Gypsy

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Friday, August 24, 2001 1:00 pm -0400 Grant Barrett
<gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG> wrote:

> A bit from Fairfax County, Virginia, about the use of "gypsy" as
> pejorative.
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49297-2001Aug22.html
>
> "Fairfax County police and prosecutors say they do not intend to be
> pejorative by using the term 'gypsy crimes' but are at a loss as to how to
> describe an annual rash of thefts in the county committed by an elusive,
> transient group thought to be from the Romani culture."

The way they get around it in the UK  is to call them "travellers".  Recent
use in the local newspaper:

http://thisisbrightonandhove.co.uk/brighton__hove/archive/2001/08/13/NEWS55
0ZM.html

The term is used generally for itinerant people, but it's often just
understood that what's meant is 'gypsy'.

Lynne


M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320