Meaning of "gypsy"

Question

I'm a spanish girl and i work in a reception of a hotel. Few weeks ago, a customer (english people) tell me that other people (irish people) in the hotel "are gypsy".
I have look for the translation but only there is one term in spanish. Here, there are gypsy people (good and bad), but he told me like a bad thing/bad people.
Can someone tell me if there is another action/behavior that would be qualify as "gypsy"?
Sorry about my english, i don't know if you are going to understanding me!

Thank you!

[moderator: thread title edited to make it more informative]

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Gypsy people are sometimes subjected to racism and prejudice.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

cause Im a gypsy i steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me(shakira)
they

Anonymous · Answer

We non-experts are told to check our books before posting. I just googled and confirmed the fact that in 2012, it is nicer to refer to that group of people as Roma.

Since this is not the "controversial topics" forum, I have to be super careful. You are quite right in believing that Roma have a negative reputation among some people. I believe that a few months ago, a "certain" European nation forced hundreds of Roma to leave the country.

Also, during World War II, many Roma were put into concentration camps.
I know that you do NOT want to hurt other people's feelings, so it might be a good idea NOT to use the G-word. And if someone asks you your opinion of them (good or bad), it might be a good idea to courteously reply that you prefer NOT to discuss the matter. I live in the United States, where there are many groups of people. If someone asks me my opinion about group X, I always decline to answer, preferring to keep my opinion to myself.

Have a nice day!

Anonymous · Answer

unfortunately the English have a bit of a racism blind spot when it comes to travelling peoples.  For many gypsy or gyppo refers to a particularly unsophisticated lower working class person.

Anonymous · Answer

Unfortunately that G people have a lot of racism but it's hard to explain this to that people who don't know G.

Anonymous · Answer

People within England who are known as 'gypsies' are looked at badly. There are many reasons for this, they do not pay taxes but expect all the things people who pay taxes get. They make no effort to get involved in the English community. Many of them are bias towards non gypsies. They take their children out of school at a young age so they receive no full education legally entitled to them, without legal backlash. They treat women as slaves, not allowing them to get jobs or make non gypsy friends but cleaning all day and forced into marriage. This of course is not all Roma people, and their traditions come from way back. But for many English people, they are viewed badly. In past experience, Roma people are more 'racist' towards 'country folk' than we are towards them. There is a lot of bitterness towards them as we would all like to refuse to pay taxes and land rent etc but unfortunately we have to or we go to jail. They get moved on. Plus taxes are needed for police and hospitals.

CMFletcher · Answer

Hi anonymous,

The reasons behind this are cultural. When English people refer to "gypsies" they're referring to people who don't have a home i.e. they travel across the country in caravans and only stay in any one place for a couple of nights/weeks. English people sometime use it to refer to someone's habit of never settling e.g. "you're such a gypsy" or they could use it to refer to a cultural/racial group i.e. the Gypsies. In the English understanding, Gypsies are people of Romany descent (they're also often called Roma or Romanies). However, the Irish also have travelling people - some English people call them gypsies but most call them "travellers". Racially, they're different to gypsies, as a they are NOT of Romany descent. They simply share the same travelling lifestyle. Hope this makes sense.

Meaning of "gypsy"

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