What does being called a Farang mean to you? Good or bad?

[thailiketoo]

So Thaivisa is in the dictionary business as well? Sorry the word is always going to controversial, it's never going to be 100% neutral and as such it's fair game for discussion.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Why don't you debate it with Thai Visa instead of us mere mortals and publish a new definition? Then us mortals could have a better definition.

Edited January 19, 2014 by thailiketoo

[ultimate weapon]

It's really funny that the thai word for a white and a guava are the same ROFL!!!!!!

Really, the word Farang is Thai for white...... since when ?

white as in a european chubby.

[ToddWeston]

It's never bothered me at all & I use the word often.

OP what's your take on bum guns ?

[wym]

Taking offense is more offensive than giving it.

I said that after I called a Thai person "Farang" while staying in Europe.

This didn't help...

Why would you do that? Like calling a hispanic person an anglo, or a black person asian. No idea what you mean by your post?

Unless you believe, as some apparently do, that it just means "foreigner"?

I agree but find chocolate man far better than Septic Tank. Can you imagine there are parts of the world where residents of a country are referred to as Septic Tanks!

Most Aussies also don't mean "septic" in a derogatory way, they just think they're being funny. The Australian sense of humor comes across as viciously cruel at first, it's only when you thicken up your skin and are willing to dish it out right back that you realize they're just having fun. Then again a lot of ockers like a good punch-up to go with their drinking sessions. . .

There is an official Thai Visa definition of Farang. http://www.thaivisa.com/558-0.html "Even if you can speak no other words of Thai, most European and American visitors to Thailand will quickly become familiar with the Thai word farang (often mispronounced (even by Thais) as falang.

Some people get very offended at being called farang, but whether it's an insult should or not really depends on the context. A few Thais who are uncomfortable with using it will say kon dtahng bpra-tayt ('people from other countries') instead, but this is still pretty rare. Farang is basically a neutral word, but people who respect you (or who should respect you) will not use it if you hear a work colleague, for example, refer to you as farang they probably mean it as an insult while a taxi driver or market vendor doing the same is unlikely to mean any offense at all."

End of quote.

Why couldn't all the questions or comments on the word Farang be referred to the Thai Visa official definition instead of all the nuts coming out of the woodwork with new and different definitions of a word that is simple to define and has been defined by Thai Visa.

Well, may have something to do with the fact that it implies it has the same meaning as

dtahng bpra-tayt ('people from other countries')

which of course it doesn't.

It would be necessary to create a literal translation of "someone with relatively light-toned skin of European ancestry", which of course no sane Thai would bother doing.

A black man from the US is not really a farang, nor is an asian or middle-eastern British person.

However many Thais often don't bother making fine linguistic/intellectual distinctions, so those for whom the vast majority of their foreign customers are actually honkeys, they will often use "farang" as a shortcut for "foreigner" just as many of us do here on TV.

Just don't think that's the actual meaning linguistically.

[wym]

So Thaivisa is in the dictionary business as well? Sorry the word is always going to controversial, it's never going to be 100% neutral and as such it's fair game for discussion.

Do you think the words "black" "asian" and "hispanic" aren't neutral in and of themselves?

Or do you think all references to ethnicity should be removed from all languages?

Do you think the word "prostitute" isn't neutral?

If I judge them to be low-class dishonest people, then I'll use the term as an insult. If I think they are wonderful fun-loving companions then I won't.

Doesn't make the term itself pejorative.

The fact that many (most?) people think poorly of cripples and prostitutes has led to PC terms like "handicapped" then "special needs" waffle.

And people advocating for the rights of those working in the sex industry have come up with "sex worker" which of course is fine.

BUT - do you really think we should advocate for a new replacement term in the THAI LANGUAGE just because so many Thais think poorly of white people?

Ridiculous. . .

Also just not going to happen, more likely to convince mongers here to start acting with propriety while they're in the Kingdom!

Edited January 19, 2014 by wym

[thehelmsman]

Could care less about Farang, But don't call me caucasian. <deleted> In the States to be polticially correct people have classifications such as Africian Americans, Mexican Americans yet we take all white people and give them one generic classification. I demand to be refered to as either European American or Danish American but not Caucasian - Because I can barely spell it.

[HardenedSoul]

Then we come to the topic of racism. Some people feel that there shouldn't be ANY acknowledgement of race in day-to-day conversations. Well, sorry Thais are very racist as a culture, not much can be done about that. In the case of us honkeys however, we BENEFIT from that racism much more than suffer from it, often being accorded a much higher class/status than we should get in reality. Petty overcharging issues certainly pale in comparison to the general contempt offered to African/middle-Eastern/Indian people here, so stop whingeing and suck it up, that's not RACISM. Plus most of us being males are also taking advantage of their ingrained patriarchal patterns, so stop whingeing and suck it up!

