Why you DONT want to be a Gypsy (from meeting the real gypos.) | Squat the Planet

Why you DONT want to be a Gypsy (from meeting the real gypos.)

Shwillam

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Hey there folk, I’ve been tramping around England the past 3 months and have realised a ridiculous and frankly insulting trend in American travelling culture. The habit of calling each other gypsies. Well, I’m here to tell ya, you never should call yourself a gypsy and here’s why. As has been discussed before, the word gypsy is to the Romani travellers the same equivalent to any other racist slang. But beyond that, the people that are actually from Romani, and have what would be considered gypsy blood are not what you would think. These are not the free travelling, poor, and open minded individuals that American culture has painted them as. From actually hanging out with people who are proud to be gypsys, let me tell ya a bit about them. They resemble some of our not so quality dirty kids and scum fucks, with leaving camp sites and beautiful natural areas completely destroyed, being completely unable to bury their own shit let alone their dogs, breaking into homes and terrorising the local community, drinking copious amounts of alcohol in large groups in public to the point of causing nearly riot grade mishaps in town, to robbing other travellers for all they have. they carry one HUGE difference though. Most are filthy fucking rich. Their caravans are top of the line luxury RVs that most of us would never imagine even catching a ride from, and their bank accounts are filled with old inheritance. I could look past ALL of that if it wasn’t for the one cultural norm I’ve observed from every last Romani gypsy I’ve met, their woman are forcibly subservient and receive awful treatment from the men and homosexuals are ostrosized and bullied if not physically removed from their “communities “ . It is quite common for them to send 11-14 year old girls into town to attempt to rope rich men into sleeping with them under direction of their fathers in order to black mail the wealthy men into either marrying into the family or paying for the gypsies silence. This isn’t some assumption I’m making, it’s the actual cultural norm. It’s considered bad taste to even talk to a gypsy woman who’s married and the women are beat for speaking out of turn. They hunt for other, poorer travellers in order to straight up rob or attempt to swindle away hard earned gear. In the UK off grid travelling culture, people travelling from other countries are warned to not associate with these dangerous and predatory individuals.

So I’m short, you shouldn’t call yourself a gypsy for two reasons.

A) you’re not a fucking gypsy, and if you were you’d be disgusted by the US poor travellers. Hitchhikers and especially train riders are seen as homeless rift raft that they would rather rob, rape and leave on the side of the road than ever call fellow travellers. If you’re not Romani, you’re making a racial slur by calling yourself a gypsy.

B) Modern day gypsys are not the ones you read about in the history books. If you’re not filthy rich and travel around in a top of the line brand new RV that you buy an upgrade every single year while also holding the attitude that it’s your right to royalty fucking destroy every town you pass into, then you’re not travelling like a gypsy. I would be ashamed to call myself a gypsy or as their non-Romani counter parts are called, Pikies. If you want to associate with the extreme sexist, homophobic, and self destructive culture that is modern day gypsy culture, call yourself a Pikie, because you’re not Romani and thus making a racial slur. However, calling yourself a Pikie is essentially calling yourself a mix of a drainbow, weekend warrior, and trustafarian all wrapped up in a bed of a deep hate for women, other races and homosexuals.

Just speaking from experience. Please guys, let’s Stop calling ourselves gypsies. It’s just in bad taste
 

Matt Derrick

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well first off, we already have several threads about this:

https://squattheplanet.com/threads/a-short-explanation-of-gypsy-terminology.23202/
https://squattheplanet.com/threads/the-reasons-why-you-arent-and-will-never-be-a-gypsy.19789/
plus others... search is your friend :)

i do appreciate you sharing your opinion/experiences though.

for me personally, i'm a bit on the fence about this. it could well be because i'm from the united states, which, like you said, romanticizes the fuck out of gypsy culture. but isn't it kind of a good think that the term gypsy has a bit of a more positive light on it here? doesn't that kind of 'reclaim' the cultural 'slur' to something that's not so offensive?

in terms of terminology, i think the word just means something much different here than it does in the european area, and i don't think there's really all that much wrong with that. i don't think we're 'culturally appropriating' much beside the word itself, and everyone screaming 'cultural appropriation!' is just PC folks that are reaching a little too hard.

