Farang And Mia Farang

[Weally]

Hi all,

Just wanted to vent.

I have read many posts about farangs don't like being called ' farang ' and farang's Thai wives don't like being called ' mia farang ' for whatever reason God only know!

This is the way Thai people call Europeans, Americans, English, Australians etc..but I don't understand why farangs don't like this word when it is just a normal word. Some sources say this was influent by how Indians called Europeans that was Frangkis (not sure about the spelling). I believe Thai people call white people who have big noses and golden hair farangs is because they don't know where the actually come from. It would be much easier for all farangs who enter Thailand carry flags or tags stating their nationally so Thai Thai people don't call them ' farangs ' but American, French, English or Australian etc... Those who are upset by this word have created problems for themselves when a lot of times this word is genuinely spoken. So no, it's not a bad word nor has it a bad meaning but it can be bad depending on the situations just like everything else.

Like ' mia farangs ', a lot of farangs' Thai wives hate being called by this word. I also don't understand this as this is a spoken language if they think the word ' mia ' is a rude word then they should all stop using it. In fact, this word is still used all over Thailand and among Thai people themselves. okay...you can call them ' Panya Farang ' but believe me a lot of people are more comfortable with ' mia ' than ' panya ' but then again it depends on which society you are coming from.

Am I whinging? No, I am not but I am bored to death when I see ' I don't want to be call mia farang nor farang because it is derogatory comment (I can't see it really). Why don't some try to understand this word before jumping in conclusions.

What is the alternative if this must be changed? What word would sound better to you? Though, I guess it won't please everyone again...

P.S. Thai people also call black farangs as farang dumm (dumm is black colour) Oh...foreigner doesn't always mean farang as foreigner mean non-Thai.

[Weally]

Sorry, I posted in the wrong section. How do I move it? Thanks.

[7by7]

Moved to General.

[MiG16]

We have had several threads discussing the perils or not of the word farang. One was recently closed today when a different discussion also turned into another debate on whether the word is an insult.

So I think we will close this one here