Thailand's 'F' word: Offensive or harmless?

[swerver]

To sums it all up whether it is offensive or not would be to conclude that it all to do with the context in

which the word is spoken, with disdain or just a way to refer to a foreigner....

Regardless of how it is spoken there is more to it than foreigners tourists as well as residents know about the word and derogatory it is, even with Thais who know the complete word, because the way it is used is the shortened word from the complete word.

When I say: “farang” is not the correct Thai word; it always produces a look:

“What do you know about what is the correct word in Thai regarding foreigner”.

I hereby will explain:

The word “farang” the Thais bastardized from the French word “Francais” which they heard the French speak when the French controlled Indochina and the Thais hated them.

Which word the Thais pronounce as

Fa‑rang‑sed

Which the Thais then shortened to “farang”.

The proper Thai way of identifying a foreigner is

“Khun thangchat”,

Meaning a person of different citizenship.

Thais call Chinese “Khun cheen”,

Japanese “Khun yipoon”.

Persons of Asia are all called by their country of origin.

If a Thai is polite, they call

English people “Khun anglish”,

American people “Khun sahalat”.

However, Thais in their attitude of referring to none Asians as “round eyed white devils"” which saying they shanghaied from the Chinese call all none Asian people derogatorily “farang” in addition to everything they do not know or care about.

From an Atheist point of view:

Thais do not understand that there is only one race,

“THE HUMAN RACE”.

There is only one religion,

“LOVE THE HUMAN RACE”.

[Doc46]

Who Cares,,,,,Someone started to say"" Farang, "" ,,Monkey see,,monkey do ,,,Just Uneducated people,,,

[NickJ]

I dont like Farang....zenophobic.

Thais are superior humans....racist.

Hi Farang how are u today......Fine.

[1FinickyOne]

I think it depends on the situation and usage - - in a formal setting it is not likely appropriate or when a name can be used. My family calls me by my proper name with "Khun" preceding it. I did find it offensive when a neighbor who could or should have known my name, called me the farang while i was sitting next to her...

However - it is now Songkran and there will be out of country visitors... My wife holds no prejudice - but if she sees a caucasian roaming the village, she might report back to me that a "farang" is in the village... If speaking English, she surely doesn't know the word "caucasian" or even "Westerner" - nor do I know an appropriate way to make the distinction in Thai w/o getting very wordy..

I might even ask her if there are any new farang in the village.. not sure what other word I might use - this is easily understood.

If I go to the temple massage place, where they speak no English, they might tell me that a "farang" is there - and ask me to help translate. It is surely not used in a derogatory manner, just a descriptive word.

Yes ok then you as someone from the west should help and change the way your wife is like I have with my thai partner and now dose not use it at all because it is racist word but I would think you have never gone through your life and been called bad names like <deleted> , because if you did you would say something to your wife like I did .

What you are missing is this - it is a Thai word - not an Aussie word - my wife does not use it in an offensive way or with any sense of malice - it just means caucasian to her... I do not hear it in a malicious way, it just sounds like caucasian to me - - but I am sure your wife is grateful that you come to her country and teach her what the words in her language mean [or imply to you] if you take the time to learn Thai you will find other words that are not easily or directly translatable... Thai is not a direct translation of English language...

[Lee4Life]

It's way down on my list of things to be offended about.

[bark]

IT IS RACISM ...pure and simple ...Cracker or dare i even type Nigg**. Pak*, chin* whats the difference (as these are actually shortened country names)

thailand is a very racist country ask them what they think of Cambodians or Burmese to start with

As long as they know we are better then them; and that they should bow down to us and tell us we are handsome, smart and they wish,

they were the same as us. Who cares what they call us. There was a reason why his story was not printed before. Question is why did Thai Visa

print his story ??

[kovaltech]

Its all about education....

Don't blame the student... blame the teacher...

a Thai person always (most of the time) try to use polite words, but not always know which English words to use.

