Guest guest Posted April 25, 2001 Report Share Posted April 25, 2001 Arial">Someone mentioned ‘ferangi’ as being a racist remark. However, a search on ‘firangi’ in the Indian Express on-line site yielded several articles on the subject, and some are copied below. For those unfamiliar with desi idiom, firangi/ferangi is loosely synonymous with foreign, typically in an exotic sense. I had not heard of this conflated with racism. These articles indicate the diversity of its usage – including firangi girlfriends, Firangi Mahal, firangi culture, firangi banks, firangi tourists, … Wouldn’t it be nice to have more appreciation of the local languages of the very cultures that are the topic of inquiry here? Arial"> Arial">An institute of WESTOLOGY would allow use of local linguistic categories to study the west, even though some firangis and firangi-imitating desis might find that appalling. Fortunately, our feasibility research so far shows that most desis and firangis alike find this exciting and important. We are planning a launch with 5 scholars initially, hopefully by year-end, based in India and USA for now. Arial"> Arial">---------- font-family:Arial">Mating habits. However many bold">firangi girlfriends the Indianus fossilis may aspire to, or actually have, when it's time to nest, he will seek a bird of his own ... font-family:Arial;color:green">www.expressindia.com/fe/daily/19990815/fex15003p.html - 8k - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Cached - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Similar pages Arial"> font-family:Arial">Lucknow on my mind -- Where is it gone, the glory and the bold">... .... as the Baghdad and Cordova of India? Sorry, the news is none too good. The Firangi Mahal, once the prime centre of learning in north India, languishes in Chowk ... font-family:Arial;color:green">www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19971115/31950503.html - 12k - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Cached - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Similar pages Arial"> font-family:Arial">Kay Kay -- Preserving Indian music .... and discos. And you will see that Indian music has stormed these citadels of bold">firangi culture and hooked a crowd which previously would thumb their noses at ... font-family:Arial;color:green">www.expressindia.com/screen/sep03/music2.htm - 14k - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Cached - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Similar pages Arial"> font-family:Arial">Indian Express: Different Strokes .... the fees ought to have been collected by a desi merchant bank, not a firangi. You hear people grumbling about the BJP's `pseduo-swadeshi' policies these days. ... font-family:Arial;color:green">www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19981123/32750804p.html - 6k - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Cached - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Similar pages Arial"> font-family:Arial">Misplaced sympathy .... also look through Indians on the road, in their search for `firangi' passengers. The foreigners' attitude towards locals condescending. They also have no ... font-family:Arial;color:green">www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19990309/ile09217.html - 14k - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Cached - mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:purple">Similar pages Arial"> Arial"> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 26, 2001 Report Share Posted April 26, 2001 INDOLOGY, "Rajiv Malhotra" <rajiv.malhotra@a...> wrote: > Someone mentioned `ferangi' as being a racist remark Ferangi comes from the word for Franks, the Crusaders whom the Muslim armies met. From the Turkish, it has spread all the way to the east i.e. the Indian sub-continent. Ferangi was/is the muslim word for Europeans. In a sense , it was racist since it referred to Franks. But I doubt it is meant to be used pejoratively if that is what the term racist means Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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