Gypsy's has anyone ever met a real one ??

[OccamsTazer]

Alright, I give up, I'm just so ragingly PC for noting that a term is considered offensive by many who are of the ethnicity that it applies to.
How dare I.

 

[NurseELB]

I did a culture profile on the Roma when I was in nursing school. My partner for the presentation was Rom has several family members who still live that lifestyle. They are usually very private people, don't trust outsiders much.

Anyways, that's all I know. Unless you are curious about their culture as it relates to modern medicine.

At the time I did the presentation only the Gypsies knew they were Roma, that's a term that will take time to evaporate from modern nomenclature because they ARE so private, and there's not a huge 'don't call us that' campaign.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
True.............. real Gypsy's prefer the label as Roma's are not true Gypsy's in their eyes.

They had such cool belief systems and stories were the way the stayed in touch with each other. They taught me how to read palms and I learned a bit about Tarot cards, These folks were eastern European from Latvia or Romania I think and have very close knit families. We visited and I asked them about curses and spells & such, they were very cool folks and we got along very well.

AL

 

[al6517]

Quote:
I think your right about the privacy part not all are that bad about it, the ones I met were fairly friendly and nice but we didn't get into the more personal kind of thing's. They are persecuted by many countries who frown apon their wandering lifstyle.

AL

 

[Gonzo]

Quote:
Its confusing! I've never met one before. Here in Indiana alot of people have a negative view on them. I never understood why... still don't! I see where you're coming from. I remember seeing this documentry on the History Channel, they were talking about Hitler and the death camps, they were saying that there was more than just Jews in the camps, and Gyspy's were mentioned. They are stereotyped though. Remember that Stephen King movie Thinner? I don't think your ragingly PC.

I still love ya!

 

[fancbrd4me02]

In the 70's in Europe, a gypsy told my mother that she would never get married or have any children. She was married twice and has 5 children and one adopted child. lol

 

[canada-goose]

Quote:
Reverse psychology.

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

This is waht I found on WIKIPEDIA



Gypsy
From Wikipedia,
This article is about the English language term sometimes used to refer to various and often unrelated ethnic groups or persons fitting Gypsy stereotypes..
The term Gypsy (also 'gypsy' and less frequently 'gipsy'), is a common word sometimes used to indicate Romani people, Tinkers or Travellers. It may or may not be considered to carry pejorative connotations by those described.

Etymology
Main article: Names of the Romani people
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that a gypsy is a

{{quote|member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Indian origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and is believed to have the name Pavel Theodore Codreanu (King of the Gypsies). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used in English in 1514, with several more uses in the same century, and that both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used the word.

The word Gypsy derives from Egyptian, similarly to the Spanish Gitano or the French Gitan. It emerged in Europe in the 15th century. They received the name "Gypsy" from the local people either because they supposedly came from a land named "Little Egypt", or because some of them fit the European image of tan Egyptians. On arrival at numerous places in Europe they claimed to be from Egypt, and were required to travel for seven years as penance for apostasy. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, 'gypcian. As the time elapsed, the notion of Gypsy evolved including other stereotypes, like nomadism, exoticism. John Matthews in The World Atlas of Divination refer to gypsies as "Wise Women." Colloquially, gypsy may also refer to any person perceived as fitting the Gypsy stereotypes .

Use of term in English law
Gypsy has several developing and overlapping meanings under English Law. Under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, 'gipsies' are defined as "persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showmen, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such."This definition includes such groups as New Age Travellers, as well as Irish Travellers and Romany.
Gypsies of Romany origins have been a recognised ethnic group for the purposes of Race Relations Act 1976 since Commission for Racial Equality v Dutton 1989 and Irish Travellers in England and Wales since O'Leary v Allied Domecq 2000 (having already gained recognition in Northern Ireland in 1997)

 

[michickenwrangler]

Yes, I AM one, well, 1/8

My great-grandmother was born in the Ukraine and she was a Kalderash Rom gypsy. She used Ukrainian as her ethnicity when she came over to the USA due to the stigma.

She had an affair with a Russian Revolutionary during WWI and found herself pregnant. Came to US with a Polish-American soldier fighting for Poland (quite a few did that) and settled in Detroit. She spoke 6 languages and sang quite well and got a job acting in a Polish touring company that went through the Great Lakes area: Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Buffalo (all good cities with lots of Poles

) Her husband treated her quite poorly since she was only a "Uke" and she eventually left him with her two kids (second was born in wedlock).

She was quite the character, smoked cigars, drank cheap Canadian whiskey, swore in 6 languages (Rom, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, German and English) and would begin swearing in one or all of those if we got her the wrong kind of whiskey for family get togethers. Referred to expensive Crown Royale as, well, manure in some language or another (wasn't Polish or German). She was always up front and despite being an actress, had no tact or subtlety speaking to anyone.

--She told my dad, right in front of his newly married wife--my stepmother, that "You should've stayed with the first one."

--Told me (with whiskey in her hand) "Is good you broke up with that boyfriend ... he drank too much."

Actually, out of all her languages, she spoke English the worst despite living here for 80 years. She lived in the old Polish area of Detroit and since was expected to speak and sing in Polish for her career, never really had to learn English until her generation started dying off in the 1980s.

She lived to be 100 years old, died Nov. 2001

 

[Boyd]

MCW, that's awesome

Thanks for sharing that one!