Farang

[kiakaha]

So tell me what is the official word for a white caucasion? Farang,falang,ferang or what ever

a white caucasian ? as opposed to those black caucasians

[neverdie]

When I first met my Thai wife in England, she once ask me, what is the difference between English people and Americans? I replied, we are basically the same, only Americans have more money.

If you were answering that question these days you would have to say that Americans borrow more money

[IMA_FARANG]

Kee nok 555555555

hey I am not talking about Thai I just wonder why so many people use different words

or can't they spell it right ?

Thais use their own alphabet for Thai words. Some letters/sounds don't correspond to Roman (western) alphabets. Since there is no direct corresponding letters, they use the closest they can to approximate the sound they hear. W and V are one example that are often used interchangeably.

Example Wittyu Road and Vittyu Road in Bangkok are both spellings used for the same place.

[john b good]

So tell me what is the official word for a white caucasion? Farang,falang,ferang or what ever

I dont think there are any.

As far as I remember, reading in some books a long time ago the word (farang, etc) comes from the word farangse, which means France.

France was among the first countries to send people here.

I believe missionaries.

The word came from that.

So I guess all white westerners are called French then.

That was a joke.

Anyhow, I might be corrected here, and look forward to it, so I can learn some new stuff.

"the word (farang, etc) comes from the word farangse"

And that is the explanation given by my Thai teacher 17-18 years ago.

And as Thai's have difficulty with their r's it is generally pronounced (by Thais) as "falang"

Over the years it has also in common usage come to describe most foreigners to the realm.

"white caucasian" got me though. I thought that they (caucasians) only came in the colour white "or fair" skin colouring

And from Wikipedia.....

Farang (Thai: ฝรั่ง) is the generic Thai word for a foreigner of European ancestry. While generally farang is a neutral word, it can be used in a mocking manner, or even as an insult depending on the context. For instance, the expression farang ta nam khao ( listen (help·info); ฝรั่งตาน้ำข้าว - which literally means "farang with a rice-milk-colored iris") would be considered an insult. It is common in Thai to just say "farang" to point out the presence of one, without making a whole sentence. African Americans have been occasionally referred to as farang dam (black farang) in Thai: ฝรั่งดำ especially American servicemen during the Vietnam War.

Edited February 14, 2009 by john b good

[HorseDoctor]

WHITE CAUCASIAN?

How much whiter do want it to get?

Farang is a term that generally means foreigner in Thailand. You might sometimes hear people say "falang" because of their "inability" to pronounce the letter "R" pLoperly.

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated , bigoted Thais use it, (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

A small child was staring at me at the store, quite rudely, as usual - like I had 3 eyes and she pointed at me uttering ..." Falang"

Her mother got quite annoyed when I pointed back and started making monkey noises.

( ha ha just kidding , but next time, mmmm...),

But really it makes me sad that this common use of outright bigotry is so acceptable.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

btw; Thais are NOT a race.

Edited February 14, 2009 by HorseDoctor

[Pakeha]

WHITE CAUCASIAN?

How much whiter do want it to get?

Farang is a term that generally means foreigner in Thailand. You might sometimes hear people say "falang" because of their "inability" to pronounce the letter "R" pLoperly.

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated , bigoted Thais use it, (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

A small child was staring at me at the store, quite rudely, as usual - like I had 3 eyes and she pointed at me uttering ..." Falang"

Her mother got quite annoyed when I pointed back and started making monkey noises.

( ha ha just kidding , but next time, mmmm...),

But really it makes me sad that this common use of outright bigotry is so acceptable.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

btw; Thais are NOT a race.

Isn't it the same as calling thais 'asian'?

[GungaDin]

Uh-oh!

The tone of the posts is changing and I'm sure that wasn't Fred's intent.

[fred2007]

Uh-oh!

The tone of the posts is changing and I'm sure that wasn't Fred's intent.

You’re right GD but isn’t it always like that?

[Pakeha]

I think we can quickly get the tone back on track. In my view the term farang and the term asian are NOT derogatory.

I'm enjoying the explanations behind the root of the word. The way a word is used can make it sound offensive so for the sake of Fred's OP let's assume it is being used in a friendly manner.

[sassienie]

Nonetheless it still frustrates me when farangs use anything other than 'farang'. I generally assume they've spent about ten minutes in Thailand...

You are correct!

I suppose if we are in Thailand long enough, than these expressions become engraved in our minds.

And as for using the term, Farang, it’s a case of, if the cap fits, wear it.

I’ve lived here for almost 6 years and if I returned to the UK, I think everything would appear foreign to me now.

As for Thais calling us Farangs, please don’t be offended by this. The only time we should considered this term offensive is when the Thai person knows us and still addresses us as Farang.

My mother in law used to do this just after I was married. In the end I put my foot down and told my wife, that unless her mother begins calling me by my first name the same as her other children in law, than there will be no hand outs from me. Amazing, within 2 minutes she suddenly began remembering my actual name.

[Maizefarmer]

<H2 class=title>Managed to grab this off the net which gives the background to this potential derivation of farang quite well.

