Was just going to say how ironic it is that a country with political parties past and present named things like "Pheua Thai - For Thais" and "Thai Rak Thai - Thai love Thais", and a national anthem claiming every inch of the kingdom for Thais, most of the country is owned and governed by people of Chinese descent. I see Eesat beat me to it.... Nice handle by the way sir

Sent using the iPad App.

Henly can be a ploblem.

Henleeeee

I imagine this will get zapped but I can partly grant your request: Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: 'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! Which part of that indicates the US welcomes others to share? Which part of that is not jingoistic? Which part would you stand by and want people to take literally?

Alex, I'll take all of it please.

You could simply have posted the English translation

Thailand embraces in its bosom all people of Thai blood,

Every inch of Thailand belongs to the Thais.

It has long maintained its sovereignty,

Because the Thais have always been united.

The Thai people are peace-loving, But they are no cowards at war.

Nor shall they suffer tyranny.

All Thais are ready to give up every drop of blood,

First of all there isn't one single translation.

Secondly, the reason for that is that - as is often the case with language - Thai often can't be directly translated in a literal fashion: so in the interest of accuracy I chose the Thai and thought you could tell me which part equates to what is claimed.

Third, none of that says "Thailand is for Thais only".

Every inch of Thailand belongs to the Thais.

Doesn't really sound like they welcome to share a few inches with others.

First of all there is no word meaning "inch" anywhere in the original Thai, so whoever translated that has used a liberal dose of artistic license.

Secondly, because these are after all the lyrics of a song that have been arranged so as to sound good when sung rather than for grammatical precision (there's your artistic license again), that line could just as easily be given to mean that "Thailand is for the people, the land for all Thais" or "It is a nation of the people, the land for Thais in every way".

Was just going to say how ironic it is that a country with political parties past and present named things like "Pheua Thai - For Thais" and "Thai Rak Thai - Thai love Thais", and a national anthem claiming every inch of the kingdom for Thais, most of the country is owned and governed by people of Chinese descent. I see Eesat beat me to it.... Nice handle by the way sir

Sent using the iPad App.

The 'Thai' identity is actually just a bit of political re-branding after the second world war by a chap who had dreams of uniting all of the ethnic Tais under one flag.

For another similar example, see 'Iran' : a re-branding exercise by the Mullahs for a country that has been known as Persia for millenia.

'Tai' is an ethnicity with some distinct branches that stretch all the way from peninsular south-east Asia up into northern Vietnam and southern China (there are more Tai-speaking ethnic Tais (Shan) within the borders of China than there are in the whole of Thailand).

'Thai' is spelt differently to Tai but sounds exactly the same and also happens to mean 'free'. A rather deft bit of marketing.

The Siamese head-shed knew there wasn't a chance in hell that the disparate peoples would call themselves "Siamese" so they had to invent an identity that would make them forget about their original cultural identities.

The Lanna Kingdom was absorbed without much fuss because Rama 5 married one of the princesses and subsequently let his father in law, the King of Chiang Mai keep his court and full royal status. Rama 5 knew that to anyone else the Lanna kingdom would appear to be as good as his, and it was.

The various dukedoms, principalities and independent fiefdoms of the Lao-speaking north-east were only very slowly absorbed through skirmishes with Lao and Cambodia as well as political and economic maneuvering, much like the way that the independent German states were coagulated into one nation. It was always touch-and-go as to whether they would come under outright control of the Lao kings until the French came along and claimed everything on that side of the river - the appearance of the French and British almost simultaneously is what sealed the fate of what-is-now-called-Isan as future Thais. Even so, Roi-Et did not capitulate to Siam until the turn of the 20th century.

The southerners were so busy fighting each other and the Malays that the SIamese just picked them off economically one by one.

Not all have forgotten; I have a well educated friend from Maha Sarakham who says "I ain't no Thai".

Did you say that you've been living here for 5 years and also do not speak Thai? It might be time to start learning (more) Thai. Imagine living in, say, America for 5 years and not being able to speak english. Imagine all the flack you would get from Americans. Just saying.

