What does 'Farang' really mean ?

OK, so I am on my first trip to Thailand, I think I am a tourist, what is a Fa rang ? I'm am guessing the translation is foreigner ?

Is 'Farang' an innocent translation for us tourists or does is mean something like "fucking foreigner' ?

I guess I am a regular at Surfers Paradise at the Gold Coast, Sydney etc, so we tend to be a little more politically correct when addressing tourists who are leaving their $$$ behind in our country.

Interested to hear a debate in this

Regards

Simon

And Ps will be in BKK mid April if anyone wants to discuss it over a beer

The internet is a wondeful thing if you know how to use it, except when trying to find out minor answers to such things as to how long 'thonglor55' has been suffering from dementia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falang

[thonglor55]

The internet is a wondeful thing if you know how to use it, except when trying to find out minor answers to such things as to how long 'thonglor55' has been suffering from dementia?When Thai boys ask me "Why you crazy?" my invariable answer is "Just lucky, I guess".

[cdnmatt]

Being called "farang" is totally fine. Just make sure when someone calls you "darling", they don't say "dtat-ling".

[carruthers]

I suppose two routes one root. The root,I suggest, is Frank as in "Frankish", same root as France, a very old but common epithet for Europeans in the Middle East/North Africa, rendered as "Ferringhi". This either travelled to the Far East with Arab traders (Batu Ferringhi in Penang) or another possibility is that the alleged first Europeans to visit the old Kingdom of Siam, in the 1600s, were French rendered into Thai as "Falungsayt" (?) Either way I never take it as a perjorative unlike the Hong Kong Chinese who refer to me and my type as "Gweilo" - Old Ghost!

[Beachlover]

Farang means foreigner and it's usually not meant in a negative way. I'm told the word primarily refers to Caucasian foreigners, not Asian foreigners.

the alleged first Europeans to visit the old Kingdom of Siam, in the 1600s, were French rendered into Thai as "Falungsayt" (?)

I'm pretty sure this is it. Ask a Thai to say 'Fran├зais' (in a French accent) . . . . it comes out like 'Falangsay' . . and the 'say' is dropped. Not any foreigner though . . . caucausian foreigner.

[Narakmak]

Nope. The first here were not the French. Also find words almost exactly like farang in many other countries. For example, in Ethiopia, it's ferenghi.

[elephantspike]

I think of it as meaning "Occidental". Not sure if that is linguistically correct, but it works for me.

A short history of Thailand:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand

More information on the word farang:

http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/farang.php

[thonglor55]

Farang when used by al the Thais I know means Caucasian, and some of the educated ones when speaking English use the word Caucasian when other Thais would use farang. The Thais are very precise in their racism.

[Smiles]

As above: 'Farang' means, not only foreigner, but white foreigner (PC word 'Caucasian').
Japanese are 'foreigners', but not 'farang'. Black Africans or Americans or 'anyone black' are foreigners, but not 'farang'. Panda bears are neither farang nor foreigners.
And so on and so on ...

[francois]

The Thai word for France = Farang-seet it that tells you something?

In Cambodia, a Western looking white foreigner is called "barrang". Has the same history as farang (farancais)
Originally a classification of a foreigner (as said in another post).
Thailand knows also a fruit called 'farang'.
In Cambodia there is no fruit called "barrang".

According to the Thai law, all foreigners (not carrying a Thai passport or Thai-ID card) are called: Alliens.

Thailand knows also a fruit called 'farang'.


Go to a market and buy some guava and be ready for some falang buying falang jokes.

Much harder: teaching your thai friend how to say "guava" - I got him to gua-fah after about 5 minutes and gave up.

[thonglor55]

Much harder: teaching your thai friend how to say "guava".Try teaching him to say "Excuse me".

[jinks]

it's ferenghi.

I thought they were the Large lobe traders and Quark the bar owner in DS9.


As above: 'Farang' means, not only foreigner, but white foreigner (PC word 'Caucasian').
.

Not so, white that is, ask http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race

[allieb]

In Cambodia, a Western looking white foreigner is called "barrang". Has the same history as farang (farancais)
Originally a classification of a foreigner (as said in another post).
Thailand knows also a fruit called 'farang'.
In Cambodia there is no fruit called "barrang".

According to the Thai law, all foreigners (not carrying a Thai passport or Thai-ID card) are called: Alliens.


Alliens!! I think punters would be a better word

Alliens!! I think punters would be a better word

More like ATM's

[yaraboy]

In Laos which was a French possession Farang referred to the French people. Only in recent years has it come to mean all whites.

FARANG is one of the first words that will stand out from the jumble of Thai constantly spoken on all sides. People are likely to be saying things like, "Come take this farang's order, my English is terrible," or "Help! I can't make head nor tail of what the farang wants." If you're in a place where foreigners don't frequent, you're likely to hear it randomly shouted at your very presence, by staring children and adults alike.

For the most part, it's used harmlessly. Some people take it as an insult, but I don't. If somebody uses it like it's my name, I might let them know. Thais generally mean no harm by the word, even if they tend to overuse it.