The Thai word "Farang", its variations in other languages, and its Arabic origin</H2>Submitted by Khalid on Sun, 2004/11/28 - 22:16

• Linguistics
  

While reading a recent issue of the Canadian Geographic, I came across a news item mentioning two Canadians in Thailand, who run a magazine targeted for Westerners, called Farang. The similarity of this term to the Arabic ones piqued my interested, so I did some research on it.

I found that this term Farang means "White European" in Thai. The Wikipeda Farang article says that the origin of this term is uncertain.

The term Arabs used for Eastern Europe in the seventh century was Rum الروم being the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). For Western Europe, the term Firinjia came to be used somewhat after that, and specially during the Crusades, since a large percentage of the Crusaders were Franks. Hence the term Firinjah stuck to all Western Europeans.

As Arab traders travelled to East Asia, the term was borrowed into the languages of that region. Initially describing the Portuguese, it was used for all "whites" later.

Arabic WordTransliteration in Latin charactersCommentsفرنجةFirinja, FirinjahPluralفرنجيFirinjiSingular of above termأفرنجIfranj, AfranjAnother plural formأفرنجيIfranji, AfranjiSingular

Here are the derivations in other languages.

TermLanguageCommentsfrangos, firanjaGreek"Westerner", "Latin Catholics", "Land of the Franks"ifrangiTurkishfrangSyriac"a European", "The Country of the Franks; Western Europe; Latin language or church"afrangi, ifranji, faranjiArabicArabic variations. See details in table above.afrang,faranj, ferang, ferangi, feringhiPerisanfarenghiHindifarengi, farangi, pirangiTamilfarangiMalayalamfarangThaibarangCambodian Khmerpha-rang, pha-lang-xaVietnamese

That has to be one of the best descriptions of the word I have ever read.

.... it is in deed a corrupted word - it has a whole bunch of connatations associated with it, which, depending on the context its used in can be light hearted or not at all pleasent.

[Neeranam]

First of all, would you ( You mean Thai's?) call a chinese a farang?

Thais would call him 'Jean" 1st = Chinese.

or some one black?

"Dum" always 1st, then Dum falang...(insert nationality).. Or korn Dum Issan...etc.

123

A chinese woman introduced herself as a "jaek" to me the other day. I was very surprised. It sounded as stupid as a caucasian introducing himself as farang. These have both become insults, or racial derogatory terms in the Thai language today.

[Neeranam]

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated , bigoted Thais use it, (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

A small child was staring at me at the store, quite rudely, as usual - like I had 3 eyes and she pointed at me uttering ..." Falang"

Her mother got quite annoyed when I pointed back and started making monkey noises.

( ha ha just kidding , but next time, mmmm...),

But really it makes me sad that this common use of outright bigotry is so acceptable.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

btw; Thais are NOT a race.

I agree.

However, you can't blame the kid in the shop. Do you think their parent promotes this? I'd bet any good Thai parent would tell their kid not to do it again.

My daughter shouted out "Daddy, look", while pointing at a huge black-skinned man. I told her not to do it again but she had never seen anyone like him. The man didn't say anything and just smiled after I apologised. Sadly, I've seen quite a few uneducated caucasians lose the top when it's happened to them.

[Groongthep]

quote - HorseDoctor' date='2009-02-13 19:33:06' post='2531481'

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated bigoted Thais use it (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

Nonsense. The term is commonly used in newspapers, on television broadcasts and in university classrooms.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

While I agree that farang is not a particularly complimentary term it is nowhere near as offensive as the terms you have quoted, and if you think Americans are the only ones who use that first term or it's equivalent, you haven't travelled much.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Falang is just a corruption of Farang as Thais can't get their tongue around "r"s.

I love it when they say "Wiktawee Monument"

Not to mention Farangs coming up with something like Anystrawberry Chai.

( Another 'Farang' topic.. how cool is that. )

[pampal]

The word was used long before the "French" came here.

Comes from the Farsi word farangi meaning "foreigners".

Spot on.

[Neeranam]

The word was used long before the "French" came here.

Comes from the Farsi word farangi meaning "foreigners".

Spot on.

Who cares where it came from, "nigger" is from Latin word meaning black but you don't hear Obama calling himself one.

[mahtin]

"nigger" is from Latin word meaning black but you don't hear Obama calling himself one.

JFK called himself a doughnut (Ich bin ein Berliner.)

Personally, I am a potato (man farang.)

[GungaDin]

"nigger" is from Latin word meaning black but you don't hear Obama calling himself one.

JFK called himself a doughnut (Ich bin ein Berliner.)

Personally, I am a potato (man farang.)

So, the naughty word has nothing to do with Nigerian or Niger slaves in the 18th & 19th centuries?

[65Craig]

About 3 years ago I was watching a Thai movie, Nong Teng Nakleng Poo Khao Tong, with my wife at Vista Chiang Mia and I kid you not, whenever the word "Farang" came up, it was subtitled as "Whitey" in English. Anyway, every Thai person I ever asked, they say Farang means Caucasian.