I like the idea of adopting a Thai nickname though.

imagine living in, say, Miami and not speak Spanish with a Puerto Rican accent

Five years and you don't speak Thai - surely you've got some? Can you pronounce their names? Do you address them by name? I think respect goes both ways.

Uh huh. Okay... Let me try and make myself more clear (and without the sarcasm which no doubt was unhelpful and gratuitous). 1: The Thai national anthem does not say Thailand is for Thais only. 2: It neither explicitly nor implicitly states that foreigners are welcome. 3: It is nationalistic albeit ostensibly inspirational (to it's intended audience). 4:This is not at all unusual as far as national anthems go. And speaking of context - I'm reminded by looking at the US anthem, and recalling the French, how relevant historical context is. Are you aware of when the Thai anthem was written? What had just happens in their country? What was going on all around them in neighboring countries? Think about it. See if you can come up with reasons why they would want to emphasize Thailand belonging to it's people.

I don't care when it was written or under which circumstances, all I know is that what is written in that second line is still very obvious as of today.

Or do you have any indications that they gonne allow foreigners to own a few inches of land in the future ?

Why should they allow foreigners to buy land? Their country their policy everyone knows about it.

Nothing "wrong" with xenophobia, their loss.

My wife's family/village people refer to me as "Papa"

I like it.

My wife's family/village people refer to me as "Papa"

I like it.

Yes ,,,let us get back to the topic

So she's from Isaan,she has a kid living with the grandparents...where exactly did you meet your girlfriend and does she have a 'Brother'?

Who cares? She's just an employee.

But why did you start the previous post with "I've been with my Thai GF for over four years"?

If she is your "girl friend", then the previous post was unredeemably sad. If she is an employee (long term rented whore), then again, the posts are unredeemably sad.

Its not my fault you want to stick your head in the sand, and pretend there is no problem with the notion of "Farang".

We see it all the time, everyday, and still you and some others choose to ignore it.

That's the other thing you did - distort people's views or even lie about them and put up straw men and knock them down.

By the way, "not your fault"? How does that even make sense? I point out that you make unsupportable claims and you (wisely) don't deny it but post that fallacious non sequitur as a response?

So Berkshire DO have two accounts...

I think it's become rather evident, Maxme, that you've lost what's left of your mind.

But why did you start the previous post with "I've been with my Thai GF for over four years"?

If she is your "girl friend", then the previous post was unredeemably sad. If she is an employee (long term rented whore), then again, the posts are unredeemably sad.

You need to ask the person who wrote of his "girlfriend" that he considers his employee - not me. I never started any posts about my girlfriend - haven't had one for quite some time (my wife wouldn't approve - and while I don't accede to everything she wants, this seems a reasonable restriction).

I can't imagine such a thing myself: I could see having one, or the other, or both but not one person who is both. Sounds truly ugly to me.

But why did you start the previous post with "I've been with my Thai GF for over four years"?

If she is your "girl friend", then the previous post was unredeemably sad. If she is an employee (long term rented whore), then again, the posts are unredeemably sad.

You need to ask the person who wrote of his "girlfriend" that he considers his employee -

Beg your pardon, I still struggle a bit with the quote function on this board. No insult or slur intended to you, just poor quoting on my part.

Just went back to check, and yup - I should have taken directly from the first post, who starts with "GF" and ends with employee - my bad.

Beg your pardon, I still struggle a bit with the quote function on this board. No insult or slur intended to you, just poor quoting on my part.

Just went back to check, and yup - I should have taken directly from the first post, who starts with "GF" and ends with employee - my bad.

No problem at all. (You aren't the only one who struggles with it)

Y'up Hen-ly it's an ez name for thai's to say, I told my wife that for some foreiners to be refered to as the "falang" rather than your name is rude and disresectful and if family don't use my name then I will not go too their house and don't ask me to drive you there, that was after my second visit too the family, now my name is used by all the family cousins, neighbours, but most the broader community still call me you you or falang but it's ok.

(wildorchids husband)

My wife's family/village people refer to me as "Papa"

I like it.