Its not the word Farang by itself, i consider it as a similar word as foreigner, but its mostly the attitude of the person using it...

Its the tone, not the tune....

[Thaddeus]

Oh, not again....!

Ditto.

As tedious as a discussion about Marmite...... with the same after taste.

[trigpoint]

I have lived in this village for 9 years. Most of the children I have known from birth and get smiles from them. Most of them know my name. Many refer to me as Dta Kit. (They can't say Keith)

Then, almost inevitably, there comes a day when the children see you and with a mischievous expression on their faces say the single word "Farang", sometimes following me and repeating "Farang" over and over. They obviously know that they are being naughty. There must be a reason for them to suddenly start doing this. Any ideas why?

Happens to me in the village in issan as well, response of, bai loi ting tong lao, usually does the trick.

[ResandePohm]

Having lived in Thailand and now Cambodia, farang and barang are used in very different ways. Back in the 80's in Thailand it was often quietly spoken. By the millennium it became a word that was more often than not fired in my direction. Kids often used it, with raised voices, while pointing fingers, where did they learn that from?

In Cambodia the word Barang is simply used when talking about foreigners. People, children, do not routinely shout it at you at every turn.

Personally I don't like it. I wouldn't and never did shout, Asian, Ch@ink or anything else in the UK as a child or adult.

All that said, one man's meat.....

When I was young and the war was still relatively fresh in peoples minds it wasn't at all uncommon to hear other Europeans referred to in rather negative fashion. For example Germans (the recent enemy) were referred to as Gerries, The Hun or Fritz. The French were Frogs, Italians were Wops.and Spanish were Daigos. These terms were not always derogatory but used to differentiate the different nationalities

Today now that Europe has become closer together and the EU was formed these terms are seldom if ever heard.

Although I was referred to as a Tea Bag in Sweden but I can let that one go as the term Swede when translated is not exactly complimentary.

[Bench499d]

Remember it's not just "farangs" that have this same issue with a word that refers to all of them. Think also about "cag" (spelling) which refers to people of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi etc descent. When I hear this, it sounds to me like "P*k*", which is/was a rascist term used in England. Are the people it is directed to bothered?

I was around Indiatown in BKK once with my wife, we were looking for some food court Indian food, so my wife asked a Thai-Indian Sikh we saw outside his shop. She asked him where to go for "aharn cag", ie. Indian food. He told us and we left, no problem. Afterwards, my wife, who had lived in the UK for many years so understands our western attitudes towards casual racism, remarked that maybe she shouldn't have used the word "cag" when speaking to the Thai-Indian gentleman as he may have found it offensive.

I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over "ferang" and I'm sure no Thai-Indians are over "cag". Right now this is where Thai society is at and I genuinely don't believe they intentionally mean to offend anyone, at least most of the time. And I agree that as a ferang we can use ferang when referring to each other - it means we're more integrated!

As for the ferang ferang ferang kids that people talk about, they probably just want to play with you.

[SoiBiker]

Remember it's not just "farangs" that have this same issue with a word that refers to all of them. Think also about "cag" (spelling) which refers to people of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi etc descent. When I hear this, it sounds to me like "P*k*", which is/was a rascist term used in England. Are the people it is directed to bothered?

I was around Indiatown in BKK once with my wife, we were looking for some food court Indian food, so my wife asked a Thai-Indian Sikh we saw outside his shop. She asked him where to go for "aharn cag", ie. Indian food. He told us and we left, no problem. Afterwards, my wife, who had lived in the UK for many years so understands our western attitudes towards casual racism, remarked that maybe she shouldn't have used the word "cag" when speaking to the Thai-Indian gentleman as he may have found it offensive.

I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over "ferang" and I'm sure no Thai-Indians are over "cag". Right now this is where Thai society is at and I genuinely don't believe they intentionally mean to offend anyone, at least most of the time. And I agree that as a ferang we can use ferang when referring to each other - it means we're more integrated!