now, i'm fully willing to admit that i'm an 'ignorant american' who has never hung out with genuinely romani gypsies, but i've never heard this 'don't call yourself a gypsy' debate from anyone other than white people who have nothing to do with romani culture. so maybe it's possible they don't care? or perhaps have more important things to worry about (probably the latter).

the bulk of your argument almost seems to bolster the 'ethnic slur' portion that you speak of though, since you have a lot of really not nice things to say about them. doesn't that just reinforce the stereotype? i mean scum fucks make the rest of us look bad here in the states, but that's not all travelers, gypsies, or whatever you want to call them.

also, i think too many people go around saying "don't do this! don't do that!" without offering some kind of solution, so what's your solution to this problem?
 

Jerrell

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If you want to associate with the extreme sexist, homophobic, and self destructive culture that is modern day gypsy culture, call yourself a Pikie

We call that "Trumpism On Wheels" in the United States. Not really. But maybe we should?
 
D

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now, i'm fully willing to admit that i'm an 'ignorant american' who has never hung out with genuinely romani gypsies, but i've never heard this 'don't call yourself a gypsy' debate from anyone other than white people who have nothing to do with romani culture.

I sat and thought about this for a while and have come to agree with you: my one-off interaction shouldn't be used to perpetuate a stereotype. I need to spend time with them before I can draw a conclusion *adds Romani Gypsies to bucket list* :)
 
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Timothy Englert

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Hey there folk, I’ve been tramping around England the past 3 months and have realised a ridiculous and frankly insulting trend in American travelling culture. The habit of calling each other gypsies. Well, I’m here to tell ya, you never should call yourself a gypsy and here’s why. As has been discussed before, the word gypsy is to the Romani travellers the same equivalent to any other racist slang. But beyond that, the people that are actually from Romani, and have what would be considered gypsy blood are not what you would think. These are not the free travelling, poor, and open minded individuals that American culture has painted them as. From actually hanging out with people who are proud to be gypsys, let me tell ya a bit about them. They resemble some of our not so quality dirty kids and scum fucks, with leaving camp sites and beautiful natural areas completely destroyed, being completely unable to bury their own shit let alone their dogs, breaking into homes and terrorising the local community, drinking copious amounts of alcohol in large groups in public to the point of causing nearly riot grade mishaps in town, to robbing other travellers for all they have. they carry one HUGE difference though. Most are filthy fucking rich. Their caravans are top of the line luxury RVs that most of us would never imagine even catching a ride from, and their bank accounts are filled with old inheritance. I could look past ALL of that if it wasn’t for the one cultural norm I’ve observed from every last Romani gypsy I’ve met, their woman are forcibly subservient and receive awful treatment from the men and homosexuals are ostrosized and bullied if not physically removed from their “communities “ . It is quite common for them to send 11-14 year old girls into town to attempt to rope rich men into sleeping with them under direction of their fathers in order to black mail the wealthy men into either marrying into the family or paying for the gypsies silence. This isn’t some assumption I’m making, it’s the actual cultural norm. It’s considered bad taste to even talk to a gypsy woman who’s married and the women are beat for speaking out of turn. They hunt for other, poorer travellers in order to straight up rob or attempt to swindle away hard earned gear. In the UK off grid travelling culture, people travelling from other countries are warned to not associate with these dangerous and predatory individuals.

So I’m short, you shouldn’t call yourself a gypsy for two reasons.

A) you’re not a fucking gypsy, and if you were you’d be disgusted by the US poor travellers. Hitchhikers and especially train riders are seen as homeless rift raft that they would rather rob, rape and leave on the side of the road than ever call fellow travellers. If you’re not Romani, you’re making a racial slur by calling yourself a gypsy.

