I liked that computer...this one is linux so I can't do any of my facebook stuff T-T

Yes, historically the word Gypsy was negative - I currently portray a Romani female tribal leader, or Rom Bari, at a Washington Ren. Faire. I have to talk about this a lot to patrons.

Gypsy was used a slur against the Romani people (originally from India, who then spread to Eastern Europe and eventually western Europe). In English it means "wanderer", though they used it negatively against the Romani people, who unfortunately used a scapegoat in many countries as they were nomadic people and always outsiders.
Some also say the word (or term) "Gyppt" is derived from that word as well.

I love their culture...I kinda have to spend 3 weekends in the sun dancing and playing with the Kumpania in 95 degree heat. X3 I have to wear a lot of clothing as Romani woman, despite Disney's attempt, dressed very conservatively.

Nowadays, the majority of people don't even know that at one point the word was negative. Now it's attached to fashion trends that are influenced by loose clothing and tribal-fusion influences, dream catchers, incense, and new-age thinking. All of which I also partake in. ^^;

I've heard good things about Linux, but never have used that operating system.

what flavor of Linux? i'm using Ubuntu 14.04, and i can pretty much do anything on it. =)

it's super racist x____x it is equivocal to saying 'nigger' it basically is a hate word to put down an entire people and is generally used by the ignorant (a much less awkward word is 'travelers' that is not a negative word for putting anyone down). you can get seriously hurt if you call the wrong person 'gypsy'

oh, well i see you know what it means and why it has negative connotations, knowing that though i am concerned why you would willingly use it in your title ^^;;;;;

I think Ubuntu 12.04?

Well, it isn't bad, but adobe (flash player) decided awhile back to stop supporting it so....I can't do a lot of things on most websites since I have out-dated flash that I can't update.

I've never met someone - Romani descendant or not - that feels like it's the equivalent of the "n" word, not currently at least. =\

We have to explain to 99% of people the history behind it but everyone calls us Gypsies because no one knows what the Romani are.

Nowadays, the culture is loved and admired (like people like me, I guess).

But if it is that offensive to others then I must change it. I do not wish to cause issues.

I didn't really know that gypsy was offensive, not with all these tv shows saying romani gypsy and other things.

That has been my experience as well. I've never had someone express offense at the word around me - the negative connotation has only ever been discussed in a historical sense.
Though I'm won't discount the possibility of it being offensive to current day people, that would be ignorant and insensitive.

Idk if people find it offensive, but in my area, it's predominantly white with quite a few black people....and maybe a few hispanics and asians? We're not diverse here...there are Indians (from India, just for clarification), they all seem nice to me, though they own businesses.

You shouldn't think that way. If you worry about every little thing you ever say that might offend someone somewhere, you might as well just take a vow of silence.

You haven't done anything racist here and you haven't demonstrated anything that might suggest you have racist beliefs. Quite the opposite: You've demonstrated compassion and interest, having researched the subject extensively, and it's clear that you care about the Romani people and have no intent to cause offense.

As I said, the Romani people themselves often happily label their own enterprises as "gypsy" because the word is part of their culture now. The current-day people you're going to hear be offended by it typically have no ties to Romani culture at all, but think that the word MUST be offensive because of its history, even if the people to whom it applies don't think it's offensive at all.

As a parallel example, the term that eventually became the English word "Christian" was originally used as an epithet to denigrate the early followers of Jesus, but those people too took the term for themselves and made it a part of their culture, and there is no longer any offense inherent in the word.

Meanwhile, if someone is TRYING to be offensive, they can do so without using any "offensive" words whatsoever. If I call you a "Canadian" (you are Canadian, right? If I remembered wrong, you can substitute "American") in the right tone of voice, that innocent word takes on a different meaning.

I agree with Coda especially on that how you say it thing, though many would probably disagree with me .-.

it really depends on where you are at, in the usa i have found people actually revel in that word(usually people who are not romani) but it is still a problem in other places

coda however is NOT an authority on the subject and personally i am quite concerned he'd say that using an offensive word is not offensive if you know /why/ it is offensive >x>;

No I meant the part about the word being used as a word, like Canadian or any other nationality, versus it being used with a tone of voice that makes it clear that you mean it as an insult. Of course, I think it matters more whether the people the word describes thinks it is insulting or not. If they just see it as a description instead of insulting, I see no problem. Like I'm not a gypsy/Romani/etc...so I have no real say on whether it is offensive or not. Now a Romani comes up and say this word is offensive to me, then it is.

Hmmm, I never thought that gypsy would be considered a politically incorrect word. I mean there are movies, musicals, and books that are titled Gypsy.

Ah, "politically incorrect." Therein lies the rub.

It IS politically incorrect, but political correctness has nothing to do with what's actually right or wrong, or what's actually offensive or inoffensive, but rather what people think that OTHER people think might be right/wrong/offensive/inoffensive. It's a level removed from reality.

Classic example: I know PLENTY of black people who find "person of color" to be substantially more offensive than calling them "black." Some of them also find "African-American" to be a little bit offensive (but less so) because they don't consider themselves African at all (some because not all dark-skinned people are from Africa, some because they don't feel a cultural connection to the place their ancestors lived). But right now, "person of color" is considered to be the "politically correct" term because it's what the people who are looking out for things that MIGHT be offensive to someone ELSE think is a safe choice of terminology.

EDIT: And choco, yes, I know I'm not an authority on what's offensive or inoffensive, but neither are you. Yokuutsu has EXACTLY the right way of thinking about it.

Meh, I find political correctness to be annoying.