As for the ferang ferang ferang kids that people talk about, they probably just want to play with you.

The Thai word you refer to simply means visitor, guest, or foreigner.

[BritManToo]

However - it is now Songkran and there will be out of country visitors... My wife holds no prejudice - but if she sees a caucasian roaming the village, she might report back to me that a "farang" is in the village... If speaking English, she surely doesn't know the word "caucasian" or even "Westerner" - nor do I know an appropriate way to make the distinction in Thai w/o getting very wordy..

She may not be racist, but she sure as hell is ignorant.

Assuming all white folk speak English and share a culture?

Why not assume all foreigners speak Spanish, that language is nearly as widely used in the world as English.

Do we assume all slopes Asians speak Thai?

If you were living in the UK, would you point out to your wife all her fellow brown people?

Of course not, but then we aren't ignorant racists.

Edited April 11, 2016 by BritManToo

[williamgeorgeallen]

we get one life. enjoy it as much as you can. stop getting upset by such trivial things. put you energy into making the most of your time on earth. being called a ferang means nothing, it does not hurt you or anyone else. ontop of that there is nothing you can do to stop it so move on.

[chilli42]

Look, we are a species that makes sense, or at least makes use, of labels to categorize, organize and simplify our lives. I do it, you do it, everyone does it: Asians are "smart", Chinese are so "uncultured", Expats are "lazy", those people from Isan are "_____". Farang is simply a word to organize and categorize white people for Thai's so they can slap their own label(s) on us (rich, lazy, gullible, lucky etc). Depending on the individual, the word Farang will have a bunch of different labels attached to it. As for myself, I could not give a fig what Thai's mean or what they think when they call me a Farang, my ego is not that fragile.

[nuananddon]

I wasn't going to make a post to this today, but, after reading some of these responses I'll put my 2 cents worth in. This is their house(the Thais) not yours. You may think you're Thai because you work here or live here but you're not, you're a FARANG always have been and always will be to the Thais. To be offended by being called a Farang is a whinny childish response. Seems like this PC BS is like a plague, it keeps spreading everywhere. Have a nice day my fellow FARANGS!

[AlQaholic]

Asians are very racist in general. It comes from not being used to strangers. Take for example a small tribe in the amazons that encounter white people for the first time. Very strange for them and they would be defensive and even hostile for starters. They would refer to the stranger with words that they can relate to such as a fruit or animal or just the color. We in the west have names for different races, mostly based on where they come from because we are educated from childhood and also there is in the education an element of explaining what racism is and why it is bad, and are taught by example with Hitler. So not in Asia or South east Asia.

I often saw the same behavior when coming to small villages in Eastern Europe and Russia which had never encountered outsiders before, very hostile, staring and frightened sometimes.

Thai has a word for many ethnicities, most not very flattering such as "Kaek", "Dam", "Farang", "Kamen" and so on. On the other hand most Thai have silly nick names such of which the most stupid in my opinion is "Pig", but nobody seems to take offence to this.

[SlyAnimal]

Contrary to what the article says, "Farang Kiee Nok" isn't derived from "Bird S*** Caucasian", as actually it comes from a pun using the other meaning of Farang (Guava).

As there is a type of guava called Farang Kiee Nok, which looks like it'd be really nice to eat, but is full of tiny little seeds (And thus not actually as good as anticipated).

Thus the term Farang Kiee Nok more refers to the expectation that the Farang will be rich etc like most Farang, but in truth he's just like a normal Thai person.

Kiee does mean s*** but it's also used to transform a noun or similar into a negative characteristic. It's use is "kinda" like using "Jai" in front of a word but is a negative characteristic rather than the mostly positive ones that Jai implies.

[cmth]

Contrary to what the article says, "Farang Kiee Nok" isn't derived from "Bird S*** Caucasian", as actually it comes from a pun using the other meaning of Farang (Guava).

