You, The Foreigner.....

[siamesekitty]

Though I could understand you taking offense, I'm sure he did not mean to offend. I'm doing the back-translation in my head and can imagine the direct Thai translation. Thais tend to refer to people collectively by groups, especially by nationality. While he could have said "people" to make it sound better to the English speaker, in Thai speech it's common to address the group using the "type of group" as the pronoun.

[TRIPxCORE]

SHould of slammed something on the ground while yelling "whats my name"

Snoop Doggy.....doggy, dog.

teach him how to say i bet he wants to learn anything to make his career better.

Are you sure this is the best advice? Thais are usually very sensitive about that "saving face" stuff and you correcting him in front of everyone might make him angry.

[thailand_property_search]

I would have said "la baksida" everytime he said the word foriegners....lol.

Then if he wanted to keep to his script without interruption he would have to omit it Or if he was a clever chappie he might even add "la baksida" in which case I would reply with kaup khun na krup everytime.

Training by inconvenience I call it.....lol

[meemiathai]

teach him how to say i bet he wants to learn anything to make his career better.

Are you sure this is the best advice? Thais are usually very sensitive about that "saving face" stuff and you correcting him in front of everyone might make him angry.

I disagree. A farang teaching a thai english in front of other farangs is not going to cause face losing. Unless in front of his boss.

[donmac]

I get called it and I don’t mind I have been called a lot worse back in farang land although I do prefer bow farang myself.

[soic]

Being called a Farang is a normal thing. We are foreigners in their land. I mean should they have to differentiate between English, Australian, German or whatever, anytime they address us? The only real time that it's a negative is with family and friends. After you're known a while, it would be impolite. There is a nice way to deal with it though, I told my mother-in-law and sister-in-law that if they kept calling me farang, I was going to say Thai lady instead of Mama, or Tik. They laughed, said "Solly" and it's never happend again. When someone calls me a Farang on the street, sometimes my wife corrects them and says... Thai man, or he Lao or Cambodia. They just grin and scratch their heads. I've even went so far as to smile and say... me Thai man, you Farang. That is usually followed by a grin and a handshake. You can roll with it and have fun sometimes. Never take offense, only when it's friends or family, and then they might just need to be gently reminded. For most, all their lives all they've ever known were "farang" until we stepped into their lives personally, they never had to think different.

I think of it as how I raised my children... I always told my children to refer to older people as Sir, M'am, Mr. or Miss. After they've met the same person many times and are told to address them by their first name, did my children change they way they addressed them. That's the way I was, so they followed suit, it's just a natural thing.

[pop_corn]

I dont really see the point. here.. you are not thai?

so you are Foreigner! alien, or whatever..

what's wrong with that?

I think you just have to relax a bit and enjoy life, dont stress your self for a word!! c'mon, the word hv mayor complications than a simple word or way to reffer ppl..

peace!

[SamuiJens]

Don't give it an extra thought, since the answer is you ARE oversensitive. Everone get called a farang in LOS, one time or another.

[Sing_Sling]

I was borned, grew up here in HK and have lived for 37 years. And my colleagues still call me "gwei lo" the same word for "farang" in thai. To most I am still a foreigner.

If people who know me refer to me as farang I find it to be rude and ask them to call me by my name as I don't call them khun thai, I use their name.

Tour guide . . . tough call, but probably lack of sensitivity or english despite being able to crack jokes.

Meemiathai, if a Singaporean would refer to me as a gwei lo I would not be happy, it does not mean the same as 'foreigner' or 'farang' - and you well know it. Here no-one calls us gwei lo, not even the Cantonese -we are referred to as ang moh . . . much nicer and kind of funny.

[opothai]

blo+dy foreigners

can we say that anymore???

that can be taken lightly or some would over react,

depends on your out look on life, serious or light hearted.

[meemiathai]

Meemiathai, if a Singaporean would refer to me as a gwei lo I would not be happy, it does not mean the same as 'foreigner' or 'farang' - and you well know it. Here no-one calls us gwei lo, not even the Cantonese -we are referred to as ang moh . . . much nicer and kind of funny.

