Before I start, I want to say that I love Thailand and the Thai people. I’ve lived in Bangkok and would do so again if the opportunity arose. And, even though I’ve just finished a holiday there, I am keen to go back as soon as I can.
However, there’s one thing that always concerned me when in lived in Bangkok, and it surfaced again on my most recent visit.
I was with a group of people one night, and some of them began talking in Thai.
My Thai is almost nonexistent, but I picked up the word “farang” being used by a Thai woman who was obviously referring to me. My Thai-speaking western colleague confirmed this.
Now, this woman had already been introduced to me. Even if she didn’t remember my name, why did she use the word “farang”, which many people consider offensive. It was certainly used perjoratively by an old man who spat it out at me as I was walking down the street one day.
Why did the woman not say “your friend” or “that guy”?
My friend explained — as I already knew — that it was common for Thai people to refer to white westerners (but not all foreigners) this way, and that it was neither personal nor insulting in this instance.
I replied that it was common for my grandparents’ generation to refer to people who were different to them by all sorts of unpleasant racial epithets, but that most of us in Australia (sadly not all) had progressed beyond that.
I would certainly call out anybody who used a racial slur to refer to any other person, and I would expect all my friends to do the same.
If you don’t think it’s a racial remark, consider that it is used to speak about a specific subset of foreigners, not of foreigners in general Even if it isn’t intended to be racist, it’s a description I and many others do not like, and I would expect intelligent and polite people not to use it. Just as I would be offended if somebody called to me “fatty” or “baldy”, even though there is a case for both to be used in describing me.
Am I right to think that Thais need to have a discussion about retiring the F word?
