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

[BusGypsy]

eh everybody has got their feelings about their opinions

this is why i try to totally avoid labels, they're more trouble than they are worth

punk, hippy, nerd....fuck it all

well put. And not nosing into other people's lives or identities. That's just wrong and rude and I really thought this community knew better.

 

[roughdraft]

there is no 'this community', everyone here is an individual.

 

[BusGypsy]

there is no 'this community', everyone here is an individual.

fair nuff. well put. Guess I meant "this forum".

 

[roughdraft]

respectfully, that'd be splitting hairs. a forum is comprised of individuals same as a community.

so my desire for disidentification from labels, or chose to not bond myself to a label, could be taken on by someone else - "you HAVE to identify as something...of course you are a <this>..of course you identify as <this>..." Same way someone may challenge any label. But i would strive to not get bent out of shape over someone trying to get me to identify as....a world traveler....a patriotic ametican....a marylander....proud...heteronormative...British ancestry...hippy....or anything at all. i just want people to voice their opinions and let me voice mine, but when anyone gets in their feelings it all gets fucked

Anyway, I agree presenting oneself as a gypsy is a very bad look because you seem to be glorifying bullshit. its a 'red flag' that they're sketch or fake. I personally think people here are trying to look out in a kind way and offering their opinions, that it can make a bad impression. I don't see it as a choking out your individuality type of comment, rather as a way of encouraging one to not put themselves in a box, especially when many people - all of whom you can't control their opinions or perspectives - will take the gypsy title as a bad look. just my .02

at the end of the day what do any of us have to lose by disidentifying from a label?

 

[BusGypsy]

Anyway, I agree presenting oneself as a gypsy is a very bad look because you seem to be glorifying bullshit.

wow you still don't know who I am and you dare assume to know my motivations. I'm respectfully peacing out of this internet lynching, talk about bad taste. Hope everyone got their fill of internet badass points.

 

[marmar]

? not at all. I invite you to point out where I've done that.
I never tell anyone what they can and can't call themselves.
This thread was created to dictate what people may and may not call themselves.
I call bullshit.

If you bought a land and started living of it would you call yourself an Amish? Or buy a sail boat amd call yourself a Viking. No one tells you you can't but that'd surely be weird af.
As i I said before, if a person know the history of the word and are honest with themself when calling themselves it, that's their own business. Otherwise they just make themself a joke.

 

[Deleted member 125]

@BusGypsy not getting 100% of people agreeing with you is not always a bad thing. Maybe instead of defending yerself you could try to learn from the things people have told you about the term you seem so proud of going by without understanding why yer getting so much shit for it.

 

[roughdraft]

noone is assuming anything, just trying to communicate. if and when you're willing, it'll be cool to exchange opinions again. peace

 

[Willis]

to me it justs seems like someone getting swept up by some sort of slightly misplaced oldtimey nostalgia about the word 'gypsy'.

and for the record i was just being all british at you dawg. feel my teacups bro. annoying people is my culture.

 

[Oddy]

@BusGypsy hey so I live in a van in england, like my parents before me, but I'm NOT a gypsy. If you came and spent a single day with Romani gypsy folk here in the UK/Ireland you would get what the difference is. If you haven't then probably don't insist you are part of it. It's a very complex topic and your claims are pretty much the same as if I said I sit around campfires and wear feathers in my hair, therefore I'm native American....

 

[Oddy]

You can "stupid" react to as many responses as you like, but at least do some god damn research first. https://www.livescience.com/64171-roma-culture.html

 

[Deleted member 24029]

This reminds me of one night I ran into a Romi guy outside a pub, and we commiserated over how his people and mine (Jews) were both kicked out of Poland....

 

[BusGypsy]

@BusGypsy not getting 100% of people agreeing with you is not always a bad thing. Maybe instead of defending yerself you could try to learn from the things people have told you about the term you seem so proud of going by without understanding why yer getting so much shit for it.

I understand exactly why people are giving me shit. That's the thing. I get it, but people here seem to think they know me, or maybe they require a DNA test. And so far, @SlankyLanky , @Matt Derrick and @Prophetess333 have been the only civil people here.