[pampal]

The word was used long before the "French" came here.

Comes from the Farsi word farangi meaning "foreigners".

Spot on.

Who cares where it came from, "nigger" is from Latin word meaning black but you don't hear Obama calling himself one.

"Nigger" doesn't mean black in Latin, negro means black.

[HorseDoctor]

WHITE CAUCASIAN?

How much whiter do want it to get?

Farang is a term that generally means foreigner in Thailand. You might sometimes hear people say "falang" because of their "inability" to pronounce the letter "R" pLoperly.

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated , bigoted Thais use it, (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

A small child was staring at me at the store, quite rudely, as usual - like I had 3 eyes and she pointed at me uttering ..." Falang"

Her mother got quite annoyed when I pointed back and started making monkey noises.

( ha ha just kidding , but next time, mmmm...),

But really it makes me sad that this common use of outright bigotry is so acceptable.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

btw; Thais are NOT a race.

Isn't it the same as calling thais 'asian'?

No. I wouldn't point to someone and say " Asian" or " Black " or remark if they entered a place , It would be rude

"Oh a " Asian" or " Black " has just walked in." Like is said audibly when ever I enter. Nor would I remark to a realtor in a phone conversation that someone is Asian or black when they are looking to rent a house. ( discrimination is illegal in my homecountry ) .

[Huey]

quote - HorseDoctor' date='2009-02-13 19:33:06' post='2531481'

I disagLee, Japanese or Korean tourists aren't called "falang," and I'm told by several Thais I've queried- it specifically means caucasian, i.e. European descent , AKA, " Whitey" and it's actually quite rude and only uneducated bigoted Thais use it (or foreigners trying to fit in) so it's widespread

Nonsense. The term is commonly used in newspapers, on television broadcasts and in university classrooms.

It's exactly like a word Americans call people of African descent, I word I was discouraged from using - "Nigger." Or Slope, Charlie, Kike, Eggplant, Monkey , Falang , or dozens of other RUDE terms that denote racist attitudes.

While I agree that farang is not a particularly complimentary term it is nowhere near as offensive as the terms you have quoted, and if you think Americans are the only ones who use that first term or it's equivalent, you haven't travelled much.

Agreed, Falang is nothing like the word "nigger", now if they called you "Kee Nok" (Bird &lt;deleted&gt;) then that would be bigoted and offensive. Falang has no real negative connotations and you don't have to be white to be called falang, I'm Black and I've been refered to as "Falang" more times than I can count.

[nigelandjan]

<H2 class=title>Managed to grab this off the net which gives the background to this potential derivation of farang quite well.

The Thai word "Farang", its variations in other languages, and its Arabic origin</H2>Submitted by Khalid on Sun, 2004/11/28 - 22:16

• Linguistics
  

While reading a recent issue of the Canadian Geographic, I came across a news item mentioning two Canadians in Thailand, who run a magazine targeted for Westerners, called Farang. The similarity of this term to the Arabic ones piqued my interested, so I did some research on it.

I found that this term Farang means "White European" in Thai. The Wikipeda Farang article says that the origin of this term is uncertain.

The term Arabs used for Eastern Europe in the seventh century was Rum الروم being the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). For Western Europe, the term Firinjia came to be used somewhat after that, and specially during the Crusades, since a large percentage of the Crusaders were Franks. Hence the term Firinjah stuck to all Western Europeans.

As Arab traders travelled to East Asia, the term was borrowed into the languages of that region. Initially describing the Portuguese, it was used for all "whites" later.

Arabic WordTransliteration in Latin charactersCommentsفرنجةFirinja, FirinjahPluralفرنجيFirinjiSingular of above termأفرنجIfranj, AfranjAnother plural formأفرنجيIfranji, AfranjiSingular

Here are the derivations in other languages.

TermLanguageCommentsfrangos, firanjaGreek"Westerner", "Latin Catholics", "Land of the Franks"ifrangiTurkishfrangSyriac"a European", "The Country of the Franks; Western Europe; Latin language or church"afrangi, ifranji, faranjiArabicArabic variations. See details in table above.afrang,faranj, ferang, ferangi, feringhiPerisanfarenghiHindifarengi, farangi, pirangiTamilfarangiMalayalamfarangThaibarangCambodian Khmerpha-rang, pha-lang-xaVietnamese

Jesus bloody wept mate ,,,,,,,,,I think you should look up >>>> GET A LIFE <<<<<<<<<<< in the dictionary

[GungaDin]

^^^ ^^^

[Richard W]

Saying that, how come "school" becomes "....skoon" ?

As there are only 9 final consonant sounds in Thai - /k/, /t/, /p/, /ŋ/, /n/, /m/, /ʔ/ (glottal stop), /j/ (as English <y>) and /w/, what would you expect? Note further that /w/ can't occur after back vowels, so [M]sa[M]kuuw (hard to distinguish from "skoo") is also unlikely. Further, Thais have been pronuncing final /l/ in Khmer and Indic loanwords as /n/ for centuries.