As there is a type of guava called Farang Kiee Nok, which looks like it'd be really nice to eat, but is full of tiny little seeds (And thus not actually as good as anticipated).

Thus the term Farang Kiee Nok more refers to the expectation that the Farang will be rich etc like most Farang, but in truth he's just like a normal Thai person.

Kiee does mean s*** but it's also used to transform a noun or similar into a negative characteristic. It's use is "kinda" like using "Jai" in front of a word but is a negative characteristic rather than the mostly positive ones that Jai implies.

Where did you get this information? Every Thai I know uses Kiee to describe excrement. Kiee Ma for example.

[flyingdoc]

Glad to see that most people posting here on TV are not overly sensitive!

[spidermike007]

The only people who are offended by the word farang are people with very, very thin skin. As they say, water off a ducks back. Why allow yourself to get offended over something so small and so irrelevant? Who cares? What difference does it make? Yes, granted when they know you, calling you farang is just plain stupid and rude. But, otherwise?

[dazzz]

What is evenmore "........." is the fact that foreigners refer to themselves as...farang....

It must be a forumthing because all my years coming/living in Thailand I have never heard it. Thank god !

Are you telling lies on this forum ? What has god got to do with it? are you crazy ?

I heard it about 20 times yesterday when i was watching a load of thais fishing . I hear it between 5 and 20 times a day and you have not heard it ! Does not bother me but i told off a few thais yesterday for calling me farang as i have lived here for 8 years and if they know my name they should use it . When describing someone i use their name or thai , or farang if they i do not know their name but when i go to the shop where i have shopped everyday for 8 years , if they call me farang i am upset and tell them they are rude and not polite.

[mydee]

And that used to really piss me off, especially in Khon Kaen where you couldn't walk down the street without the chorus of samlor drivers yelling You You. But I suppose it is largely because it is the only English they know.

Farang yes i am a farang. Many Thais call me farang.
Is it offensive or not? Who cares ? Not me.
Thais who know me call me by my name. Thais who dont know me call me farang.
It is better than Thais saying YOU YOU when they speak to me.

[Thaidream]

There appears to be much misunderstanding of the use of the word Farang. We need to stop using our Western mindaset and look at this from the Thai perspective. anyone who has been in Thailand a long time should realize that prior to the 1980s Westerners hardly ever came to Thailand as there was no mass tourism. the majority of Westerners that Thais encountered were American military. In the 1960s when I first arrive people would often stop and stare and point- surprised to see a Westerner. When Thais wanted my attention- they called out You- You. Now mostly they call out Mister or Madam as they have come to realize that the term You maybe rude to some Westerners.Since Thailand uses its language to categorize people the term Farang was and still is spoken often to identify one as 'a white westerner'. There is no racial intent unless a derisive modifier is attached to the word. As One poster mentioned- black Westerners were and are referred to as Farang Dum; Chinese- as Jaek' Sim or Chin; Japanese as Yippon; Indians and middle Easterner as Kak etc. It is only derogatory when that modifier is added.

The example of the American in the restaurant , while irritating to some. actually is an example of a rural, uneducated Thai lacking an understanding of how to deal with a Western person. There was no harm intended. It was simply ignorance. I have often encountered this when dealing with people who do not interact with Westerners on a daily basis. On the other hand, I was once in a Thai bank with my Thai wife- both of us dressed well- and speaking to a Thai manager, obviously well educated and dealt with foreigners often. She referred to me in the third person using the Thai word- Mon- which means it. To her I was not even worthy of being called Farang. Frankly, I was incensed- however rather than cause a scene- I kept quiet-smiled profusely and left the bank and let my wife handle the business. This was a clear example of racism at its worst.Had I showed my anger,we would have never obtained what we needed and her opinion of foreigners would have been reinforced. Never went back to that branch again.

