam means 'black foreigner.' It doesn't mean "a black-skinned white person."

Yet they don't call white westerners "white farangs". 

[Na Fan]

On 4/21/2022 at 9:20 AM, LivingNThailand said:

From what I understand, and I may be wrong, Farang means all Foreigners regardless of race, creed, color, religion, etc.   So why be offended?  It's a word for everyone.  I'd rather be called a Farang than a Foreigner or Alien.  But, as others have  mentioned above, it's the way it is said, the tone.  

incorrect. Farang means "white foreigner". Other races of foreigners have their own words used to describe them.

 

The weird part to it is, that Farang, is a fruit.

[TropicalGuy]

7 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

We get it. There's no way we can mistake TropicalGuy for TempleGuy.

What’s a “ temple” ???????????????? like “ temptation” or “temporary” ? ????

[transam]

16 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I agree that the term farang is not offensive.  But why call the author ignorant?  As clearly demonstrated on this thread, there are a few (misguided) folks who are offended.  Honestly, I've never met anyone who's offended by the term.  But apparently there are a few.

.......behind a keyboard......????

[Berkshire]

10 minutes ago, Na Fan said:

incorrect. Farang means "white foreigner". Other races of foreigners have their own words used to describe them.

Not exactly.  Farang means Caucasian.  So if a white guy, born in Thailand, full Thai citizen, and never left Thailand, he's still a farang, not a foreigner.

[GroveHillWanderer]

29 minutes ago, asean said:

Maybe someone should explain to the ignorant author that farang is simply a shortened version of the original white foreigners Francais.

I used to think that as well. However I think that theory has been fairly comprehensively debunked on this thread several times.

 

A number of different dictionary and and encyclopedia entries document the fact that the term "farang" comes from a Persian word that refers to the Franks - a Germanic people who lived in an area of Europe that encompasses, but is not the equivalent of, the modern nation of France.

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Yes, that's OK for the moment. My kids are Eurasian. 

Using 'half' anything can lead to psychological problems of "less-worthy" in later life.  

When a certain type of racial Thai asks about my kids' nationalities, I tell them just to say they are Thai, which they do. To some, especially older ones, it's OK to explain they are of mixed race. Racial words are strange, they change all the time in offensiveness. 

Does Albert Thongchai MycIntyre say he's a luuk-kreung?

 

Oh now throwing Bird Thonchai into the mix. Stop please. My GFs daughter is half Thai and Half Burmese  and she is looked down upon by her own Thai grandparents who don't care for her at all. Her father uses her to his advantage yet has refused to get her a Thai ID card now that she is old enough, saying he can not because she is not 100% Thai.  The ignorance is seen daily.  It is not only westerners who are disparaged by the few Thais who dislike others that are not 100% Thai. Yet look at the TV stars and such most come from a mixed relationship. Acceptance of a person no matter who what where or why should be done no matter what, yet it is not here in the land of smiles.

[Na Fan]

1 minute ago, Berkshire said:

Not exactly.  Farang means Caucasian.  So if a white guy, born in Thailand, full Thai citizen, and never left Thailand, he's still a farang, not a foreigner.

yes, right!

 

Here's me, understanding the Thai terminology, but not the English one.

 

Duh!

[transam]

6 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

I used to think that as well. However I think that theory has been fairly comprehensively debunked on this thread several times. A number of different dictionary and and encyclopedia entries document the fact that the term "farang" comes from a Persian word that refers to the Franks - a Germanic people who lived in an area of Europe that encompasses, but is not the equivalent of, the modern nation of France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farang

[Neeranam]

44 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Aha! So you're a teuchter.

 

Thought as much.

Not really, I was brought up in Bishopbriggs, hence the like of Rangers. 

[Time Traveller]

It's obviously a click bait article written in jest.   The writer said he went to the United States to study Chinese History (?), then complains when other people in his class ask him about pronunciation of Chinese words!   That's like a Thai person stopping a random farang on the street about some written English text and the farang getting upset because the Thai person assumed their first language was English

Ok whatever.

[Neeranam]

58 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Even Neeranam now having Thai citizenship, he will NEVER be considered Thai.
He is and always will be a farang. He can show a million times his thai ID card, he will never be considered "one of them".
Period.

 I went to one of my banks to change my nationality. I told the clerk that I wanted to change my nationality on my account. She was confused and asked her colleague in the adjoining booth. Then the customer there, an old Thai/Chinese woman, piped up that I could never become Thai. Her clerk agreed and then the customer in the booth 2 away shouted that farang can't change their nationality. The old woman started berating farang so I told her that I know many "Jek" who have become Thai, to which she replied that 'Kon Jeen' can but they are still Chinese, farang can't and will always be farang, and she used to work in the ministry of interior! The way this old hag said 'farang' , almost shouting it out as she screwed up her face said a lot about Thai Chinese thoughts on us. Totally offensive. 

[Sparktrader]

3 hours ago, transam said:

So if a Brit cop is chasing a crim and sends a radio message that he is in pursuit of an Asian male etc, then you reckon that is racist....?

Farang is not the same. It's the same as the G word. Clearly racist.

 

 

[Sparktrader]

35 minutes ago, transam said:

.......behind a keyboard......????

I'm not offended by words but it's clearly racist. But racism is accepted in Thailand.

 

Np fees 5 to 10x based on race.

[Neeranam]

12 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

I'm not offended by words but it's clearly racist. But racism is accepted in Thailand.

 

Np fees 5 to 10x based on race.

Actually, those fees are based on Nationality, not race.