Oddly enough it does seem to be interpreted as a rude or offensive word on this site. I can't imagine why. I've even read on here that 'exotic' is an offensive word!

Hi, this is not an uncommon topic here on Italki. I think it depends on how people uses it. Sometimes is better to use "non-native" when comparing to a mothertongue. Besides, "foreigner" is a legitimate word for those who come from another State and usually speak another language. Since it's not a matter of skin colour or sexual preferences, I think the only matter with using "foreigner" is a wrong usage in terms of Syntax: "Foreigner" to what? are you talking about me or about you? this is the only trouble everyone is foreigner to another one!

Not at all. But 'tone and context' of how the word is used (like any neutral word) can change the meaning or intent, which could be offensive. That said, I am not in the camp of eliminating 'words', I am on the side of educating manners and treating/speaking to people as you would like to be treated.

If it's used as a tool for "othering" someone, I can see it becoming an insult, e.g. a sign "We don't serve foreigners here" in a coffe shop would make you feel discriminated and treated as inferior (even more if you are actually a citizen but you "look" like a foreigner). Like Kimberly said, it depends on the context.

In itself, "foreigner" isn't an insult. However, context matters. As a girl, I read all the Agatha Christie books. They are still among my favorite stories, but it was hard not to be shocked at the way the word "foreigner" was often used by the characters and sometimes by the author herself to connote negative traits. It's a testament to the time the stories were written in but there is no doubt it was not a neutral word. Today, when people make statements such as "There so many foreigners living in London these days, it barely looks like England", the word is usually not being used in a neutral sense. In this statement, the speaker was referring to native-born English people who happened to be of non-European ancestry. He clearly thought that "English" and "not primarily of English or white European ancestry" were mutually exclusive, and that for England to retain its character, the phenotype of its inhabitants is very important. I don't use the word and have never needed to. I wouldn't automatically think a person is being insulting if they used it, but in many cases, context allows you to deduce it is not a neutral term.