Phuket Thailand

Tyfon · #1 10-07-2005, 18:41

Interesting little piece on the meaning and not very flattering variants on Farang which the sharp-eared amongst you might pick up when you think you are being talked-about...

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc.../Fa/Farang.htm

Especially: "Stingy or unruly foreigners can therefore also be referred to as kee nok (bird shit)"

(what it has to do with astronomy I don't know, but there a lots of pages on Thailand - perhaps astronomy geeks are human too?

)

Cheers,

K.

LivinLOS · #2 10-07-2005, 21:08

Khee Nok farang is an insult however farang can (and usually is) used in a very very non insulting way.. Basically we come outside of so many of the asian classification systems (hi so / lo so / rich poor / status / etc) that we do cause a cinfusion in thier language and terms..

Initially I was suspicious of 'farang' as a name (up north you are called it around the dinner table in 2nd and 3rd person terms) but 'usually' its not insulting... if you want to keep an ear out make sure your girl doesnt call you 'man' which is 'it' or a term for animal.. thats an instant dismissal..

While it used to be something I worried about now if I hear the noodle lady ask how the farang wants his Gyui tiow I just interupt and tell her..

Dodger · #3 10-07-2005, 23:02

But LL do you think they would be so tolerant as you if we called them brown person or something similar, can we call afro peoples black or brown or whatever is currently politically correct, if farang means white cocasian why should we not call them affectionately brown asian? what at the end of the day is wrong with our actual name or term such as friend, partner etc, my vote on farang is still out, I was okay with it then not and now not too sure (used to be indecisive). In the article it said a black person was referred to as farang dam, my LT used to refer to them as 'dum dum' is this an isaan word, an insult or another term?

Tyfon · #4 11-07-2005, 00:12

My tsunami-BG was relating her adventures to her friends and it was "falang-this" and "falang-that" and "falang-the-other", no malice.

I can't think of any English equivalent by which we would refer directly to an individual foreigner in the second person without a perception of implied malice or patronization. I could call any German 'Fritz' and how it was taken would depend partly on the tone of voice I used and the sensitivity of the individual being referred to. I choose not to be sensitive about being called Farang, and wear my MTB-Farang T-shirt with pride

K.

M.Thaison · #5 11-07-2005, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyfon

I can't think of any English equivalent by which we would refer directly to an individual foreigner in the second person

How about 'Bruce' for Aussies?

LivinLOS · #6 12-07-2005, 10:30

Paddy, Limey, Ozzie, Seppo, Jap, wap, spick, etc.. As you notice none are too flattering (though the first 4 would cause no offence to me) and theres lots more.. I think thats why some people are more suspicious of 'Farang' as we are used to generalizations on ethnicity being more likely to be insulting or at least a wind up and its not used so much..

aussie dollar · #7 12-07-2005, 10:57

no bruce for japenense
bluey for aussie

alibaba · #8 12-07-2005, 15:55

I never used to bother when I was refered to as farang.
I accepted the term for what it was.
Until I took up with my current GF.
If anyone refers to me as farang she gets stroppy with them " him not farang, him darling me. You not call him farang, you call him Alan. "
When I asked her about this she said that punters were falang but she no like me to be refered to as such.
So I think it's like a lot of things in LOS.
Everyone is different and has a different understanding of what is acceptable / not acceptable etc.
By the way, she is from the south and some of her ideas are different than those of girls from other areas.