In a perfect World- Thais would refer to us as Kak- guests or Khon Tanchart- people of foreign origin. However, Farang is a popular term which bears no intent to discriminate and I am not offended by it. Thai people are not politically correct but mean no harm when dealing with you. Sometimes they point out things about you or ask personal questions that would never be tolerated in the West. Remember we are not in our home country- TIT.

[dick turpin]

On my first visit to my wife's village I was openly

referred to as the "farang", but this gradually

changed on further visits to use of my first name

even when talking among themselves.

Thought this was real progress, but then realised

they were using this as a means to show that they

were big mates with the farang.

Edited April 11, 2016 by dick turpin

[mankondang]

The "f" word farang is used to call me by both my Thai and farang friends. My farang friends also use the English "f" word much more frequently , in a variety of ways and conjunctions, and is far more used on TV, movies etc,. Yet some farang take exception at being called the Thai "f" word farang than the English "f" word (especially "mother f"). Up to you.

[Dap]

Whatever I think will change nothing, but

for the record, I don't care either way. I

guess it's all about the inflection used

[harryd]

'Up to you' if you find 'Farang' offensive. I used to get very upset about it being 'shouted out' when I was travelling around Siam with my former Thai gf, or as somebody else pointed out, referred to in third person as the 'Farang', because the people we were dealing with would rather address her than me.

Eventually, I realised you can't get mad over a word. After all, it's just a word, heard nowhere else but in Thailand. If you want to give it 'power' then respond to it. If not, ignore it. At least it will show you who really cares, as most intelligent / educated people will know it's disrespectful. As a rule, conduct your business with those who choose not to use it. However, If you care about the person who is saying it, then have a conversation with them. Help them to understand you're not just another foreigner, but somebody they can relate to and can give respect for. Too many people come to Thailand thinking they should deserve respect from everybody, straight out of the box. It just doesn't work that way, in Thailand as anywhere else you go in the world.

p.s. My Thai gf always used to go and buy 'Farang' fruit at the market (green on the outside, white on the inside), A guava fruit or something like that? - She claims the King himself gave the fruit this nickname. Whatever it is, I love it! Incidentally, 'farang' is also used for 'potato' and 'chewing gum', all things introduced to Thailand by the 'white man' I'm guessing, so don't always assume it's about 'you'.

[mankondang]

What is evenmore "........." is the fact that foreigners refer to themselves as...farang....

It must be a forumthing because all my years coming/living in Thailand I have never heard it. Thank god !

Are you telling lies on this forum ? What has god got to do with it? are you crazy ?

I heard it about 20 times yesterday when i was watching a load of thais fishing . I hear it between 5 and 20 times a day and you have not heard it ! Does not bother me but i told off a few thais yesterday for calling me farang as i have lived here for 8 years and if they know my name they should use it . When describing someone i use their name or thai , or farang if they i do not know their name but when i go to the shop where i have shopped everyday for 8 years , if they call me farang i am upset and tell them they are rude and not polite.

Farang has some racial connotations , westerner. Do you also get upset, or at you proud as your flag indicates, when someone calls you by another racial name, Taff.

Iechyd dda

[crazydrummerpauly]

'Farang' is not mostly regrettable because it offends the object of its use - the FOREIGNER (or Non-Asian). More importantly it is a clear sign of Thailand's astonishing isolation from the rest of the world. It represents the 'Us' and 'Them' structure of thought which is the Thais' lazy way of dealing with the human race en mass. Lumping every 'outsider' together under one easy label is atrocious. Thais have managed to stay mostly apart from huge global forces in the twentieth century - colonisation, world wars - and they are some of the most insular people on the planet. Basically, they cannot be arsed to divide foreign guests in Thailand into 'English', 'French', 'Australian', 'German', 'American' etc...so much easier and more controlling to carry on using the one-word stereotype : Farang. Concentrating on whether or not the term is offensive to outsiders misses this more important point, that it is a symptom of Thailand's failure to engage with modern culture, politics, and debate.