Gypsies

Somehow, we have a population of gypsies in the area I'm from. They form a part of the weird pastiche of European-based ethnicities in the Western MD/Eastern WV/Southwestern PA region, along with Mennonites and Amish, among others.

Apparently the next episode of TLC's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding will feature a fight on the steps between the bridesmaid and the bride of a West Virginian gypsy wedding. I'm so proud.

In addition, I might not even be here if it weren't for gypsies, according to family lore. My Italian dad's maternal grandparents were planning on just staying in the US for a short period of time while they save up some money. However, a gypsy fortune teller told my great-grandmother that she will die over water, and thus to avert death my great-grandparents never went to Italy again, but instead established their family here in the US. (Incidentally, my great-grandmother did die "over water"--namely, a water-filled steam heat radiator.)

I know a couple of other incidents that have established their reputation in the area. For instance, in an area Catholic funeral home, they had a rather unusual gypsy wake that apparently included a lot of cooked chicken and alcohol. The room was absolutely trashed afterwards. Also, I know that there have been gypsies crime and fraud scares, one of which had gypsies going to door-to-door (I don't remember the details, nor do I remember if any of them were real).

Anyone else here know about weird gypsy incidents in their area or anything similar?

The whole gypsy (or, to use their preferred term, travellers) thing is pretty big in the UK right now (you can thank us for the "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding format, it's one of the most popular shows on TV here).

Along with the TV show there are regular "outrage" stories in the press, usually where a big deal is made over very little, simply because gypsies were involved. The biggest incident being the Dale Fam debaccle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm

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Originally Posted by simonj

The whole gypsy (or, to use their preferred term, travellers) thing is pretty big in the UK right now (you can thank us for the "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding format, it's one of the most popular shows on TV here).

Along with the TV show there are regular "outrage" stories in the press, usually where a big deal is made over very little, simply because gypsies were involved. The biggest incident being the Dale Fam debaccle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm

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Interesting. Yeah, there's a bigger and more established "traveler" culture in the UK. In the US, the population is so low-profile that "gypsy" isn't really a slur here. It evokes more a romantic image of some mythical itinerant, free-roaming lifestyle and people endowed with mysterious, mystical powers. That's at least for the majority of Americans.

And it figures that we the idea from the UK.

I'm just surprised with some of the shit that mainland Europe gets away with in how it treats its Roma population. I mean FUCKING FRANCE engaged in ethnic cleansing in 2010??? (By the by: "ethnic cleansing" means merely to do away with an ethnicity from a particular area, which in this case was accomplished with exile.) What he HELL century IS this?

They're a nuisance. And, more importantly, they don't really pay taxes. So they have to go. At least, that's how most people view it. People tend to take a detached view of groups of people they don't understand. Even in this day and age.

Besides it's not like they're people or have souls or anything.

I mean the French BTW

Apparently this other episode being re-broadcast features people from my hometown proper. It makes it seem like we're all a bunch of low-life hicks.

That's not all of us... just many of us, including some of my relatives (of which I'm perversely proud, since no one would expect it).

Oh and by the by, apparently the gypsies from around here did come originally from England some time in the 19th century, not directly from central Europe.

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Originally Posted by simonj

They're a nuisance. And, more importantly, they don't really pay taxes. So they have to go. At least, that's how most people view it. People tend to take a detached view of groups of people they don't understand. Even in this day and age.

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Unfortunately, some of the stereotypes are true of many gypsies. I mean certainly a lot of gypsies in the east coast of the US are anything but models of sobriety, restraint, or aspiring to professional or avocational goals.

But I'd still expect industrialized, liberal nations to not engage in ethnic cleansing.

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Originally Posted by Hippocrass

I mean the French BTW

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Well... yes, this is true.

i have alot of muslims around here

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Originally Posted by Infernus

i have alot of muslims around here

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tbqh there's an awful lotta honkies around me atm.

I haven't really heard of any gypsy bands since I was a kid.

when i was a little boy in romania i had been separated from my parents at the train depot for over a week because of gypsies abducting me. it turned out alright and turns out they just thought i was a lost soul who needed help.