Old-fashioned expression used to describe dangerous people gets British Conservative into trouble
We read:
"A Tory councillor could be charged with committing race crimes after he claimed gypsies would 'stick a knife in you as soon as look at you'. Robert Fraser also appeared to say that Romany gypsies made Irish travellers 'look like complete amateurs' when it came to fighting. The 59-year-old made the controversial remarks at a public meeting to discuss proposals to build a traveller site near a village in his constituency.
Unbeknownst to Cllr Fraser, his speech was filmed and later posted on the internet, where it has been seen by hundreds of viewers. In the video Cllr Fraser is asked by a member of the audience about crime levels. He replied: 'The Romanians - they'll stick a knife in you as soon as look at you. 'There might be some good ones....
He also told the audience: 'By gosh, some of these European ones, they make the Irish look like complete amateurs and I would dread, I would dread, to see them in Groby.' Hundreds of local residents attended the meeting two months ago to discuss the proposed travellers' site near the picturesque village of Groby, Leicestershire.
Now Leicestershire Police are examining the footage to decide whether his comments constitute inciting racial hatred.
Source
"Roma" or "Romani" is the name Gypsies use for themselves. Many but not all live in Romania, where they are a despised minority. Despite claims to the contrary, I think it is clear that the councillor had in mind the Romanian Gypsies rather than Romanians generally. And it is certainly true that the Gypsy lifestyle is heavily dependant on crime, theft in particular.
'Stick a knife in you as soon as look at you' is an old-fashioned way of describing dangerous people rather than being intended literally. And some Gypsy activities -- such as stealing little children -- are undoubtedly dangerous. I would certainly not want one of their encampments anywhere near me.
"Gypsy" is a corruption of "Egyptian" but the Roma in fact appear to have originated in North India. They are generally of swarthy appearance.
4 comments:
While working with the NYPD, i had occasion to work in an area that was heavily populated by gypsies. I have never known them to be violent, except amongst themselves. (family or tribal feuds, etc.) But rest assured, they are born thieves and are well-known for this the world over! They are taught from a very early age to steal anything, and everything. They are also taught how to con people out of their valuables. In fact, in most tribes, those members who refuse to steal can receive "severe" physical punishment, and can sometimes be banished from whatever part of the country they're in. They literally live to steal, and have no interst in anything else.
There was a series on the F/X channel about gypsies, Irish travelers to be exact. The family specialized in all kinds of cons, identity theft, stealing, credit card theft, etc. They are hated in Europe to the extreme, one eastern European told me that Hitler didn't kill enough of them.
So I don't know what to believe.
"The so-called Irish Travelers are a totally different kind of people, and they are violent!"
---You're right, now I remember that the Irish Travelers don't put on shows or do fortune telling.
Actually, Gypsy is not shortened version of Egyptian, but comes from what they call themselves. Szgany (sometimes also spelled as Tzigane or tzigany), pronounced as SIGANY which when said properly and quickly sounds almost like gypsy.
adjective 1. (often lowercase) of, consisting of, or pertaining to Gypsies: Tzigane music.
–noun 2. a Gypsy, esp. a Hungarian one.
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Origin:
1880–85; < F tzigane, prob. < Hungarian cigány, akin to G Zigeuner, Romanian ţigan, Serbo-Croatian cı̏ganin, Bulg tsíganin, all ult. < MGk (a)tsínganos, earlier athínganos member of a heretical sect of Phrygia, perh. lit., “untouchable, inviolable” (Gk a- a- 6 + -thinganos, deriv. of thingánein to touch)
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