As Bob said, Waiguoren does not really mean foreigner, it means non-Asian.
Brian
The situation seems to be:
The ‘white people’ generally don’t like being called ‘waiguoren’… or would prefer to be called something else. Some dislike it intensely, some can live with it. A small number don’t mind at all.
Some Taiwanese know that many’white people’ don’t like it, most Taiwanese don’t know that many ‘white people’ don’t like it. Neither group of Taiwanese gives a @
How often is the word “Waiguoren” uttered with any real animosity. Almost never. It doesn’t mean foriegner exactly and it doesn’t have a particularly negative connotation. It is silly to get upset about the choice of this particular word. The fact that we are labeled at all might be grounds for complaint but in case you haven’t noticed Taiwanese love to flap their yaps. It is just a sort of social adhesive. They might as well just grunt for all the meaning that is packed into what they say. You dudes gotta learn to relax.
Are you sure they’re not saying ‘guowai’. I’ve never heard this usage.
I have no problem being called a ‘waiguoren’ unless it is clear fromt he context that they are using the word insultingly to point out that I shouldbe treated differently or in phrases like ‘nimen waiguoren’.
Brian
How about when they call you a meiguoren when you aren’t? It seems to happen less now than it did a few years ago, but every now and then I’ll hear, ‘meiguoren’, and it’s usually from little kids.
Are you sure they’re not saying ‘guowai’. I’ve never heard this usage.
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Yup! You’re right! They usually say something like ‘zai guowai nimen zuo shenme?’ But I do do sometimes hear ‘waiguo’ as a place too! As in ‘waiguo falv’ for ‘the law elsewhere’. And I remind them that elsewhere is a very big place! 
Hey bob… it’s cool! I don’t get upset about it. It’s just an observation…
I do think that it’s nicer not to label people unless it serves a purpose. But that’s my cultural background at work. Was just pointing out that getting upset is not going to change things anyway.
And I was noting that people in Taiwan are quite capable of refraining at other times from vocalising apparent ethnic difference. Is that not true?
I am not sure that they actually refrain from anything. I mean that would imply a thought process. Generally Taiwanese tend to talk first think later if at all.
Well naturally you should take this as a compliment 
[quote=“kategelan”] I have never heard one member of the staff at McD’s bellow to the other that the Big Mac is for the aboriginal or the Japanese or the ‘mainlander’ or the black person.
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Bullshit, I heard plenty of Taiwanese talk about the “heiren” or “oh-long” within earshot of black people plenty of times before.
[quote=“Peking Spring”][quote=“kategelan”] I have never heard one member of the staff at McD’s bellow to the other that the Big Mac is for the aboriginal or the Japanese or the ‘mainlander’ or the black person.
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Bullshit, I heard plenty of Taiwanese talk about the “heiren” or “oh-long” within earshot of black people plenty of times before.[/quote]
So did the person in earshot understand what was being said?
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Personally, it doesnt bother me especially since I know all the kids and many adults in the states consider all asians Chinese or Japanese with no exceptions in most cases. Especially if you go outside of the cities.
I also asked my wife why they only refer to non-asians as waiguoren is because she says they can tell a Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc by way of their looks but they cannot tell if a non-asian (whites, blacks) are German, American, French, English, etc…
Me, personally, I would much rather be called waigouren any day than a Faguoren or chianadaguoren (dont know if that is correct sorry if it isnt, I am just learning) 
Yes Vanneyel it makes a sound.
have you ever seen a Taiwanese who walks down a street and says “yi ke shu” when he passes a tree?
Taiwanese, often kids, shout out when they see something a little unusual.
The only really annoying thing about this is that the process makes you feel like an object, not because they call you waiguoren, but because they do it in a way that makes you understand that they cannot reflect about you, hearing them.
For me, it
To this day I found it really funny to remember hearing people from Taiwan living in the U.S. talking about non-Asians as wai guo ren.
I;m so sorry, I will quit using it in front of you…I had no idea
Totally correct… I’d much rather people call me a waiguoren than a meiguoren… I find being called a meiguoren rather insulting… There is no malice in the use of waiguoren… it’s a polite term. They get too confused when I tell them I’m chung hua ming guo ren
I was leaving Brisbane afte visiting my son in 1997 and was in the EVA Airline crowd and sat down next to a Taiwanese family. Their young son of about 10 told his parents he was sittting next to a waiguoren.
I asked him in chinese where was he from… he answers Taiwan… I asked where he was now… he says Australia… so I remind him that I’m Australian in Australia and since he’s not then he’s the waiguojen. He turns to his parents and asks them if they are the waiguoren since they are in Australia… they laugh and say yes…
When I saw his face I knew that i had just ruined his holiday… he just found out what it’s like to be a waiguoren…
I read a charming story once about an American family that had lived in Japan for several years with two young children. They had been worried that the kids would have a hard time adapting to life in Japan but had thought they done very well. Until that is they took a vacation to Hawaii and noticed they were running up at down the beach yelling “Gaijin, gaijin” at the (very embarassed) Japanese tourists there. 
Coincidentally I was just in Yung He waiting for a bus and these two little ten year old bastards kept running by me and screaming “lao wai lao wai! Fuck you!” After about the fifth time they ran past me, I had to use every ounce of energy not to grab them and drag them into the store they were hanging out in and demand to see their parents. Ok, lao wai, I understand, but…damn, you have to have thick skin to survive here sometimes. (I guess this is where Vannyel tells me to go home) Cheers mate.
Once I was at the Grand Hotel for a meeting and went up to one of the desks there to find out the room that had been reserved. The hotel employee at the desk didn’t know and phoned someone else, referring to me as a “laowai” throughout the phone conversation.
I hope I wasn’t being too thin-skinned on this, but I told her then and there that it was fine to call me a any number of guest/customer/visitor etc. names but that it was hardly necessary for the purposes of her phone call to refer to me throughout as a “laowai.” She didn’t seem to give a shit, so I called her manager later to complain. Of course, this is the Grand Hotel we’re talking about so probably calling people “laowai” is in their training manual.
Now why would I do that Andy0…you are home…next time just grab the little bastards and take them into the store. 
Of course what do you expect hanging out in Yonghe… 
But seriously, PC hasn’t exactly taken root in most of Asia.