B) Modern day gypsys are not the ones you read about in the history books. If you’re not filthy rich and travel around in a top of the line brand new RV that you buy an upgrade every single year while also holding the attitude that it’s your right to royalty fucking destroy every town you pass into, then you’re not travelling like a gypsy. I would be ashamed to call myself a gypsy or as their non-Romani counter parts are called, Pikies. If you want to associate with the extreme sexist, homophobic, and self destructive culture that is modern day gypsy culture, call yourself a Pikie, because you’re not Romani and thus making a racial slur. However, calling yourself a Pikie is essentially calling yourself a mix of a drainbow, weekend warrior, and trustafarian all wrapped up in a bed of a deep hate for women, other races and homosexuals.

Just speaking from experience. Please guys, let’s Stop calling ourselves gypsies. It’s just in bad taste

I always liked "vagabond" rather than "gypsy".
 
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I always liked "vagabond" rather than "gypsy".

Is there a resource out there that defines all these labels? Out of curiosity. Hmm I was under the impression vagabond wouldn't fit OP's description. Ref Rolf Potts Guide to Vagabonding.
Although perhaps it's best not have all sorts of different names; leads to cultural, racial, class division etc

We should try out refering to each other as wankers instead. If you're a good person, you'd say: "Aye, I know him, he's a good wanker that one". If a shady person, you be like: "nah she's a terrible wanker, don't hang out with her". Maybe we'd all feel an element of cohesion because, in the end, we're all just wankers. :)
 
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Odin

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We should try out refering to each other as wankers instead. If you're a good person, you'd say: "Aye, I know him, he's a good wanker that one". If a shady person, you be like: "nah she's a terrible wanker, don't hang out with her". Maybe we'd all feel an element of cohesion because, in the end, we're all just wankers.


nice rip off trainspotting mate...



you wanker...::hilarious::
 

Swing

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Hey there folk, I’ve been tramping around England the past 3 months and have realised a ridiculous and frankly insulting trend in American travelling culture. The habit of calling each other gypsies. Well, I’m here to tell ya, you never should call yourself a gypsy and here’s why. As has been discussed before, the word gypsy is to the Romani travellers the same equivalent to any other racist slang. But beyond that, the people that are actually from Romani, and have what would be considered gypsy blood are not what you would think. These are not the free travelling, poor, and open minded individuals that American culture has painted them as. From actually hanging out with people who are proud to be gypsys, let me tell ya a bit about them. They resemble some of our not so quality dirty kids and scum fucks, with leaving camp sites and beautiful natural areas completely destroyed, being completely unable to bury their own shit let alone their dogs, breaking into homes and terrorising the local community, drinking copious amounts of alcohol in large groups in public to the point of causing nearly riot grade mishaps in town, to robbing other travellers for all they have. they carry one HUGE difference though. Most are filthy fucking rich. Their caravans are top of the line luxury RVs that most of us would never imagine even catching a ride from, and their bank accounts are filled with old inheritance. I could look past ALL of that if it wasn’t for the one cultural norm I’ve observed from every last Romani gypsy I’ve met, their woman are forcibly subservient and receive awful treatment from the men and homosexuals are ostrosized and bullied if not physically removed from their “communities “ . It is quite common for them to send 11-14 year old girls into town to attempt to rope rich men into sleeping with them under direction of their fathers in order to black mail the wealthy men into either marrying into the family or paying for the gypsies silence. This isn’t some assumption I’m making, it’s the actual cultural norm. It’s considered bad taste to even talk to a gypsy woman who’s married and the women are beat for speaking out of turn. They hunt for other, poorer travellers in order to straight up rob or attempt to swindle away hard earned gear. In the UK off grid travelling culture, people travelling from other countries are warned to not associate with these dangerous and predatory individuals.

So I’m short, you shouldn’t call yourself a gypsy for two reasons.

A) you’re not a fucking gypsy, and if you were you’d be disgusted by the US poor travellers. Hitchhikers and especially train riders are seen as homeless rift raft that they would rather rob, rape and leave on the side of the road than ever call fellow travellers. If you’re not Romani, you’re making a racial slur by calling yourself a gypsy.