I give into peer pressure, into the communities need for me to conform, and I'm changing my user name. @schwillam, great job, you got your way, you bullied me into it.
To be clear, I'm not doing this because you're right or I agree. I simply want to continue to be a member of this forum and what Matt has created and I'm willing to censor myself in this instance for it. Props to all the internet tough guys here. Hope you're all thrilled, your public mob mentality succeeded.

 

[Oddy]

I understand exactly why people are giving me shit. That's the thing. I get it, but people here seem to think they know me, or maybe they require a DNA test. And so far, @SlankyLanky , @Matt Derrick and @Prophetess333 have been the only civil people here.

I give into peer pressure, into the communities need for me to conform, and I'm changing my user name. @schwillam, great job, you got your way, you bullied me into it.
To be clear, I'm not doing this because you're right or I agree. I simply want to continue to be a member of this forum and what Matt has created and I'm willing to censor myself in this instance for it. Props to all the internet tough guys here. Hope you're all thrilled, your public mob mentality succeeded.

Hardly mob mentality, people just told you gypsy is a slur, not a pretty word for traveller and you don't like it... If you're actually Romani then you wouldn't be so upset about that.

 

[BusGypsy]

Hardly mob mentality, people just told you gypsy is a slur, not a pretty word for traveller and you don't like it... If you're actually Romani then you wouldn't be so upset about that.

It's not a a slur. And none of you know my ethnicity though you all insist you must.
But who cares? Go give yourself a pat on the back. I hope you're really thrilled. You're so edgy and woke.

 

[Matt Derrick]

okay folks, i think everyone just needs to calm down... @BusVagrant you can keep your name and just ignore everyone if you want. i mean, that IS an option. none of us are going to force you to change it, especially since 'gypsy' is a term that is so on the fence here in the states... I think there's a lot of other things more worth worrying about.

 

[iamwhatiam]

Fucking SEMANTICS! You know how many kids on the road I've come across that have identified as fucking pirates?!?? Most of em have never even set foot on a goddamn boat let alone stumbled drunkenly down a fucking dock drunk off grog with a hooker in arm, but you know what?.....you understand the meaning behind where they are coming from....you just grin and say "ARGGGH Matey! Pass the Bilgwater Ye Filthy Sea-Rat!!!". You don't sit there and be a wet blanket and lecture them about how they are appropriating pirate culture because they have never looted ships for their gold and women. I will forever affectionately remember you as BusGypsy @BusVagrant

 

[BusGypsy]

Fucking SEMANTICS! You know how many kids on the road I've come across that have identified as fucking pirates?!?? Most of em have never even set foot on a goddamn boat let alone stumbled drunkenly down a fucking dock drunk off grog with a hooker in arm, but you know what?.....you understand the meaning behind where they are coming from....you just grin and say "ARGGGH Matey! Pass the Bilgwater Ye Filthy Sea-Rat!!!". You don't sit there and be a wet blanket and lecture them about how they are appropriating pirate culture because they have never looted ships for their gold and women. I will forever affectionately remember you as BusGypsy @BusVagrant

Wow dude, thanks. You made my morning. I'm so glad you get it. Your metaphor is spot on.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i think it's worth pointing out that words CAN and DO in fact change meaning as time goes on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F_Word_(South_Park)

and words can be reclaimed to not be slurs. so, food for thought.

 

[roguetrader]

@AlienMoose - in actual fact the term Romany Gypsy DOES refer to a distinct ethnic group / race which originated in Northern India over 1000 years ago.... like a lot of words many people use it incorrectly.. you are right in saying that the term is a derivative of 'Egyptian' - it was used by English people when they first encountered the darker skinned Roma... I agree that nowadays 'gypsy' has many more connotations than just race - music / clothing / lifestyle etc - much like the word 'traveller' - but it's correct meaning is very clear...

(I know what I'm talking about - I'm a 'New Traveller' myself and have known Romanies and Irish Travellers all my life)

P.S in England at least gypsy is not a slur - I used to visit Gordon Boswell a very well respected and proud Romani - he used the word to refer to himself and others regularly in conversation....