So, in your opinion is expat an elitist word? Its literal meaning is simply someone out of their country, but do we ever actually refer to non-white racial groups as expats? In Taiwan, there is even snobbery among would-be western “expats,” with some saying the term is only meant for those foreign hires on cushy packages. Are at least some of us economic migrants or immigrants (legal or otherwise)? Discuss.
That is how I use the term. (I am not so blessed.) There may be the additional connotation that the “expat” resides here temporarily. I wouldn’t limit it by race–for example, there are a number of Japanese expats around.
No, but I commando rolled into this thread thinkin it was gonna be about underpants, so what do I know.
Saw that article a month or two ago. Just another race-fixated colored person getting their knickers in a twist over white people, the bastards! This is a popular pastime in places like the UK where really serious racism (you know, Tutsi versus Hutu) isn’t that big a thing.
Expats live in a place temporarily, and do not seek citizenship. This makes them distinct from immigrants. Often they are sent somewhere for work, though the word can also apply to retirees and others making more of a ‘lifestyle’ move - e.g. Ernest Hemingway and his ilk floating around Europe, driven out of the US by Prohibition or something. There is a a sense that expats live on the resources of their home country (i.e. salary/pension/investments from home fund their overseas lifestyle), and the overseas life is about factors other than economic pull. . . which again comes back to why they aren’t immigrants.
Interestingly there is no word in this African guy’s piece on whether he is in the UK permanently. If he is in the process of seeking UK citizenship then he’s clearly an immigrant with a chip on his shoulder, and his article is simply mischievous. But if, for example, he’s posted to his country’s embassy, or sent from home to manage the office of a company from his home country, then he’s an expat and should be vocal about pointing this out to others since it’s clearly important to him. He can hardly expat others to guess his status given that in the UK the immigrant African community far exceeds the expat African community.
So basically the problem lies with the writer, not with racist whitey.
Professional Foreigners only: No Nannies, no dogs, no EFL.
Professional Foreigners only: No Nannies, no dogs, no EFL.
I got a huge package and I do EFL. Fnar. I’m in China.
My company extends this opportunity to earn a highr than local salary to any ethnicity, though. Most countries in Asia, even poorer ones than Taiwan, are a lot less backward about hiring non-white, none ‘English-speaking country’ passport holders than Taiwan, so I guess this skews the perception in Taiwan because it really is just the white people on the expat salaries, perhaps.
‘Expats’, are the people on the big bucks packages … even non-whities. They mostly band together in their ‘networking’ events too, looking for their next big opportunity. I’m an immigrant.
I find it weird when English teachers refer to themselves as Expats, as thats not what I consider an expat to be.
Tough. We do. We move around on 3-5 year rotations, we get paid the same / more than back home. Housing, flights, proper health insurance, good tax deals. There’s more and more of that if you can do EAP, especially for management. You’re just thinking about Taiwan and the newb / married to locals circuit. They can’t move up much in terms of salary and crap out at 100 000Nt or probably less now. I guess the criteria for expattiness are income and mobility? Check. We ain’t all white, though.
Immigrants stay, get passports and install satellite TV systems and so on.
Don’t be surprised that a place that hires based on ethnicity isn’t exactly bringing in enough $ to pay at the top of market rate.
An ex-pat is one who takes up a career posting to the far-off colonies, and you’d expect to be well-paid and somewhat isolated from the local hoi polloi. And most importantly, with the expectation that the company takes you back home after a few years and makes you managing director of foreign sales or whatever. And arranges shipping both ways, international schools, nannies, home foods, etc. Not quite what it used to be, though, what with the slow death of the ‘colonies’.
Still, definitely not standard EFL types, or German backpackers.
Tough. We do. We move around on 3-5 year rotations, we get paid the same / more than back home. Housing, flights, proper health insurance, good tax deals. There’s more and more of that if you can do EAP, especially for management. You’re just thinking about Taiwan and the newb / married to locals circuit. They can’t move up much in terms of salary and crap out at 100 000Nt or probably less now. I guess the criteria for expattiness are income and mobility? Check. We ain’t all white, though.
Immigrants stay, get passports and install satellite TV systems and so on.
Don’t be surprised that a place that hires based on ethnicity isn’t exactly bringing in enough $ to pay at the top of market rate.[/quote]
I still dont consider english teachers expats, so tough to you. Thats not my criteria.
[quote=“Ermintrude”]I got a huge package and I do EFL. Fnar. I’m in China.
My company extends this opportunity to earn a highr than local salary to any ethnicity, though. Most countries in Asia, even poorer ones than Taiwan, are a lot less backward about hiring non-white, none ‘English-speaking country’ passport holders than Taiwan, so I guess this skews the perception in Taiwan because it really is just the white people on the expat salaries, perhaps[/quote]
Pro teachers operating in a global company should be considered expats. Oh, and Taiwan isn’t exactly poor…
[quote]You’re just thinking about Taiwan and the newb / married to locals circuit. They can’t move up much in terms of salary and crap out at 100 000Nt or probably less now. I guess the criteria for expattiness are income and mobility? Check. We ain’t all white, though.