The etymology behind the word farang is relatively clear, but some persistent folk etymologies muddy the waters. I don't want to get too much into tracing the history of the word right now, though.

The short version: farang doesn't come from the Thai word р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕Зр╣Ар╕и р╕й /farangseet/ "France", since its use predates their arrival in Thailand; nor does it come from the fact that white people have skin like the inside of a guava. Likely cognates of farang are found in many languages and many countries, stretching from the Middle East out to Oceania. It was almost certainly spread by Persian traders across mainland Asia many centuries ago. Such Persian traders arrived in Siam by the 16th century, bringing along with their wares the word farangi, meaning Westerner or white man, from Arabic faranji, and ultimately referring to the Germanic tribe of the Franks, dating from the crusades, perhaps as early as the turn of the first millennium, A.D.

Yes, that really is the short version.

The so-called farangs have shared their appellation with many things in Thai. The guava, known as р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З farang in Thai, is native to the Americas and was most likely introduced to Southeast Asia by the Portuguese. In the early 19th century, John Crawfurd wrote of a fruit the Thais called "banana of the Franks (Kloa-Farang)", or р╕Бр╕ер╣Йр╕зр╕вр╕Эр╕г� �╕▒р╣Ир╕З /kluai farang/. (Note: Crawfurd states that the guava is called "malako" and the papaya "kloa farang", but I believe he must have simply reversed the two.) So the fruit gets its name from the foreigners who introduced it, and not the other way around.

It's not just guavas, though. Many things introduced by westerners are called "X farang", which is to say, "the farang version of X".

Common ones include:


р╕бр╕▒р╕Щр╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣� �р╕З /man farang/ = potato (р╕бр╕▒р╕Щ /man/ is a general word for tubers, thus potatoes are "farang tubers").[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
р╕лр╕бр╕▓р╕Бр╕Эр╕гр╕� �р╣Ир╕З /maak farang/ = chewing gum (р╕лр╕бр╕▓р╕Б /maak/ is betel, thus gum is "farang betel").[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
р╕лр╕Щр╣Ир╕нр╣Др╕бр╣Й� �╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З /n╔Ф╔Ф maai farang/ = asparagus (р╕лр╕Щр╣Ир╕нр╕вр╣Др╕б р╣Й /n╔Ф╔Ф maai/ are bamboo shoots, thus asparagus is "farang bamboo shoots").[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
р╕Ьр╕▒р╕Бр╕Кр╕╡р╕Эр╕� �р╕▒р╣Ир╕З /phak chii farang/ = parsley (р╕Ьр╕▒р╕Бр╕Кр╕╡ /phak chii/ is cilantro/coriander, thus parsely is "farang cilantro").[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
For some other things, the "farang" version has come to largely replace the traditional version:


р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕нр╕Ър╕Эр╕г р╕▒р╣Ир╕З /nam op farang/ = western style perfume, alcohol-based; now called р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕лр╕нр╕б /nam h╔Ф╔Фm/ "fragrant liquid", which is more widely used today than traditional р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕нр╕Ъ /nam op/.[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
р╕Фр╕╡р╣Ар╕Бр╕ер╕╖р╕� �р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З /dii kl╔иa farang/ = epsom salts, though simply р╕Фр╕╡р╣Ар╕Бр╕ер╕╖р╕� � /dii kl╔иa/ is now widely used to refer to them.[/*:m:1bw6up7s]
In cases like these, the original word tends to be replaced with a retronym by adding р╣Др╕Чр╕в "Thai"; that is, it must be renamed to differentiate it. (Like how before digital clocks, there was no such thing as an "analog clock"-- it was just called a clock.) So today there is р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕нр╕Ър╣Др╕Ч р╕в /nam op thai/ and р╕Фр╕╡р╣Ар╕Бр╕ер╕╖р╕� �р╣Др╕Чр╕в /dii kl╔иa thai/ due to the popularity of their western counterparts.

In addition to asparagus and potatoes, there are several more plant species not native to Southeast Asia that are known as the "farang" version of some other common plant.

These include: р╣Бр╕Др╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З , р╕Хр╕░р╕Вр╕Ър╕Эр╕гр╕� �р╣Ир╕З, р╕Ьр╕▒р╕Бр╕Ър╕╕р╣Йр╕� �р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З, р╕Ыр╕гр╕░р╕Чр╕▒р╕Фр╕� �р╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З, р╣Бр╕Юр╕Зр╕Юр╕зр╕вр╕Э� �╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З, р╕бр╕░р╕Бр╕нр╕Бр╕Эр╕г р╕▒р╣Ир╕Зр╕б, р╕лр╕▓р╕Зр╕Щр╕Бр╕вр╕� �р╕Зр╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З, and р╕нр╕▒р╕Зр╕Бр╕▓р╕Ър╕� �р╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З. You can search for *р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕З in RID for more details.

http://rikker.blogspot.com/2008/10/farang-stuff.html