Given so many TV members of a certain age cite "political correctness gone mad" as one of those "annoyances" they couldn't wait to leave back in the West, isn't it sickeningly hypocritical that they should expect the Thais to practice it for the sake of their petty sensitivities.

Not content with the privileges they enjoy here purely by dint of their relative wealth and skin tone, they now want the Thais to stop using "farang".

Personally, I'd encourage the Thais to use a different F-word when telling these idiots where to get off.

[Jingthing]

So Thaivisa is in the dictionary business as well? Sorry the word is always going to controversial, it's never going to be 100% neutral and as such it's fair game for discussion.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Why don't you debate it with Thai Visa instead of us mere mortals and publish a new definition? Then us mortals could have a better definition.

The item you cited wasn't a definition. It was an article. I am not a dictionary writer either but any credible definition of the word would include its derogatory aspects as well.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ultimate weapon]

Then we come to the topic of racism. Some people feel that there shouldn't be ANY acknowledgement of race in day-to-day conversations. Well, sorry Thais are very racist as a culture, not much can be done about that. In the case of us honkeys however, we BENEFIT from that racism much more than suffer from it, often being accorded a much higher class/status than we should get in reality. Petty overcharging issues certainly pale in comparison to the general contempt offered to African/middle-Eastern/Indian people here, so stop whingeing and suck it up, that's not RACISM. Plus most of us being males are also taking advantage of their ingrained patriarchal patterns, so stop whingeing and suck it up!

Given so many TV members of a certain age cite "political correctness gone mad" as one of those "annoyances" they couldn't wait to leave back in the West, isn't it sickeningly hypocritical that they should expect the Thais to practice it for the sake of their petty sensitivities.

Not content with the privileges they enjoy here purely by dint of their relative wealth and skin tone, they now want the Thais to stop using "farang".

Personally, I'd encourage the Thais to use a different F-word when telling these idiots where to get off.

Farang always have a double standard to how they treat others and expect to be treated.

Get called a small silly name complains like he was a slave beaten by the kkk.

Meanwhile a thai in a farang country can get insulted or mocked or attacked by racist farangs at almost anytime and they probably don't even whine half as much as the farang here.

Can some of you explain why do you have such an attitude?

Where you have racist mind you racist names created to specifically insult a race of people like nigger for example but don't really think too much about it but take the biggest offence at the smallest thing but expect others to suck it up.

[ultimate weapon]

Could care less about Farang, But don't call me caucasian. <deleted> In the States to be polticially correct people have classifications such as Africian Americans, Mexican Americans yet we take all white people and give them one generic classification. I demand to be refered to as either European American or Danish American but not Caucasian - Because I can barely spell it.

It applies the same way to asians. Asians is a very very generic classification cos it means anyone from asia but they actually mean east asians in the USA and south in the UK.

[Somsrisonphimai]

Hi, we also call this farang. It has a lot of nutritional value, so we love eating farang!

[JetsetBkk]

Grief...not again.....

and again and again and again because it's a real thing and the word is not the innocent descriptor that some people think ...

[crazyguyinthailand]

Have to be strong not care about it. its hard to change a word 99,99% of people use. but I will tell you what if my gf or her family or a close friend to me ever call me farang or refer that word to me twice(I have to tell them first time that I don't like like it, so they know) I never ever speak to that person again or make a big scene of public embarrassment for that person.

[wym]

Given so many TV members of a certain age cite "political correctness gone mad" as one of those "annoyances" they couldn't wait to leave back in the West, isn't it sickeningly hypocritical that they should expect the Thais to practice it for the sake of their petty sensitivities.

Not content with the privileges they enjoy here purely by dint of their relative wealth and skin tone, they now want the Thais to stop using "farang".

Personally, I'd encourage the Thais to use a different F-word when telling these idiots where to get off.

Brilliant post HS!

The item you cited wasn't a definition. It was an article. I am not a dictionary writer either but any credible definition of the word would include its derogatory aspects as well.

So ALL the ethnic classifiers, plus other categorizations like "prostitute" and "banker", ALL of these words should be ALL dictionaries include a note "some people don't like other people that fit these categories and use this word pejoratively".

Really?

Classic clip from one of my favorite films and actors.

Have to be strong not care about it. its hard to change a word 99,99% of people use. but I will tell you what if my gf or her family or a close friend to me ever call me farang or refer that word to me twice(I have to tell them first time that I don't like like it, so they know) I never ever speak to that person again or make a big scene of public embarrassment for that person.