Sing Sling, I can't speak for Singaporeans. I have no idea how they use this word "gwei lo". But I can say when HKers refer to someone as "gwei lo", 99% of the time it's not meant to be rude. I use it too to refer to caucasians and it is the only available word.

And I can assure the word "gwei lo" has the EXACT meaning of "farang". 100% same.

Well maybe only 99% cause "gwei lo" is a man, and "farang" represents all men/women/girls/boys.

It's strange, I have no idea what "ang moh". Maybe if I actually see the chinese words, I might get it. BTW, cantonese is my first language.

P.S. If a person who doesn't know you calls you face to face "gwei lo", then you really have to understand if he/she is trying to be rude or not, maybe by looking at his/her facial expression.

[khall64au]

SHould of slammed something on the ground while yelling "whats my name" then walked out for better effect.

I know, I know.... tis the funniest thing Donz ever said....!!!

[Sing_Sling]

Meemiathai, if a Singaporean would refer to me as a gwei lo I would not be happy, it does not mean the same as 'foreigner' or 'farang' - and you well know it. Here no-one calls us gwei lo, not even the Cantonese -we are referred to as ang moh . . . much nicer and kind of funny.

Sing Sling, I can't speak for Singaporeans. I have no idea how they use this word "gwei lo". But I can say when HKers refer to someone as "gwei lo", 99% of the time it's not meant to be rude. I use it too to refer to caucasians and it is the only available word.

And I can assure the word "gwei lo" has the EXACT meaning of "farang". 100% same.

Well maybe only 99% cause "gwei lo" is a man, and "farang" represents all men/women/girls/boys.

It's strange, I have no idea what "ang moh". Maybe if I actually see the chinese words, I might get it. BTW, cantonese is my first language.

P.S. If a person who doesn't know you calls you face to face "gwei lo", then you really have to understand if he/she is trying to be rude or not, maybe by looking at his/her facial expression.

I guess most people would not like being called white ghost (gwei lo or gwei po) and it is different from farang which simply means foreigner - some say derived from then word 'French' - isn't it funny to have Brits like being called French . . .

Ang moh is Hokkien.

[Plus]

Farang has a neutral meaning at first, but once the relationships are established it doesn't come very high on the list of all possible addresses to a person.

Service guys never address me as a farang, for example.

[meemiathai]

"gwei lo" does indeed mean "ghost man", but it is just an expression to describe caucasion looking people.

The word "farang" has got nothing to do with being a foreigner or not at all. You can be thai and still be a "farang". It is simply how you look like that counts. ie. Caucasion looking.

Therefore

gwei lo = farang

[meemiathai]

The only real time that it's a negative is with family and friends. After you're known a while, it would be impolite.

Disagree. Maybe in hi-so well educated family.(Just my guess) But in a peasant family, it is not negative.

When someone calls me a Farang on the street, sometimes my wife corrects them and says... Thai man, or he Lao or Cambodia.

She is just trying make you think she is on your side with things. To make you think she thinks the same as you do.

[soic]

The only real time that it's a negative is with family and friends. After you're known a while, it would be impolite.

Disagree. Maybe in hi-so well educated family.(Just my guess) But in a peasant family, it is not negative.

When someone calls me a Farang on the street, sometimes my wife corrects them and says... Thai man, or he Lao or Cambodia.

She is just trying make you think she is on your side with things. To make you think she thinks the same as you do.

I think that I'll choose my words carefully here. I've been with my wife for 3 years and feel that I know her just a little better than you do. We both look at the street talk as a joke, that part of the farang calling doesn't bother me in the least, it's a common joke we share. WE talk about things quite often. She full well understands how I feel about it and SHE ABSOLUTELY agrees. Farang doesn't fit in the family. My Thai nieces and nephews call me Lon Chris well... (Lon Kiss). Farang may be a normal word to them, but as a family they understand the lack of respect it would be to call me that as a family member. No different than if I were to refuse to call her Mother and Sister by thier names and called them Thai ladies instead. That they understood well... Your opinion is welcome, but don't speak for those you don't know.

Edited August 15, 2006 by soic

[meemiathai]

Don't be serious mate. just pure discussion.

I am happy for you knowing each other well.

