about using the word racism...

[lembeh]

 

>Now, there IS a word that is used for farangs and sounds similar to "farang," but is the Thai equivalent of "nigger

 

Interesting. Any linguists out there want to contribute?

-j-

[Guest]

Suadam says

"Always my name, either the American one or the Thai one."

 

Interesting. Because I go by different names also. My American name is just a name, but my Native American name is very discriptive but not as discreptive as my Thai name. I also have other name from other localities, etc. which also carry with them a discription.

 

As for the word falang, my girl friend does not like using that word and claims she is going to clobbered me if I use it as to pertaining to myself. To her falang carries many connotations but the jest of it seems to be a foreigner (Anglo Saxon?) who has not accepted Thai ways. This generally shows up in such ways as not being able to eat the food (too spicy or food considered uneatable - such as snakes and rats), can not eat off the floor, etc. Falangs, for the most part, make fun of some of the Thai customs, which also widens the gulf between Thais and falangs. Falangs generally can not understand animism and the Thai form of Buddhism which only deepens the differences between the two groups.

[Nervous_Dog]

FarangKeeNok (our guys use it to describe backpackers etc)(Err - they don't use it themselves of course, but they know the word - Ferrals we would say in Aus)

 

JB

[ALHOLK]

Hi!

but at least with the tragic chapter of slavery we had very little to do with.

 

Are you sure? Shipping companies from most European countries, also including Swedish, were involved in the slave trade.

 

regards

 

ALHOLK

[Guest]

The word "slave" derives from "Slav," a reference, I believe, to the old Arab slave trade in Eastern Europeans. They were trying to barge into Europe at one time and were stopped at about Vienna.

[Guest]

Yes, right derivation, but slightly off on the time period. From my dictionary:

 

The derivation of the word slave encapsulates a bit of European history and explains why the two words slaves and Slavs are so similar; they are, in fact, historically identical. The word slave first appears in English around 1290, spelled sclave. The spelling is based on Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus, ?Slav, slave,? first recorded around 800. Sclavus comes from Byzantine Greek sklabos (pronounced sklävōs) ?Slav,? which appears around 580. Sklavos approximates the Slavs' own name for themselves, the Slověnci, surviving in English Slovene and Slovenian. The spelling of English slave, closer to its original Slavic form, first appears in English in 1538. Slavs became slaves around the beginning of the ninth century when the Holy Roman Empire tried to stabilize a German-Slav frontier. By the 12th century stabilization had given way to wars of expansion and extermination that did not end until the Poles crushed the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410.?As far as the Slavs' own self-designation goes, its meaning is, understandably, better than ?slave?; it comes from the Indo-European root *kleu?, whose basic meaning is ?to hear? and occurs in many derivatives meaning ?renown, fame.? The Slavs are thus ?the famous people.? Slavic names ending in ?slav incorporate the same word, such as Czech Bohu-slav, ?God's fame,? Russian Msti-slav, ?vengeful fame,? and Polish Stani-slaw, ?famous for withstanding (enemies).?

[Guest]

arrogance and jokes aside.

your post proves my point in why foreigners here should rapidly learn the language to a level they can communicate with.

your example of the conversation with the taxidriver is somewhat typical for the area you went, and for someone whose thai is not sufficient.

i get regular attempts of such conversations as well, especially when taking a taxi in sukhumvit and silom, but i generally cut them short straightaway in thai. when that is over i have generally perfect and nice conversations about all sorts of topics, and the word farang is then used only in an respectful manner.

 

try to understand the world the taxidriver is coming from. that bloke, if exposed to farang, is generally exposed to a farang who married his sister/cousin/etc. who brought her to live in the west, does not speak thai, spends often vast sums of money. and he is exposed to countless passangers he picks up with prostitutes.

rarely he meets a farang who speaks thai, who is somewhat adapted to life here. and given the overwhelming percentage of unadapted foreigners i fear the burden of proof is on our side. and that proof is relatively easy when you speak thai.

 

i bring up another example:

recently my dad was here to visit me. he's a 75 year old gentleman. we picked up a taxi in silom (not patpong!). straight away the driver asked us if we want some girl. i was getting very pissed off, and told not very friendly the driver that it is incredibly embarrassing for me to be asked that when my dad is sitting with me in the taxi. he then apologised profoundly, saying that he thought that would be OK to ask that because so many other farang want exactly that.

what can i say? i know it's true, and i told him so, but i also told him that not all of us have their brains in their penis.

 

go out into any thai setting, what do thais think of us farang? they view us as sexcrazed, rich and not very smart when it comes down on relationships, and having very little sense of propriarity? problem here is that they do have a point, because when going to the largest farang concentrations in thailand that is exactly what you see.

 

now, when you speak thai, it generally takes very little time with most people to overcome that. you sit and explain it to them in a language they feel comfortable with, and the topic is rarely mentioned again afterwards.

 

also, when you live in farang ghetto, where there are so many farang who do behave exactly the way i described, and somewhat prove the stereotype so many thais have of us, then don't expect to get treated that way.

move out into a normal thai neighborhood, and things are very different. people will be reserved but polite for about a year, and slowly contacts on a normal base will be made, and you will be able to make lasting friendships.

 

i still once a while go to visit some friends in an area i have lived nearly ten years ago, everybody remembers me and the missus, everybody asks us why we don't move back.

 

by not learning the language, and not adapting to life here we do make ourselves separate, not by people calling us farang. that way we invite disrespect and being judged along stereotypes.

[think_too_mut]

>The word "slave" derives from "Slav," a reference, I believe, to the old Arab slave trade in Eastern Europeans. They were trying to barge into Europe at one time and were stopped at about Vienna.

 

 

Never heard of that. Turks were stopped before Vienna. Arabs have never been to Eastern Europe - in fact, Turks ruled most of the then Arab world.

Isolated pirates in the Mediteranean, maybe, but they traded anything and anyone.

 

If it was before the Otoman Empire - cool but there were no Eastern Europeans at that time. Slavs came down from the Baltics in 9th century and were farmers with no sea navigating skills or desires. They knew of no Arabs. The indigenous people before them were Ilires (today's Albanians) and others but not of Slavic race.

 

What you might be referring to were the Venetians who shared the same sea (Adriatic) with today's Croats and Slovenes (both of Slavic race).

In Venice, there was a quay called "Riva de Slavoni" named to honour some favour Raguzians (today's Dubrovnik) did to the Venetians. Gradually, the name had turned into "Riva de Schiavoni" - "Quay of Slaves".

 

Unless I missed a class many years ago...

[Guest lazyphil]

I've been in cabs in the uk with my mrs, her English isn't bad but sometimes shes just quiet--anyway, never has a taxi driver refered to her as a foreigner--she has adapted to life here well, he doesn't know that though and I dont see that making any difference to the way he speaks of her (what he thinks is up to him)--this town has its fair share of dip shit overseas tourist/students whom some behave badly/arrogantly but this does not cloud their judgment on a one to one encounter--thats called integrity fly..I dont find falang offensive but on reading itsmedaves post has got me thinking that Thais can be ill mannered baffoons!

[Guest]

Yes, it was the Turks, and okay, it was BEFORE they got all the way to Vienna (although they were sweating it out in Vienna, because they knew they were to be next), but that is still the time period that I was thinking of. However, refer to my following post for correction.