The Case For Using "european Descent"

[jcon]

I've been called a lot of things but being referred to as "descended from Europeans" would be the lowest possible insult I could think of. Anyway, all so-called "Europeans" were descended from Africans.

How about honky? Any Americans remember this endearing term for whites?

I agree that honky would be a good term to use, but many farang are unfamiliar with it, especially those of euro-peon descent.

edit: wait a minute... did somebody just make the implication that the word "farang" was just so absolutely insulting that it has to now be referred to as "the F word."??????!?? is this a joke???

:D

Edited September 18, 2008 by jcon

[ThNiner]

My wife is coming from a conservative educated family from the south and they don't consider Farang as impolite.

She frequently calls me lug kwai...that is impolite but normaly she has a reason....

frequently I heard in the south "rang" a Farang with being to lazy to speak the "Fa" I think not impolite as well, just slang (heard Thep instead of Kruntep as well).

Which reminds me of an old Thai singer whose name is "Rang Rockestra." I think he's half Thai, half white. That must have been how he got his name. He's coming to Songkhla this evening to speak at the PAD rally in Hatyai too.

[bkkjames]

-- farang is considered an impolite word by more educated Thais, shouldn't we follow their lead and NOT use an impolite word?

I'd say that many of my friends and I could be classified as the more educated Thais and We don't consider "farang" impolite.

:yawn:

I think you posted in the wrong forum mate, there was a seperate topic regarding the quality of Thai education.

[ThNiner]

Jingthing, I disagree. I live among many lower educated rural Thai people and NONE of them call me farang to my face. However, upon seeing some random foreigner of whom they know nothing about, they use the word farang. It is used as catchall term for white people.

And to be perfectly frank here, you have done this topic to death. It may have been a few weeks since the last one, but still, done to death

So it sounds like you also think being called the F word to your face is rude. I do too.

As far as done to death, I agree the issue of whether or not it is rude has been done to death.

That was NOT the topic I started, or wanted.

The topic I intended was ASSUMING it is rude, what word should we use instead? I think now maybe white is better.

A topic based on false assumption. What next? Let's assume the world is flat and then discuss how we can avoid falling off the edge?

[garro]

European descent is quite a meaningless term since so many Europeans are not of European descent. Within Europe there has always been a hodge-podge of races which have not always go on well together but are now very mixed (Norman, Saxon, Celt, Turk, and so on). I suppose you could say that of white European decent but what would be the point.

As for the f word. As mentioned earlier it can be considered rude dependent on the context. If a student referred to their teacher as 'farang' then they would be told off as it is considered very rude - even by the Thai staff. If your in-laws or partner refers to you by the 'f' word then it is rude unless said in jest.

I have always found westerners using the 'f' word as being a bit strange. I often find that they use in such a way as to mean that the other 'white' people are just 'farang' but they are special or have a special relationship with the Thai -usually pure delusion of course. The most annoying of this type of crowd is the one who insists on saying 'falang' and then go in to a long speel about how this is the 'right' way to pronounce it - despite the fact that this is often the only Thai word they are bother to pronounce correctly. It is my wish that once a proper government is installed in Thailand that these feckers will be the first against the wall.

I have no problem with your average Thai calling me this name under normal circumstances, but I avoid it like the plague.

Edited September 18, 2008 by garro

[onzestan]

Dear Jingthing on another one of his crusades. Don Quixote comes to mind, fighting against windmills indeed.

cheers

onzestan

[jumnien]

I'm open for a better word, or some ideas, but when I see a farang across the road, I might say to my partner, "near the farang across the road". It seems rather bizarre to say "the white guy", or the highly-educated, handsome, non-Thai guy, etc. Farang seems to say everything I need to say to convey what I need to convey, simply!

[Jingthing]

I have no problem with your average Thai calling me this name under normal circumstances, but I avoid it like the plague.

I have always found westerners using the 'f' word as being a bit strange. I often find that they use in such a way as to mean that the other 'white' people are just 'farang' but they are special or have a special relationship with the Thai -usually pure delusion of course

Those are excellent points, Garo. The latter I put into the BUFFOON category; I think many Thais are laughing at that kind of behavior yet is so very common. Obviously, we won't change the Thai usage of it, but we can control whether we use it and how we use it. I am not on a crusade, just bringing up an issue for discussion.

Edited September 18, 2008 by Jingthing

[jcon]

frequently I heard in the south "rang" a Farang with being to lazy to speak the "Fa" I think not impolite as well, just slang (heard Thep instead of Kruntep as well).

It's actually becoming hip and trendy in my neighborhood to use "ng" instead of "rang" cuz it's just that much cooler to drop the "ra" part of it.

I hear that on Thonglor the uber-hip are just using "g."

It's so yesterday to use the "faran" part.

Jingthing, your threads are so awesome. I'm so sick of being called a farang, I thought about making an entire thread about it, but I see you've already made about 5 of them. You are a grassroots hero among us. Nay, a Rockstar.

[Maestro]

Jingthing has done this subject to death (boring and/or annoying other members to death) in innumerable other topics, for which reason I am going to close this topic. Anybody fascinated by this subject is kindly invited to search for Jingthing's other topics on it.

And Jingthing is equally kindly invited not to start a new topic on it.

--

Maestro