Immigrants stay, get passports and install satellite TV systems and so on.[/quote]
So what am I then? I’m married to a local, but I pay more than 600,000 in salaries to my staff per month. Not everybody married here ‘craps out’ at 100,000. I know quite a few ‘married to locals’ that don’t. I have a houses here, but I have a couple of homes abroad too. I guess I stay in Taiwan the majority of the year, but does that make me an expat or an immigrant? Technically, MY company sent me here.
From the Oxford Dictionaries website:
[quote]expat
noun & adjective
informal
Short for expatriate.[/quote]
oxforddictionaries.com/defin … lish/expat
Again, from Oxford Dictionaries:
[quote]expatriate
noun
Pronunciation: /ɪksˈpatrɪət/ /ɪksˈpeɪtrɪət/ /ɛksˈpatrɪət/ /ɛksˈpeɪtrɪət/
1 A person who lives outside their native country:
American expatriates in London[/quote]
oxforddictionaries.com/defin … expatriate
From the online version of the American Heritage Dictionary
[quote]ex·pat (ĕkspāt)
n.
Chiefly British
An expatriate.[/quote]
ahdictionary.com/word/search.ht … submit.y=0
Again, from the American Heritage Dictionary:
[quote]ex·pa·tri·ate (ĕk-spātrē-āt′)
n. (-ĭt, -āt′)
- One who has taken up residence in a foreign country.
- One who has renounced one’s native land.[/quote]
ahdictionary.com/word/search.ht … submit.y=8
From Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006):
[quote]expat. An expatriate; applied esp. to a white man electing to earn his living in an Asian or East Indian or African state: since the late 1940s. [/quote] goo.gl/6gBzum
Of these three sources, Partridge is the only one that mentions race, gender, or region. None of them mention job classifications or employment arrangements such as packages or what have you.
However the short version of the word may be interpreted, there is no doubt that traditionally, the older noun expatriate simply means a person who has left his or her home country and taken up residence in another country. The older noun has nothing to do with expat packages or that sort of thing, and does not denote or connote anything about gender, race, or region.
Here’s a pretty good example of expatriate used as a noun in 1832: goo.gl/EYgdaX
You can see expatriate used as an adjective in 1826, here: goo.gl/08WBRS
As for the foreshortened form, expat, it sometimes appears as if the very purpose of that word is to confuse people and create disputes.
By the same linguistic token, “UFO” means only anything up in the sky, that you don’t know what it is. We all know it carries additional connotations.
Are dictionaries meant to be prescriptive or descriptive? If the latter, then several of the ones quoted above are simply out of date, or perhaps reflect regional practice, or one option among many. The fact is that “expat” is used in different ways, and not always with perfect logical consistency. The coinage seems to reflect a postwar situation, which has now changed enough that we struggle to identify which elements defined it. (Whiteness, wealth, temporariness, sent-from-abroad-ness, etc.)
[quote]
I still dont consider english teachers expats, so tough to you. Thats not my criteria.[/quote]
Who cares about labels? With respect, you come off like a job snob. Could you give a bullet point list of your criteria so we can all laugh? If you’re earning, you’ve got a visa, and a contract, you’re a foreign worker… who cares about the rest of it? If I’ve read you wrong, plz correct me.
I am an economic migrant.
From Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
I have taken to arriving at the office one hour later than I am expected. Therefore, I am far more rested and refreshed when I do arrive, and I avoid that bleak first hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make every chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3049.John_Kennedy_Toole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces
More here:
Dear Reader,
Books are immortal sons defying their sires.
Plato
I find, dear reader, that I have grown accustomed to the hectic pace of office life, an adjustment which I doubted I could make. Of course, it is true that in my brief career at Levy Pants, Limited, I have succeeded in initiating several work-saving methods. Those of you who are fellow office workers and find yourselves reading this incisive journal during a coffee break or such might take note of one or two of my innovations. I direct these observations to officers and tycoons, also.
I have taken to arriving at the office one hour later than I am expected. Therefore, I am far more rested and refreshed when I do arrive, and I avoid that bleak first hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make every chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality.
My innovation in connection with the filing system must remain secret for the moment, for it is rather revolutionary, and I shall have to see how it works out. In theory the innovation is magnificent. However, I will say that the brittle and yellowing papers in the files constitute a fire hazard. A more special aspect that may not apply in all cases is that my files apparently are a tenement for assorted vermin. The bubonic plague is a valid Medieval fate; I do believe, though, that contracting the plague in this dreadful century would be only ludicrous.
