Unfortunately I am hearing this expression used when referring to farangs in Udon by all class of Thais. The latest example. A Dutch man and his Tg stayed a week at the Arin Bungalows and yesterday tried to leave without paying his bill. The owner called the police who managed to detain him at the 407 bus station. While questioning him, his mobile phone rang which the police answered, it was a hire firm from Khon Kaen enquiring the whereabouts of a motorcycle rented by him over a month ago. He was apparently going to ditch it and avoid paying. If you think this man may have cheated you, his full name and photo with his Tg is on Udondee. com.
If you are unsure of the meaning of Khi Nok ask your sweetie , it will give her a laugh.
This expression was used on the Thai radio last evening and in todays paper referring to all farangs in Udon. What a sorry state we have reached.

As in "Farang khi nok, hok bai saleung"????

I asked, ohhhhh!!

John

You've got it John.

If you are unsure of the meaning of Khi Nok ask your sweetie

Khi Niaow means tight with money but I've never heard of Khi Nok. Of course Nok means bird and Khi can mean sh**t depending on the tone used so now I'm confused.

This expression was used on the Thai radio last evening and in todays paper referring to all farangs in Udon

It's a shame that a couple of bad apples give us all a bad name. I feel even more saddened that we are all tarred with the same brush when something like this happens and is then announced publicly on radio. Oh well, I guess all media are the same no matter where in the world you come from.

lee wrote:Oh well, I guess all media are the same no matter where in the world you come from.

Too right Lee, you only have to look at some of the British press attitude to 'asylum seekers' or 'muslims'.
Oh well, I guess that the guy in question will not be gracing Thailands shores again!!!

BobHelm wrote:Oh well, I guess that the guy in question will not be gracing Thailands shores again!!!

Certainly sounds like it's for the best though.

Just asked the boss and she says when thais say this they are saying , farang khon-john (poor) farang soka-bok(dirty)khon mai-dee (no good).
when she has the raving hump i seem to recall hearing this a couple of times . !

lee wrote: but I've never heard of Khi Nok. Of course Nok means bird and Khi can mean sh**t depending on the tone used so now I'm confused.

"falang khi nok"= (bird sh*t foreigner), is a fairly common term used down south for "cheap charlie"... shoddily dressed tourist who intends to spend as little as poss.

It might have something to do with the increasing amount of white skinned westerners moving into Udon Thani, and a lot of resentment brewing under the surface. The bigots might say. " Those white devils taking our women, moving into our street, and they stink when you get up close to them in Tesco's."
It's a worry when a local radio station and newspaper tar all farangs with the same brush

Red necks in Udon. You betcha. It is such a world wide problem Penders. The smart victims are the ones that laugh and avoid the stupid folks. They leave me alone I will do the same. It is just that there is always one Bubba that wants to push it.

Prenders88 wrote: and they stink when you get up close to them in Tesco's."
It's a worry when a local radio station and newspaper tar all farangs with the same brush

I wasn't aware of the smell problem until last week, but I was purchasing some clothing in Robinsons that I had to be measured for and the lady assistant asked my wife" Why he not smell like farang"Which I thought was a rather strange remark.Apparently it is a general impression amongst Thais that we all have body odour problems.They do have a keen sense of smell, but since then I have noticed it when riding the escalator near a farang on many occassions.
When I first came to Udon the general comment was "poodee farang", meaning high class foreigner. To go from there to Farang khi nok in such a short space of time is incredible.Is it the availabilty of all those cheap flights?

banpaeng wrote:Red necks in Udon. You betcha. It is such a world wide problem Penders. The smart victims are the ones that laugh and avoid the stupid folks. They leave me alone I will do the same. It is just that there is always one Bubba that wants to push it.

Yes that is one way that may work for you but there is another way, after all it is their country and we resident farangs want to share it.How about trying to build a bridge over the culture divide? I personally do it by trying to be extra nice to those making comments. Its surprising how nice those"stupid folks" can be when they realise your not such a bad guy after all Your way may avoid the issue but it will surely lead to the total isolation of the farang community. Is that what we want?

I agree with you Val, if the oppertunity exist but if they are truely "rednecks" your wasting your time and effort. I have actually made a bit of progress with a couple of folks that I have met when over there. Others I write off. Only had one really confrontation and got over that ok.

I to agree it is their country and if you are a guest there you act as they wish. If you can't do that then leave. It is the sharing of ideas that make things go so well. I have read on here how some falangs do certian things and the Thais all come to see how he did that. I too like to watch the Thais work as you will be surprised what you can learn.

To wrap this up I actually think we pretty much agree on this topic. By the way "Rednecks are the world over. The only way to defeat rednecks is proper education and outsiders actions.

Hi there ,

The original meaning of "farang khi nok" is

a Thai follower of European of American customs; a Thai who puts on airs as if he or she was a Westerner; a Thai who apes Westerners

but the I think wrongly used by thais to criticize low-class (inferior, insignificant, meaningless or worthless) foreigners (esp. Westerners).

Mangkot

valentine wrote:I personally do it by trying to be extra nice to those making comments. Its surprising how nice those"stupid folks" can be when they realise your not such a bad guy after all Your way may avoid the issue but it will surely lead to the total isolation of the farang community. Is that what we want?

It maybe adds a bit of perspective to, for example, the Asian community in the UK. I have some friends in that area, and yes, that is exactly what they do when they get the "Paki" comments or whatever. This attitude seems far far worse in other parts of the world to me, another example being Turks in Germany.

It does not detract from your point Val, about the "few", but there are, as Brian says, rednecks everywhere, its just best to be aware of it, but ignore it perhaps?

John