When did farang start to mean a white person

[thaibeachlovers]

It'd be interesting if one had the inclination to look up the archives and find how many threads on the same thing have been on TVF/ AN.

[2baht]

13 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Is ASEAN news now gone Woke.

Depends what time they Woke up! I Woke up at 6.00am! What time was it when you Woke up?

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, Phnom Penh Trader said:

Whatever we compare I guarantee that you will come up short so let’s not bother.

I'll never know anyway because you are now on ignore.

[Phnom Penh Trader]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'll never know anyway because you are now on ignore.

Great that is two snowflake drama queens that have flounced out on me so far today,plus England hammered the Welsh and sent them home on a plane a fantastic day overall! ????

[kingstonkid]

13 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

No.

 

Clearly you are not familiar with often used terms of "Chocolate man", "Nippon", Khairks etc

 

Why are foreigners called farang in Thailand?

 

Farang (Persian: فرنگ) is a Persian (and Southeast Asian) word that originally referred to the Franks (the major Germanic tribe) and later came to refer to White Europeans in general. The word "Farang" is a cognate and originates from Old French: "franc".

I thank you for the lesson.

 

However I wonder how many Thais know this 

[VinnieK]

13 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

No.

 

Clearly you are not familiar with often used terms of "Chocolate man", "Nippon", Khairks etc

 

Why are foreigners called farang in Thailand?

 

Farang (Persian: فرنگ) is a Persian (and Southeast Asian) word that originally referred to the Franks (the major Germanic tribe) and later came to refer to White Europeans in general. The word "Farang" is a cognate and originates from Old French: "franc".

Correct..but before the word reached Persia it passed⁷ thru Italy (Franchi) Greece (Franggi) and so on

I never thought of the word farang as a slur because it's just a corruption of 'Frank'

[Damrongsak]

8 hours ago, it is what it is said:

it's, i believe, connected to a word referring to the colonial french in neighboring countries

When I worked with Laotian Hmong  refugees in the camps back in 1979/80, they referred to the French as "fukees".  I kid you not.  Maybe it was all white foreigners, I don't know.

 

But I am not "farang".  I lived and worked in northeast Thailand for about 3 years 1977-1980.  "Boh man farang". I'm "Mak see da".  I've earned it!  I like to tease my in-laws and we all laugh.

 

Here at home we refer to Chinese as "Jek", Indians as "Kak", Africans as "I Meut" and so forth.  It's just a thing to distinguish various groups, though some are not nice.  I don't know if there are different common words to differentiate the 40 or so different ethnic groups in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma.  I recently went to a cultural museum in Hanoi and I think I counted 45, though  that may have included some peoples far away.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 minutes ago, Damrongsak said:

When I worked with Laotian Hmong  refugees in the camps back in 1979/80, they referred to the French as "fukees".  I kid you not.  Maybe it was all white foreigners, I don't know.

 

But I am not "farang".  I lived and worked in northeast Thailand for about 3 years 1977-1980.  "Boh man farang". I'm "Mak see da".  I've earned it!  I like to tease my in-laws and we all laugh.

 

Here at home we refer to Chinese as "Jek", Indians as "Kak", Africans as "I Meut" and so forth.  It's just a thing to distinguish various groups, though some are not nice.  I don't know if there are different common words to differentiate the 40 or so different ethnic groups in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma.  I recently went to a cultural museum in Hanoi and I think I counted 45, though  that may have included some peoples far away.

While it's been a few years and my memory isn't great, I think I was "poppa" to the wife' family, but I was definitely farang to the village crones that gathered under the house to gossip.

 

I was hansum man to bar girls that didn't know me and ATM to those that did.

[BritManToo]

13 hours ago, scorecard said:

But not all, I'm well aware that many Thai folks use the term with zero negative conitation.

It's a Thai racial slur and always has a negative intention.

You may not understand the negative implication, but it's there.

 

The missing of of the personal title (Kon, Pee, Lung, Khun, etc) before it is the giveaway.

Humans are always given a title, animals and things are not.

 

Back to the OP,

As you're not a racist Thai, why do you feel the need to insert that word in your sentences?

If you want to talk about foreigners, call them foreigners.

Edited November 30, 2022 by BritManToo

[Crossy]

Since our OP has his answer and the bickering has started.