Today our office was at last graced by the presence of our lord and master, Mr. G. Levy. To be quite honest, I found him rather casual and unconcerned. I brought to his attention the sign (Yes, reader, it has finally been painted and posted; a rather imperial fleur-de-lis now gives it added significance.), but that, too, elicited little interest on his part. His stay was brief and not at all businesslike, but who are we to question the motives of these giants of commerce whose whims rule the course of our nation. In time he will learn of my devotion to his firm, of my dedication. My example, in turn, may lead him to once again believe in Levy Pants.
La Trixie still keeps her own counsel, there by proving herself even wiser than I had thought. I suspect that this woman knows a great deal, that her apathy is a facade for her seeming resentment against Levy Pants. She grows more coherent when she speaks of retirement. I have noticed that she needs a new pair of white socks, her current pair having grown rather gray. Perhaps I shall gift her with a pair of absorbent white athletic socks in the near future; this gesture may affect her and lead her to conversation. She seems to have grown fond of my cap, for she has taken to wearing it rather than her celluloid visor on occasion.
As I have told you in earlier installments, I was emulating the poet Milton by spending my youth in seclusion, meditation, and study in order to perfect my craft of writing as he did; my mother’s cataclysmic intemperance has thrust me into the world in the most cavalier manner; my system is still in a state of flux. Therefore, I am still in the process of adapting myself to the tension of the working world. As soon as my system becomes used to the office, I shall take the giant step of visiting the factory, the bustling heart of Levy Pants. I have heard more than a little his sing and roaring through the factory door, but my presently somewhat enervated condition precludes a descent into that particular inferno at the moment. Now and then some factory worker straggles into the office to illiterately plead some cause (usually the drunkenness of the foreman, a chronic tosspa). When I am once again whole, I shall visit those factory people; I have deep and abiding convictions concerning social action. I am certain that I can perhaps do something to aid these factory folk. I cannot abide those who would act cowardly in the face of a social injustice. I believe in bold and shattering commitment to the problems of our times.
Social note: I have sought escape in the Prytania on more than one occasion, pulled by the attractions of some technicolored horrors, filmed abortions that were offenses against any criteria of taste and decency, reels and reels of perversion and blasphemy that stunned my disbelieving eyes, that shocked my virginal mind, and sealed my valve.
My mother is currently associating with some undesirables who are attempting to transform her into an athlete of sorts, depraved specimens of mankind who regularly bowl their way to oblivion. At times I find carrying on my blossoming business career rather painful, suffering as I do from these distractions at home.
Health note: My valve did close quite violently this afternoon when Mr. Gonzalez asked me to add a column of figures for him. When he saw the state into which I was thrown by the request, he thoughtfully added the figures himself. I tried not to make a scene, but my valve got the better of me. That office manager could, incidentally, develop into something of a nuisance.
Until later,
Darryl, Your Working Boy
[quote=“Bernadette”][quote=“Ermintrude”]I got a huge package and I do EFL. Fnar. I’m in China.
My company extends this opportunity to earn a highr than local salary to any ethnicity, though. Most countries in Asia, even poorer ones than Taiwan, are a lot less backward about hiring non-white, none ‘English-speaking country’ passport holders than Taiwan, so I guess this skews the perception in Taiwan because it really is just the white people on the expat salaries, perhaps[/quote]
Pro teachers operating in a global company should be considered expats. Oh, and Taiwan isn’t exactly poor…
[quote]You’re just thinking about Taiwan and the newb / married to locals circuit. They can’t move up much in terms of salary and crap out at 100 000Nt or probably less now. I guess the criteria for expattiness are income and mobility? Check. We ain’t all white, though.
Immigrants stay, get passports and install satellite TV systems and so on.[/quote]
So what am I then? I’m married to a local, but I pay more than 600,000 in salaries to my staff per month. Not everybody married here ‘craps out’ at 100,000. I know quite a few ‘married to locals’ that don’t. I have a houses here, but I have a couple of homes abroad too. I guess I stay in Taiwan the majority of the year, but does that make me an expat or an immigrant? Technically, MY company sent me here.[/quote]
A stereotype, same as me. People make assumptions - that you’re poor, stupid, etc, because of your business and because you live abroad. We know it’s bollocks. Same as Africans aren’t all dumb thieving refugees.
According to most dictionaries, asylum seekers are expats … but, they don’t get the expat package tho. And they are not regarded being expats, they’re called asylum seekers.
So. let’s change the dictionary entries and regard an expat as a ‘person working for a company outside his/her country on a generous package’ … makes it easy for all of us.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]
So. let’s change the dictionary entries and regard an expat as a ‘person working for a company outside his/her country on a generous package’ … makes it easy for all of us.[/quote]
What’s the need to make this distinction? The standard definitions are more useful.
The original article and discussion is just another example of the overly political correctness that is common amongst the ‘I have to angry about something’ generation.
Who the hell cares if an English teacher calls himself an expat? Why wouldn’t he be one if he is earning 2x the local wage for a part time job? I’m also certainly not going to be upset if a non-white person in a similar economic position called himself an expat. I wouldn’t consider a maid from an ASEAN country to be an expat. She would be earning significantly less than the local wage.