Yes ,,,let us get back to the topic

The topic being generic terms being used by family for the foreigner, and whether offense should be taken:

I love to hear: "Papa, I horny."

(what's with the three commas ,,,?)

My wife's family/village people refer to me as "Papa"

I like it.

Yes ,,,let us get back to the topic

The topic being generic terms being used by family for the foreigner, and whether offense should be taken:

I love to hear: "Papa, I horny."

(what's with the three commas ,,,?)

just liked to see a post that return to the original topic thats all ,,, its a good thing for your post papa al .

the three comma's implement a small pause in reading

I've lived here for 7 years and people I don't even know in my village call out my name, PETER!

I'm married to a Thai, have two kids and I know about 50 Thai words which is ***k all. That they call you"Farang" is like slapping you in the face. In my village if that happened you would be well within your rights to give the proponent of this behavior a good bunch of FIVES! Not what we'd do in our own community but we're not there are we. Make sure you do this publicly and you will receive the respect you deserve.

If you haven't tried to learn Thai in five years, no wonder they call you the farang.

If you haven't tried to learn Thai in five years, no wonder they call you the farang.

From the sound of this family I suspect if he did speak Thai they would refer to him as 'the farang who speaks Thai'.

Maybe they love chewing gum.

If you haven't tried to learn Thai in five years, no wonder they call you the farang.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Henly, are you getting the message? Man up, bring your balls into action. You're the cash cow. Make sure you stamp out the disrespect ASAP. This has been an interesting topic, please give us some closing news.

Me, I see the need for only one course of action - leave and start over. New locale, new girl(s). Any GF that would not only allow others to disrespect him that much but also join in? Get rid.

Then again, no offense intended, but I suspect anyone that would put up with this for 5 years isn't...well...doesn't view things as I do and won't leave...

I've lived here for 7 years and people I don't even know in my village call out my name, PETER!

I'm married to a Thai, have two kids and I know about 50 Thai words which is ***k all. That they call you"Farang" is like slapping you in the face. In my village if that happened you would be well within your rights to give the proponent of this behavior a good bunch of FIVES! Not what we'd do in our own community but we're not there are we. Make sure you do this publicly and you will receive the respect you deserve.

Bunch of Fives!!!

That's a bit Enid Blyton isn't it?Haven't heard that since I was a kid!

Its not my fault you want to stick your head in the sand, and pretend there is no problem with the notion of "Farang".

We see it all the time, everyday, and still you and some others choose to ignore it.

That's the other thing you did - distort people's views or even lie about them and put up straw men and knock them down.

By the way, "not your fault"? How does that even make sense? I point out that you make unsupportable claims and you (wisely) don't deny it but post that fallacious non sequitur as a response?

So Berkshire DO have two accounts...

I think it's become rather evident, Maxme, that you've lost what's left of your mind.

Not yet, although have to admit, it´s been going downhill since I got older, but paranoia is one thing TVF contributes

if girls here can call me hum yai i dont see why they cannot say henry.

Same of their names have almost 15 letters and they manage it.

Henry, i have a similar story to yours it goes like this;

My nissan navara that i had had for just over 5 years, a car i loved and gave anything it needed, best oil and genuine filter when it was serviced, the best fuel that was available to run it on, the best new tyres when they were getting worn, and if anything was to break again only genuine parts.

Then one day i went out and it wouldn't start, it wouldn't do what i requested of it, it refused, it tried but only cane out with a feable whine.

What did i do take it back to the garage and spend more money in the hope things would change?

No i sold it and bought a new mogel and guess what i love this car even more now.

Its not my fault you want to stick your head in the sand, and pretend there is no problem with the notion of "Farang".

We see it all the time, everyday, and still you and some others choose to ignore it.

That's the other thing you did - distort people's views or even lie about them and put up straw men and knock them down.

By the way, "not your fault"? How does that even make sense? I point out that you make unsupportable claims and you (wisely) don't deny it but post that fallacious non sequitur as a response?

You accuse me, I tell you to not accuse me, it is not my fault you do not see the flaws and have a skewed view of reality.