B) Modern day gypsys are not the ones you read about in the history books. If you’re not filthy rich and travel around in a top of the line brand new RV that you buy an upgrade every single year while also holding the attitude that it’s your right to royalty fucking destroy every town you pass into, then you’re not travelling like a gypsy. I would be ashamed to call myself a gypsy or as their non-Romani counter parts are called, Pikies. If you want to associate with the extreme sexist, homophobic, and self destructive culture that is modern day gypsy culture, call yourself a Pikie, because you’re not Romani and thus making a racial slur. However, calling yourself a Pikie is essentially calling yourself a mix of a drainbow, weekend warrior, and trustafarian all wrapped up in a bed of a deep hate for women, other races and homosexuals.

Just speaking from experience. Please guys, let’s Stop calling ourselves gypsies. It’s just in bad taste



I agree to not call yourself a gypsy if you aren't one, but it's wrong to assume all gypsies are the same. There are many different tribes and many different minds within them. Even the tribes can be further subdivided. The European tribes include the Sinte, the Manouche, the Boyash, the Rom, the Gitanos, and the Romnichals which you are probably referring to. As far as the Sinti are concerned, there are essentially two groups: the Sinti and the Roma (which include all other tribes of Gypsies). The Sinti do not like to be called Roma, but it's not necessarily an issue of one culture being superior to the other, but it is a question of making sure that people understand that both cultures are different. There are bad people and there are good people...as simple as that.
 

Shwillam

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I agree to not call yourself a gypsy if you aren't one, but it's wrong to assume all gypsies are the same. There are many different tribes and many different minds within them. Even the tribes can be further subdivided. The European tribes include the Sinte, the Manouche, the Boyash, the Rom, the Gitanos, and the Romnichals which you are probably referring to. As far as the Sinti are concerned, there are essentially two groups: the Sinti and the Roma (which include all other tribes of Gypsies). The Sinti do not like to be called Roma, but it's not necessarily an issue of one culture being superior to the other, but it is a question of making sure that people understand that both cultures are different. There are bad people and there are good people...as simple as that.

Thank you for this perspective and the info brother.
 
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starfarer

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im a ROMANY, teh term gypsy to me is like nigger or oven cheating jew bastard and i loathe it! the amount of wankers ive met who claim "my grandmother was a gypsy" or other twaddle, bizzare. dont know much abouyt teh brit romanies, but there there is irish travellers, romanies, and were ALL DIFFERENT, my family(KUMPANIA) travveled by foot, slept not in caravans(VARDO'S) but in bender tents and picked hops and other crops for money, yes teh did a BIT of crasting chorries( stealing chickens) but on teh whole they are as honest as any others black white or brindle, only 2% of romanies now live "traditionally" and most have lost their language. i speak SHELTA as my first language which is sort of gaelic romany mix, but surprisingly only really now spoken in Australia and largely forgotten in the UK. being a rom mush("Gypsy man) i dont usually tell people. as they look at me differently, apart from slightly darker skin it doesnt affect me.PLEASE DONT CALL YOURSELF GYPSY!!!!
 

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The only time I saw gypsies, they were camping in an inner city park and their kids were going around burning the bird houses as if morally compelled to do so... Right on mate! Don't call yourself a gypsy.

that's why I use the american term Hobo -aristocrat, hobo having the respect of a vagabundo (spn for vagabond, another fav of mine) of a low consumption ( save of course the vino), light on the planet kinda travler, who mostly makes his own way without getting handouts. I don't personally hate on folks flying spange signs, that's just what the old dudes laid out: Hobo-itinerant, worker often seasonal, tramp- same but doesn't work much and spanges.

I get that calling us vagos 'gypsies' is a slur. It'd be like calling us Lakota's, as both were seriously fucked with to the point of genocide. But that's not to say we can't learn from and respect those native/nomadic groups. All my life I've read and travelled in the SW where the Dnai (apaches) led their low impact, nomadic lives, their warriors including women being the last to hold out against us white eyes. So, much respect to all traditional nomadic societies, esp those that have been denigrated, hinted down, 'tamed'. Tuareg, Crow, Lenape, Tarahumara, Romany, the Polynesian group, Celts, the Mongolian tribes, Aliut, and of course my faves, the various tribes of Lupis lupis, wolf.
 