For example, when I was growing up, we said African American.
And that's the word that I like to use.

Changing it to "person of color" just because a few African Americans are unhappy with it is annoying. "Person of color" is just too vague in my opinion. Because that would include brown, yellow, and all the other colors of the rainbow.

You just can't please everyone I guess. And I am okay with that.

It wasn't even African-Americans who were getting offended by it, in general. The term came up as an attempt to find a "more inclusive" way of referring to non-white people, without saying "non-white" and without getting people confused by saying "ethnic" (which wouldn't even be accurate anyway, because EVERYONE has SOME sort of ethnicity, even if it's "white American").

I just find it really depressing that nobody nowadays remembers the racism that used to get leveled at Irish people. Irish people have a caucasian skin tone! The only remnant in today's world is "gingers have no soul" and that's just a stupid Internet meme that no one takes seriously. It just illustrates how hung up today's "diversity" push is so focused on skin tone that it completely ignores the fact that racism also occurs between groups with the same skin color. In trying to fight discrimination, it ignores most of the discrimination that happens in the world at large.

Yes, I have heard about that. Weren't most Irish indentured servants in the beginning?

One of my guidance counselors in middle school had red hair. And told us that she had been picked on as a child for her hair color. The kids would tease her and call her carrot top.

Many were indentured servants or refugees, yes, but even the ones who weren't had to deal with the stereotype of Irishmen being lazy and fond of drink. (Actually... the Irish stereotype wasn't too terribly different from the modern Mexican laborer stereotype.)

When I think of the Irish, I just think of St.Patrick's Day=celebrations. And I am very fond of celebrations. XD

I also like Irish music. I hear Ireland is really beautiful and I wouldn't mind visiting it one day! Especially seeing the castles!

ok, you two are pretty fucking gross right now. i am not going to post in a thread where my feelings about myself and my heritage are 'annoying' and creeps like YOU try to tell me that i should not be upset just because you think i shouldn't be. i don't like having my person slandered because two ignorant morons think that it is not worth the effort to show even the base amount of respect to others. neither of you are welcome in my thread and both of you can take a long walk off of a short pier. damn racist creeps.

um, yes, but actually that's the point of the term "person of color"...it includes more than just black people, but also other non-white groups living in America, such as Asians, Indians, Native Americans, etc.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if African Americans don't like being called African Americans, then what do they want to be called then?


And no, they cannot take "person of color" because that is for all persons of color, not just African Americans.

it's up to any individual person to decide what they prefer to be called. Plenty of people identify as African American and it's just fine to call them African Americans.

How about a new subject?
https://youtu.be/1iPMazni3FA

Cat Fails!

I think Black would be a better fit. It doesn't have the word African in it that some blacks don't identify with.

that works too.

edit: again, it really depends on the individual. If you call someone black and they say "I prefer African American, please" then you politely apologize and switch to calling them African American.

it really isn't difficult to be politically correct.

Yep, I know what you mean. Usually they say it really nicely since they are so used to correcting people.

Ok. Cat Fails could not change the direction of this thread.

Let's try........

SO GUYS - MY STEPMOTHER IS DYING.

Which doesn't really matter to me very much because she never made any effort to be part of my life.

BUT.

I am worried about my brothers. My dad has 70/30 custody of them with her and they are 15 and 13 now (i'm pretty sure. I am not the best big sister).

I keep trying to talk to them and they are like "i'm fine" and say things like "fr fr" and what not at me. I don't live in the same state anymore and I can't make it home for Christmas. What should I do?

wow, I dunno! o.o

I've never been in such a situation before.

She is dying because she abuses hardcore drugs. She's been in the hospital a few times already but this time her lungs have gotten really bad and she has pneumonia on top of it. My dad is being a drunk, but thats not really new for him, so I tried to ask him how he was doing and he also is like "i'm fine."

So I've decided he's fine.

But I don't believe my brothers and I don't know if I should try to force them to talk about it with me or just say "i'm here if you need somebody to talk to" and otherwise ignore it.

well, I wouldn't force them into anything.

just try to be supportive.

I usually go with the middle one - "here if you need me"

(But I am not you, your brothers, your family, or an expert...so)

*Hugs Glitch*

I think Michael will be fine since he is older and kind of understands why but Jacob is the baby and I don't know if he will be ok.

I would opt for the "here if you need me" thing too. But it's hard since you live out of state.

I haven't lost any of my parents yet so I can't relate to that aspect.
But I have gone through some trauma in my life.

It could be possible that it won't really hit home until she is actually gone.

A co-worker of mine lost his dad due to cancer. He acted fine. He was probably relieved after his dad was sick for so long. But another co-worker said that he may not feel the impact now, but years down the line he would grow to miss his dad.

Well this is because of her meth abuse. She was in the hospital two years ago at the point where her lungs had turned into rocks is what the doctor said. But she managed to pull through and was supposed to be on a transplant list but she couldn't drink while she was waiting and she did anyway. It's all because she inherited several million dollars when her father passed away.

So anyway my one brother is old enough to see her doing all these things she shouldn't be doing and my other brother isn't really old enough to understand what is going on.

I want to go visit them but then I feel like if I make it there they are going to know I am just coming because of that.

Geez, that's rough. :(

I've made friends with a woman who lost her home due to her meth abuse. There have been a couple times when I worry she's succumbed to the addiction and gotten a fix, but she for the most part tries to keep clean. She's taken it upon herself to try to get people to smile, even though she herself lives on the street.

You know there is nothing wrong with visiting them because you are worried about them because their mom is dying.