What is a real expat?

[tazly]

Loads of foreigners sitting around the bars of Pattaya call themselves expats, but are they really not just tourists, visitors, pensioners, holidaymakers, etc.?

Many think that real expats have a job, company car, other perqs. which was the traditional definition.

Good article here to get this discussion started,

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170119-who-should-be-called-an-expat

 

What say you?

 

 

 

[zorro1]

That's a nice first post. I remember mine was about asking for info on bar fines

[chickenslegs]

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/expatriate

[Jingthing]

There are different kinds of expats.
Bangkok has more working expats.

Pattaya has more retired expats.

[AlexRich]

If you are living long-term in another country, you are an expat. They come in all shapes, sizes, colours, creeds, genders ... with the common denominator being that they are 'real' people. 

 

If you are living long-term in your home country, you are not an expat. You're still 'real' though!

[GuiseppeD]

The barstool expats are technically expats, yes, but just don't listen to their supposed expertise on all things Thai.   

[Woody1]

Brilliant topic!!!

If this doesn't get a few cracking responses I don't know what will!!!

[chiang mai]

I once met a chap in Don Muang airport whilst waiting for a flight back to the UK, he told me he was an expat who lived in Thailand and had done so for twenty years or more. As the conversation progressed he turned out to be a baggage handler who worked for BA at Heathrow and he used his free travel concession to visit Pattaya several times a year. Whilst he had been visiting Thailand for many years, he couldn't speak any Thai and had not been anywhere else in Thailand apart from Don Muang and Pattaya.

 

The above is what an expat isn't.

 

And I don't think somebody who rents out their UK property for a year and comes to Thailand for an extended holiday is an expat either, I think that person is a vacationer. I think to truly be an expat in both the definition and in the spirit of the word, an expat needs to be somebody who has moved here with the initial thought of permanency, or, somebody who has accepted a work assignment here for a year or more.

[Suradit69]

5 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/expatriate

 

Sad to see that the Cambridge Dictionary has succumbed to casual pronoun usage. I guess it's a sign of the slippery slope of populist times. I suppose it won't be long before we see "Someone are an expat."

 

"Someone who does not live in his or her own country." 

 

"Someone" is a singular indefinite pronoun.

 

Quote

The pronouns ending with -body or -one such as anybody, somebody, no one, or anyone are singular. 

 

[dotpoom]

Never understood the term Ex Pat myself. I assume it is short for Ex Patriot? Why would I consider myself a "past patriot"?

    I'm not an Ex anything...I am simply "myself".

[connda]

Expatriate from Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

• To withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country.

One can also refer to oneself as an emigrant:

• To withdraw (oneself) from one's place of residence or country to live elsewhere.

However, Thailand will never except me as an immigrant so I prefer to use the term expat.

I left the US 9 years ago and I have no plans to return.  I am an emigrant who has expatriated himself from his country of birth.  Therefore I am an expatriate (expat).

[SaintLouisBlues]

9 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Never understood the term Ex Pat myself. I assume it is short for Ex Patriot? Why would I consider myself a "past patriot"?

You should get out more often - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate

[HooHaa]

5 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Never understood the term Ex Pat myself. I assume it is short for Ex Patriot? Why would I consider myself a "past patriot"?

    I'm not an Ex anything...I am simply "myself".

 

No it has nothing to do with patriot as the spelling should indicate.

 

Is latin derived and it means to leave ones native (or father) country.

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=expatriate+etymology&oq=ex+patriate+etymology&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.9584j0j4&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

[connda]

I'll supply a new definition:
Farang (expat) tourist:
A person of European decent who spends significant amounts of their time sitting in Thai bars and who doesn't understand the definition of expatriate (expat) although uses the term to describe themselves to bar girls and other tourists.  Has developed a working knowledge of Thai vernacular (short-time hotel, happy-ending, special massage) and basic phrases (say-what-dee, cap coon crap, you likey drinky with me?) while maintaining their homeland accent, and have yet to understand the basics of Thai culture (high wais bar girls, bartenders, shopkeeper, taxi drivers, and children).  Plans to 'go home' for an 8 month 'visit' next week and will come back for another 'expat' visit during the high season.
<Lol - grin - just poking fun> 

 

[sfokevin]

If you can get that rubber band off the takeaway food without resorting to using a knife you are a true expatriate...  