[the swagman]

Relax matey. There are a lot worse things to be called. Think how you would point someone out to another if you don't know their name or it is a name difficult to pronounce, you would probably say 'oh, that (Chinese, Thai, Indian, strange looking person over there'

Farang is a very generic word and most of the time isn't rude or disrespectful (MOST of the time), it is a word distinguish one person from another.

[soic]

Don't be serious mate. just pure discussion.

I am happy for you knowing each other well.

Didn't mean to puff up... just one of my pet peeves for someone to "know" what I'm thinking or "know" what someone else is thinking.

My Thai family and I probably over communicate, we only have a few weeks together every 2-4 months. We try to squeeze as much as we can into every minute. We follow each other around everywhere the entire time. I still get amazed at how well my mother-in-law and I get along, when she doesn't speak english and I don't speak much Thai, but some how our jokes translate and everyone at the table has tears in their eyes from laughing. My wife says that Mama and I are nuts. We usually sit down in the evenings with some of our "Farang" and Thai friends and family and talk and tell jokes for hours. I can't wait to get home... 13 days, if I were counting.

[Griffin]

The OP seems to have let himself get wound up by words. It's just the Thai way of doing things the easy way.

I was in Mc Donalds and had to wait for something. I knew it was coming the moment I heard "blah blah farang". It may have just been easier than saying "the guy on the left with the brown hair and red t-shirt who is the only one with just fries and a coke". Nothing to get annoyed about.

Try this. I dine with my wifes family once a month or so and I have trained them well. If they use the word farang when talking about me I, half smilingly, point at them and say "Asian" and go back to my food. This tends to stop the flow of chat and starts a chat about what just happened. I now here my name much more often.

Once, I was at their home and I heard the kids being told to give me something, "blah blah farang". So I raised it later and was told the word farang had been used so the kids knew who it was for. I countered with "why? Is ******** a common Thai name? The kids now lovingly mis-pronounce my name in a variety of ways, but none start with F.

[Ijustwannateach]

I'd be happier to hear "my friend" (if I am a friend) over "the farang," and also preferentially "the American," but if I'm in a generic situation with people who don't know me I don't take offense to being called "farang."

[pop_corn]

Im just wondering..

how do u like to be called? if is not farang?

I like to call my self Alien

lol

[Plus]

People call me a friend when talking to others, or they call me Pi, or they call me Lun, or just use a third person pronoun, or when talking to me they address me as Khun. Once the initial confusion how to classify me is over, they happily use the same words they do with Thais.

Nothing to get worked up about but I appreciate getting past "farang" stage.

[baboon]

I am contacting Forum Support to change my Handle to MisereableGit 2006!!!

[Donz]

People call me all sorts there, handsome man, God, Farang, Luk rueng (spelling), chinese man, hey Ozzie, hey you.

As long as its not hey you f@## wit then i dont give a toss

[baboon]

People call me all sorts there, handsome man, God, Farang, Luk rueng (spelling), chinese man, hey Ozzie, hey you.

As long as its not hey you f@## wit then i dont give a toss

But I thought that term was complimentary.I get called it all the time!

[Donz]

People call me all sorts there, handsome man, God, Farang, Luk rueng (spelling), chinese man, hey Ozzie, hey you.

As long as its not hey you f@## wit then i dont give a toss

But I thought that term was complimentary.I get called it all the time!

It actually can be for some

[dog412]

calling "strangers" by a generic term is fine,(asian, indian, white, black, etc.). however, once you have been introduced, this would no longer be acceptable. being called a "farang" by those who know you, IS , insulting.

[Sing_Sling]

calling "strangers" by a generic term is fine,(asian, indian, white, black, etc.). however, once you have been introduced, this would no longer be acceptable. being called a "farang" by those who know you, IS , insulting.

I believe that is the point also.

meemiathai,

"gwei lo" does indeed mean "ghost man", but it is just an expression to describe caucasion looking people.

The word "farang" has got nothing to do with being a foreigner or not at all. You can be thai and still be a "farang". It is simply how you look like that counts. ie. Caucasion looking.

Therefore

gwei lo = farang

Obviously the term comes fromthe pasty English sailors . . . But,you will also not hear people in an office or in a group of people you know calling you gweilo if they know your name.