Is farang an insulting word?

[Flashermac]

cavanami said:

 

 

I remember in the USA, if you called a black person (Afro-American) a "nigger" guns would be aimed at you. Now the Afro-Americans call each other nigger. Go figure!

 

 

Black folks have always used the word WITH EACH OTHER. Same as I can tease my friends with insulting names. It's a whole 'nother world when strangers do it.

 

I'm used to Farang, but I can't say I've ever liked it. I'm ME, not simply a faceless Caucasian of west European ancestory who is indistinguishable from all of the hundreds of millions of other such people. Sort of like walking in a city in the States and having the locals refer to you as hunky, spook, chuck etc. Farang reduces you to less than an individual.

[preahko]

Flashermac hit the nail right on the head: "less than an individual".

 

I hate it when people--both thais and farang--try to argue that this is not an insulting word. true, no word (well, maybe some!) are insulting in and of themselves, it's *how they're used*. heheh, "words don't insult people, people insult people"...

 

I lived in a village for 6 months and I got so sick of the way farang was used to refer to me constantly, by my GF's entire family and everyone in the village, everyone except her (she did it sometimes in a joking way, but that's different). and I think to translate the ful impact of it, you have to gloss it in english as "THE farang"...

 

I'd constantly hear comments--right in front of my face--like "can the farang eat that? it's too spicy, isn't it?" or "wow, mom, I didn't know farangs were able to sit like that!" or my favorite, "mom, can the farang go inside the church??" (they were catholics)

 

all that aside, yeah, I've come to get used to it too. haha, but that doesn't mean I'll ever like it! the trouble with expressions of racism in thailand, as opposed to in the US or europe, is that at least once in a while in the West people who say racist stuff are gonna get told off (or worse). here, all thais, save for an educated and more sophisticated few, are *totally unapologetic* about their racism. just something we gotta deal with if we wanna live here. which I do.

 

preahko

[Flashermac]

Consider some other not so flattering terms: Khaek - Indians (and often Muslims), Gae - Vietnamese etc.

 

How would Thais react if we called them gooks, slopes, wogs etc? Of course, the Cambodians are convinced they are superior to the Thais, the Chinese are convinced they are from the greatest people on earth etc. Asia has a ways to go when it comes to tolerance.

[texascity]

Farang is from "FRENCH" / Farangse -

 

doubt the original usage was complimentary.

doubt colonial impearlist were well thought of.

 

farangs have stolen Thai land & bombed Thai cities in the recient past.

+

the % of low lifes amongst 21st century Farnags doesn't help the Farang image.

 

my only interface with non-prostite Thai would be at the hospital or on the BTS

seldom will a Thai will sit next to this Farang at Bumrungrad ..

& I think many a Thai would avoid an empty seat next to this Farang on the BTS

 

obviously, they have negative feelings for this Farang

 

glad the proifessional lasses over look the personal feelings

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Farang is from "FRENCH" / Farangse - "

 

No, it's not. It comes from 'ferengi' which in turn comes from 'frank' (as in 'the franks').

 

"farangs have stolen Thai land & bombed Thai cities in the recient past."

 

Uh... that is new to me ::

 

Sanuk!

[Old Hippie]

Perhapes he is referringto the little incident in the 40's when Thailand declared war on the USA and the UK, and the allies dropped a few bombs on a certain bridge and other targets...all in war of course...but stealing land? I thought that was the claim against and by Cambodia...? Certainly not farangs, but then the frenchy did play a hand in it all, fraudulent map as I recall...

[texascity]

edit: I deleted my recollection of the Franco-Siamese War & pasted (with link) a bettter rendition of the FACTS.

 

FROM: http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thcentury/francosiamese/default.aspx

 

"Thailand was eager to retake the ethnic Thai lands along the Mekong River it was forced to cede to the French colony of Laos in 1904. In 1907 the French had also forced Siam to cede the largely Khmer provinces of Siemreap, Sisophon and Battambang to French Cambodia."

 

3 years ago a Thai Movie star (?) stated Angkor Wat should be In Thailand based on the post Franco_siamese War settlement .. the Thai Embassy in PP was stoned by Khmen protesters.

 

RE: Colonial THEFT: IMHO All colonialist are thieves .. all colonial booty/wealth should render an eternal curse upon the decendants / societies that benefited from brutial amoral colonialism

 

while on my colonial rant: all areas of intense 21st century terrorism were 20th century colonies.

Thailand is surrounded by failed colonies that remain failed societies.

IMHO!

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"RE: Colonial THEFT: IMHO All colonialist are thieves .. all colonial booty/wealth should render an eternal curse upon the decendants / societies that benefited from brutial amoral colonialism"

 

Ooohhhh, that is a nice comment coming from an American

 

Sanuk!

[texascity]

Irish American.

 

must say my grand dad moving to Texas in the 1870s has worked out rather well. not that well for the Comanchee.

 

My grand dad did not get a lot of freebies .. thankfully, he did purchase a few wa.

 

My blue passport does not hinder my perspective on right & wrong.

[BadaBing]

khunsanuk said:

Ooohhhh, that is a nice comment coming from an American

 

Sanuk!

 

Nice comeback !

 

Bada Bing