[smotherb]

6 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/expatriate

Yes, I do not think being an expat has to be related to working in another country; simply living in another country is being an expatriate.

 

In that respect, maids and migrant workers are in deed expats; because they too live outside their home countries.

 

I worked in white collar jobs and lived on bonus expenses in Asia most of my adult life; and was called an expat. Now, I am retired and pay my own way, but I still live outside my  home country. Does the fact I no longer work make me something other than an expat? 

 

I always worked for American firms or had my own company and we used to refer to any workers who were not part of either the foreign contractor country or the local client country a TCN--Third-Country National.  When I worked in Saudi and in Iran, my companies had some British contractors. They didn't like it when we referred to them as TCNs, but TCNs they were.

 

Why is it a point of contention when a word or term is plainly defined?

 

 

[Songlaw]

One who has cut all ties and has no intention of turning back, ever. Surprisingly few people seem to get this. If necessary, reference Hemingway.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I'm only an ex Pat because i changed my name from Pat to Dave.

[houlicha]

If you're in a foreign country and plan to go home, you're a tourist. If you're there with a job, you're an ex-pat. If you plan to live there and not go home, you're an immigrant.

[steve73]

3 minutes ago, houlicha said:

If you're in a foreign country and plan to go home, you're a tourist. If you're there with a job, you're an ex-pat. If you plan to live there and not go home, you're an immigrant.

 

I'm a non-immigrant.... my visa says so. 

[The Deerhunter]

11 hours ago, zorro1 said:

That's a nice first post. I remember mine was about asking for info on bar fines

Souds like one of us sexpats.

[steve73]

Generally, if you're from a wealthy/western country you tend to get referred to (or refer to yourself) as an expat.

 

If you're from a poorer country you're defined as an immigrant.

 

I realize this is not technically precise, but the above terms are somewhat class evident.

 

So a professional banker on assignment or a retired labourer from a western country would both be expat.  Whereas someone from Africa or Cambodia, irrespective of profession would be an immigrant (although perhaps not if he was a diplomat).

[Khon Kaen Dave]

If i stopped liking tractors,would i be an extractor fan????

[elgenon]

If  a person  lives 3 months in their country then 3 months in Thailand etc, are they ex-pats or just confused?

[petermik]

7 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

Souds like one of us sexpats.

 

Yes I,m another.......but a gentlemen sexpat

[khunpa]

I consider myself to be an expat/refugee.

 

Working and living here to escape both the bad weather, high taxes and boring life in my home country :-)

[Wake Up]

I am a temporary visitor living on the planet earth. 

[sandgroper2]

6 hours ago, Woody1 said:

Brilliant topic!!!

If this doesn't get a few cracking responses I don't know what will!!!

I have my iphone prmantly tuned to TV so i dont miss a single post. 24/7.

[ronaldo0]

Don`t care what it is but i know its a word i just hate for some reason !!

[Songlaw]

1 hour ago, HooHaa said:

 

No it has nothing to do with patriot as the spelling should indicate.

 

Is latin derived and it means to leave ones native (or father) country.

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=expatriate+etymology&oq=ex+patriate+etymology&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.9584j0j4&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

It actually has everything to do with 'patriot.' The US, for example, has legions of 'patriots.' This implies someone with an allegiance to a system or government, no matter how absurd. An expatriot, from which 'expat' stems, is someone who, as an act of both protest, and putting their money where there mouth is, has all ties and allegiances (which when plausible, as this act can be quite expensive, would include renouncement of citizenship), choosing to go it alone. This includes forgoing all safety nets, in the interests of avoiding hypocrisy. In essence, an 'expat' becomes a global citizen whose life becomes a sort of statement. Soft-soap and self aggrandize to your hearts content, but, if you have not met the criteria, you ought not be marginalizing the term. I would suggest that "transplant" would be far more fitting, in most cases.