Thread: Why expats get trapped away from home

Originally Posted by quimbian corholla

Originally Posted by Dan

I would classify an expat as someone living in a foreign country, with an income stream from their homeland.

That definition seems way too narrow. Define 'homeland'?

I haven't spent more than 6 months total in the county of my birth since I upped sticks and got out as soon as I could 25 years ago which is more than half the time I have been alive.

I haven't derived a penny in income from there in all that time but since I am still forced to have a passport that labels me as a citizen of the dump I am considered an expat.

Oh sure, I'm not saying that mine is the definition, just what I consider it to be.

Despite all the obvious flaws, living here has to be better than being confined to the squalor of basement flat in Bournemouth, leaching off the landlords internet.

Both options might lead to a Thai student being murdered and buried though.

Definition

Expatriate
(adjective): Resident outside one's native country.
(noun): A person living outside his native country.

Originally Posted by runner

Originally Posted by Kockupocket

So the problem seems to be that your job is better, your house is bigger, you get paid more and your children get to go to a better school. That's definitely something the career-minded or money-motivated would want to avoid at all costs so I'm sure any advice you can offer on how to avoid falling victim to this awful fate would be much appreciated.

The point the article is making is that this gain is front-loaded and artificial i.e. gain now, regret later. Presumably you didn't pick up on that.

Presumably, you are still a fuckwit?

Originally Posted by Neverna

Definition

Expatriate
(adjective): Resident outside one's native country.
(noun): A person living outside his native country.

Would you consider some backpacker turned TEFL teacher an expat? Some backpacker turned barman or hostel deskman? I certainly wouldn't.

Originally Posted by Dan

Originally Posted by Neverna

Definition

Expatriate
(adjective): Resident outside one's native country.
(noun): A person living outside his native country.

Would you consider some backpacker turned TEFL teacher an expat? Some backpacker turned barman or hostel deskman? I certainly wouldn't.

While he's/she's backpacking no. He/she would be a tourist. While he's/she's working, probably yes. Why wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by Dan

Would you consider some backpacker turned TEFL teacher an expat? Some backpacker turned barman or hostel deskman? I certainly wouldn't.

Just out of interest Dan, what would you call him?

Jeff?

On second thoughts, he's not smart enough for any of those jobs, and he's also Thai.

Originally Posted by Kockupocket

Yes. One is white (or at least comes from a country which is predominately white - I guess there's no reason why you couldn't have an African-American expat working in a bank in Bangkok) and rich and the other isn't.

wrong

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

Originally Posted by Kockupocket

Originally Posted by Neverna

Definition

Expatriate
(adjective): Resident outside one's native country.
(noun): A person living outside his native country.

Expats also have to be white. And, as Dan illustrates, at least moderately wealthy. Of course, expats are really just either immigrants or migrant workers but they seem to feel that their ugly polo shirts and misplaced sense of superiority justifies their being marked as distinct from the Burmese maid or the Cambodian construction worker.

There is a huge difference between a Burmese maid and an expat.huge....

A maid from Myanmar living in Thailand (or any other country outside her native country) would likely be an expat. A maid from Myanmar working in Thailand would also likely be an expat - unless she commutes, of course.

Originally Posted by Kockupocket

Yes. One is white (or at least comes from a country which is predominately white - I guess there's no reason why you couldn't have an African-American expat working in a bank in Bangkok) and rich and the other isn't.

Really...

Either nice troll or you are a racist POS.

Which one is it son?

^ Read it again son, you'll work it out.

I've worked for law firms overseas (outside my native country) and been considered a local hire as opposed to an "expat." Any American living in Paris in the 1920's, for example, would have been considered an expat, but the usage has become much less broad nowadays.

Another one for the ignore list

Old Today, 03:40 PM
Remove user from ignore listLittle Chuchok
This message is hidden because Little Chuchok is on your ignore list.

Some people get very very upset about forum threads on topics for they have their head in the sand over.

Originally Posted by robuzo

I've worked for law firms overseas (outside my native country) and been considered a local hire as opposed to an "expat."

You are describing different employment hiring packages, that's all. You would still be an expat when you worked abroad, unless you also had citizenship of that country.

Originally Posted by Kockupocket

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

u really is a cock smeggles

runner is Smeg. I'm somebody else.

Where did that quote come from, Kockupocket? I don't see it in this thread.

^^ The thread title is: why expats get trapped away from home - but if we cannot even agree on a simple definition of "expat", what chance is there for any decent discussion on the topic? To me, expat is simply the shortened version of the word expatriate.

I've been an "expat" (in the basic sense of the word) on more than one occasion. Going home was not a problem. However, on one occasion, it was difficult to know what to talk to others about (I hadn't followed the latest goings on), another time it was just as if I'd left only a few weeks or months ago - no big deal.

As to the OP article, it seems a bit narrowly focussed, IMO, aimed at only one type of expat.

Exactly right. Expat is just an abbreviation of expatriate. The last I looked abbreviations are synonomous with the elongated word.

Originally Posted by runner

I have barely worked full time since my 20s and hopefully never will again.

Part time at MacDonald's for food also doesn't qualify . . . .

Originally Posted by runner

Who wants to be cattle chewing the cud all day when you can be a wildcat living life to the full.

smeg the Wildcat!!!!!

Originally Posted by runner

this gain is front-loaded and artificial i.e. gain now, regret later.

I hired and (reluctantly) fired several expats during my years in HK. Those who regretted the move were generally gone in a matter of months. The rest, to a man, had no later regrets at all.

^ The regret referred to, per the article, may come years down the road when an expat decides it's time to repatriate and realise too late that there is an opportunity cost for what they have spent the past few years doing.

Also covered here https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post2960542 (Would you change your name and become 100% Thai?)

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Exactly right. Expat is just an abbreviation of expatriate. The last I looked abbreviations are synonomous with the elongated word.

Yeah, but does not common usage trump that?

If someone says "that is a hot looking chick" - nobody things they are referring to poultry!

Originally Posted by nidhogg

If someone says "that is a hot looking chick" - nobody things they are referring to poultry!

Somtamslap does...