You must be beloved of all the Thais in your life. Well if you're going to toss hissy fits about nothing all the time, here are some more lessons from the master:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfOOFeXt0r4

This one's actually better

Edited January 19, 2014 by wym

[NeverSure]

I love being called farang. First, it means "hansum ma'" and that's because I'm presumed to have a wallet full of money and more where that came from.

Hansum ma is better, but farang will do...

[nottocus]

It means nothing to me.

[ayayay]

LOL, love all the whiners.. oh not this thread again.

No, i don't appreciate being called farang. Its reminds of the Japanese word Gaijin.

I dont say "Hay, Thai Lady"

If you would say something similar to some Thai calling you farang, it would be "hey brownie"

And yes, people who does not see the negative aspects of the farang word, well, they are down right naive and ignrant

Edited January 20, 2014 by ayayay

[RikDao]

LOL, love all the whiners.. oh not this thread again.

No, i don't appreciate being called farang. Its reminds of the Japanese word Gaijin.

I dont say "Hay, Thai Lady"

If you would say something similar to some Thai calling you farang, it would be "hey brownie"

And yes, people who does not see the negative aspects of the farang word, well, they are down right naive and ignrant

Wow, classic comment!!! LOL! I guess you gotta put me in tha "ignrant" collum, err, column.

[thailiketoo]

So Thaivisa is in the dictionary business as well? Sorry the word is always going to controversial, it's never going to be 100% neutral and as such it's fair game for discussion.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Why don't you debate it with Thai Visa instead of us mere mortals and publish a new definition? Then us mortals could have a better definition.

The item you cited wasn't a definition. It was an article. I am not a dictionary writer either but any credible definition of the word would include its derogatory aspects as well.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

It does have its derogatory aspect as well (even though you chose not to recognize it). From the Thai Visa definition, "Some people get very offended at being called farang, but whether it's an insult should or not really depends on the context. A few Thais who are uncomfortable with using it will say kon dtahng bpra-tayt ('people from other countries') instead, but this is still pretty rare. Farang is basically a neutral word, but people who respect you (or who should respect you) will not use it – if you hear a work colleague, for example, refer to you as farang they probably mean it as an insult while a taxi driver or market vendor doing the same is unlikely to mean any offense at all."

It looks like a definition to me unless we want to get in a semantic argument. Do you disagree with any of the above?

[zeichen]

forgive others and acceptance is important.

I do hate when in a group of people and someone says khun, khun, khun addressing all the Thais and then fallang when addressing me.

But when used to generalize like fallang are rich I don't mind at all. No different than people saying asians are good at math. I personally try to stay away from generalizations and tend to associate with people that share similar beliefs as myself, but I am in no way offended when people do talk in generalizations about westerners etc.

[wym]

It does have its derogatory aspect as well (even though you chose not to recognize it). From the Thai Visa definition, "Some people get very offended at being called farang, but whether it's an insult should or not really depends on the context. A few Thais who are uncomfortable with using it will say kon dtahng bpra-tayt ('people from other countries') instead, but this is still pretty rare. Farang is basically a neutral word, but people who respect you (or who should respect you) will not use it if you hear a work colleague, for example, refer to you as farang they probably mean it as an insult while a taxi driver or market vendor doing the same is unlikely to mean any offense at all."

It looks like a definition to me unless we want to get in a semantic argument. Do you disagree with any of the above?

Yes. First of all I don't get hung up on who is "supposed to" treat me with respect, I know I'm not all that bwana.

Even in a professional office setting, Thais speaking amongst themselves, when discussing the crazy habits and attitudes of farang, will use that term without meaning anything pejorative.

However Thais that have been clued in that many NES are confused and sometimes even offended by this "objectification" linguistic tic, have learned not to use it in front of us.

As I've mentioned before, just as they don't admit how much everyone believes in ghosts/spirits/monsters etc, since they know many of us will think less of them for it.

Again, just like the term "prostitute" or "old man" or "fat people", there is no inherent pejorative meanign to the word. It's just used that way by the (relatively few) people that actually think farang in general - or you in particular - are worthy of being denigrated.

Which of course many of us are!

Get over ourselves already huh?

[thailiketoo]

It does have its derogatory aspect as well (even though you chose not to recognize it). From the Thai Visa definition, "Some people get very offended at being called farang, but whether it's an insult should or not really depends on the context. A few Thais who are uncomfortable with using it will say kon dtahng bpra-tayt ('people from other countries') instead, but this is still pretty rare. Farang is basically a neutral word, but people who respect you (or who should respect you) will not use it if you hear a work colleague, for example, refer to you as farang they probably mean it as an insult while a taxi driver or market vendor doing the same is unlikely to mean any offense at all."