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AzureSoul

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supposedly there are gypsys down and around chile and argentina. i may have encountered one, not that i really give a fuck what they ID themselves as nor what others ID them as.

once in el bolson there i am at the feria, a pretty badass little market that happens x5 per week in the summer. I'm minding my own business and one woman comes to me with this long message on a piece of paper about her being deaf and mute and needing money for baby formula and diapers, but when i tell them firmly "you need to look for someone else" i hear about how i am a nasty bastard and all this... well of course i know you are not a mute that is the point of the note.. when you bring me this note speaking out loud BEFORE i reject your begging - then wtf how dumb can you be? i think they must not read Spanish but just tote a note for the wealthy who come down from Buenos Aires for summer vacation.. so maybe a true gypsy?? i dunno
 
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I completely disagree.
First off, which kind of gypsies are you talking about? Scottish TInkerers? irish? polish? travelers? roma?
Gypsy is being reclaimed. It's a lifestyle. Language is fluid. If I was talking about a certain type, I'd say "roma gypsy" or "bus gypsy". but it's totally different from slurs.
 
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BusGypsy

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for me personally, i'm a bit on the fence about this. it could well be because i'm from the united states, which, like you said, romanticizes the fuck out of gypsy culture. but isn't it kind of a good think that the term gypsy has a bit of a more positive light on it here? doesn't that kind of 'reclaim' the cultural 'slur' to something that's not so offensive?

in terms of terminology, i think the word just means something much different here than it does in the european area, and i don't think there's really all that much wrong with that. i don't think we're 'culturally appropriating' much beside the word itself, and everyone screaming 'cultural appropriation!' is just PC folks that are reaching a little too hard.

now, i'm fully willing to admit that i'm an 'ignorant american' who has never hung out with genuinely romani gypsies, but i've never heard this 'don't call yourself a gypsy' debate from anyone other than white people who have nothing to do with romani culture. so maybe it's possible they don't care? or perhaps have more important things to worry about (probably the latter).

the bulk of your argument almost seems to bolster the 'ethnic slur' portion that you speak of though, since you have a lot of really not nice things to say about them. doesn't that just reinforce the stereotype? i mean scum fucks make the rest of us look bad here in the states, but that's not all travelers, gypsies, or whatever you want to call them.

also, i think too many people go around saying "don't do this! don't do that!" without offering some kind of solution, so what's your solution to this problem?

I couldn't have put it better myself.
 

BusGypsy

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and actually, also wanted to mention a big point
By claiming only certain races own certain cultures, you're making the claim that a single person or single race owns a culture when they don't and that's racist.
When cultures meet and mingle, they inform and enrich each other.
 

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When i was growing up in Russia gypsies had pretty much same reputation among Russians as you described here. Same opinions were also prevalent among other eastern European nations where gypsies traditionally lived around without settling, or settling here and there. So in my opinion these opinions are traditionally racist and xenophobic, and i do not support them. Altho it is all true, all the gypsies do is make their living by some kind of scam, with different degree of being organized. True that they exploit their kids from the moment they can walk, and use them to aggresively spange, steal, busk etc. But they had to be doing it for thousands of years. After living India where they 've always being and still are THE lowest cast of untouchables, their way of survival is the way it is because historically societies left them no other option. I'm more of sympathetic towards their scam life of hated criminals all over the Eurasian continent. And the spirit of American dirty kid culture is in fact very close to what gypsies always have being. Doesn't matter that Roma lifestyle has being changing, they still are majorly not up to the white societies' norm, they are outcasts and still openly hated. I think if you chose that type of life over what's considered the norm you can call yourself a gypsie and not give single fuck about what the society has to advice you, including on the language that you use.
 

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I unapologetically call myself a gypsy.
1. my ethnic heritage is my business and I don't have to justify it to anyone.
2. I'm a traveller in a bus that lives a romantic bohemian lifestyle.
 

marmar

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I gotta add tho, I just thought, to call yourself a gypsie if you are a traveller you gotta be somewhere on the similar level of scambaggery as real gypsies were. I mean, hashtag vanlife full time graphic designer typa shit, altho technically travels but shouldn't call him/her self a gypsy, that d be offensive and definitely culturally appropriating. If you spange busk steal at least, living up to the Roma lifestyle then you deserve to call yourself a gypsy.
 

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