It looks like a definition to me unless we want to get in a semantic argument. Do you disagree with any of the above?

Yes. First of all I don't get hung up on who is "supposed to" treat me with respect, I know I'm not all that bwana.

Even in a professional office setting, Thais speaking amongst themselves, when discussing the crazy habits and attitudes of farang, will use that term without meaning anything pejorative.

However Thais that have been clued in that many NES are confused and sometimes even offended by this "objectification" linguistic tic, have learned not to use it in front of us.

As I've mentioned before, just as they don't admit how much everyone believes in ghosts/spirits/monsters etc, since they know many of us will think less of them for it.

Again, just like the term "prostitute" or "old man" or "fat people", there is no inherent pejorative meanign to the word. It's just used that way by the (relatively few) people that actually think farang in general - or you in particular - are worthy of being denigrated.

Which of course many of us are!

Get over ourselves already huh?

My God you got it. You hit the nail on the head. I now know why Farang is always such a contentious topic. They want to be called Bwana. After you mentioned it I looked up the theme song for those guys who want to be called Bwana. And that's it. Brilliant.

[realenglish1]

HEY T SHIRT MAN

This is a much better idea

Have an avatar of a FARANG EATINGGuava and then have the words

FARANG KIN FARANG

Every time I say that in Thai and I mean every time the Thais give me a boisterous laugh

[lostmebike]

Mods, please, please don't allow any more threads regarding the usage of the word 'farang'.

We are called far worse words than 'farang' so just get used to it.

BORING

[Toscano]

In general the term Farang/Falang doesn't worry me in the least , I use it myself .

I am irritated when very young children shout Falang at me as if to insult .

[transam]

I am irritated when very young children shout Falang at me as if to insult .

Really, I like it, think you don't understand stuff..................

I went to a village Temple thingy couple of years back. The kids all smiled and pointed farang. One girl, about 6 or 7 years old came and held my hand to walk her around in the Wat procession. I turned and looked at Mrs.Trans, she had a BIG smile on her face and waved me on....

Some of you must forget your farangland anger about stuff and use your heads instead.

[Suradit69]

Grief...not again.....

The pointless face saving paranoia of some farangs is boundless.

Most people use the term farang for people they don't know because it describes who they're talking about. I can't remember the last time anyone used the word for me in my hearing. If you know people well enough or deal with the same people frequently over the years there's really no need to use some generic term for you. If you feel affronted by its use, that probably means you use negative terms for other people and assume everyone is as crude as you are.

Limey, Yank, Aussie, Kiwi, Mick, pommie, Jap ... so many terms for different nationalities or whatever. Many can be used in a neutral way or turned negative by the context and the tone.

If people call you that in a derogatory manner, you may have done something to earn their contempt and yet it's probably the most polite thing they can think to call you. If you knew more that five words of Thai, you'd probably hear far worse and if they read all the asinine Thai bashing on Thai Visa they'd have cause.

[thailiketoo]

I am irritated when very young children shout Falang at me as if to insult .

Really, I like it, think you don't understand stuff..................

I went to a village Temple thingy couple of years back. The kids all smiled and pointed farang. One girl, about 6 or 7 years old came and held my hand to walk her around in the Wat procession. I turned and looked at Mrs.Trans, she had a BIG smile on her face and waved me on....

Some of you must forget your farangland anger about stuff and use your heads instead.

It was better when they called us Bwana and sahib and passed forward the tiger rifles from the next elephant

Edited January 20, 2014 by thailiketoo

[FiftyTwo]

The Thaivisa rules should be amended that certain topics will result in a "holiday", the farang one being top of the list.

But anyway..in answer. I do not take offense to the word farang. I take offense to how it may be used or implied. I also confess to taking offense if it is used when i have addressed someone (when i have been conversing in Thai. Ie: i go into a shop and ask for something, and they go talk to someone else in the shop and tell them its for the farang. Particularly if i am the only person in the shop. As they could quite easily say for that lady, rather than farang. But its Thailand..its common..so i just grit my teeth and bare it).

Thai Visa has many rules.

One is not to treat all people according to race ........ Apart from this word, it is enforced.

No need to post the word ever.

Not valid to aim comments at "white foreigners".

Racism should never be excused.

In your example Lara they should have called you "LooKa" the Thai word for customer.

You race was not relevant to the purchase, unless you were wanting cosmetics without skin whitening (good luck with that).

Edited January 20, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[kikoman]

I could care less, if I am called a Farang, thats OK, just do not call me late for dinner!

Cheers