Monday, June 04, 2012


British TV host  in race row after using the word 'pikey' in magazine column

"Pikey" is a bit hard to translate from British English but it includes ideas of being mean and not living up to your obligations.  It originally applied to Gypsies and other "travellers".  Note, however, that the presenter was applying the description to HIMSELF
Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been embroiled in a race row after he used the word 'pikey' in a magazine column.

An Irish traveller group slammed the 42-year-old television presenter and journalist, saying the word was the equivalent of calling a black person a 'n*****'.

Hammond used the word in his regular column in this month's Top Gear magazine while writing about how much money he had spent on his Land Rover.

He wrote: 'I have, over the 10 years I've owned it, spent way too much money on my Land Rover. I've documented on this page before some of the car's many stages of evolution.

'It's spent time as a blinged-up street cruiser with chrome wheels, blue neon underlighting, straight-through dragster sidepipes and a pumped-up stereo that could damage your pelvis on loud.

'A lot of my little touches have been fun, innocent and pretty harmless. I have fitted chromed accents on the dash and commissioned back seats bearing my daughter's names.

'Yes, I am a pikey, and it is important that my Land Rover reflect that.'

A spokesman for the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain said: 'He has to understand that pikey is the equivalent to the n word.

'You could make a joke with the n word in but if you did it wouldn't be funny. It would be offensive. It is the same with pikey.'

Top Gear magazine's editor Charlie Turner said: 'We're sorry this term has caused offence. That was never the intention.'

Source



9 comments:

Bird of Paradise said...

Liberals need to appoligise for being so irrevelent

Bird of Paradise said...

Annon 2:31 need to quit being such a dweeb

Anonymous said...

anonyass 2:31,
what are you 14 yrs old?

Anonymous said...

I'm so sick of political correctness. In order to not offend a darling group, Kissinger gets groped by the TSA. So lets offend everyone so someone's precious wittle feewings don't get hurt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/henry-kissinger-gets-tsa-pat-down/2012/05/14/gIQAHDgBPU_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost

Political correctness is turning america into a nation of freaking retards.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm really impressed by the dialog on this blog lately. Why do you guys even bother?

Go Away Bird said...

Me to annon 4:04 im tired of all this BCE(BEORE COMMON ERA) and CE(COMMON ERA) and te rest of this PC nonsense

Anonymous said...

Just be very thankful dates are not yet - APM (After Prophet Mohammed) or even worse - APM PBUH.

Kee Bird said...

Annon 2:27 Just be thankfl we won the AMERICAN REVOLUTION or we would have this PC nonsense enforced on us

Anonymous said...

3:33 the political "American Revolution" of the 18th century won't protect you against a 21st century "cultural" infiltration of the same kind that infiltrates Europe and is even going on in America RIGHT NOW - while some blindly just think it goes on somewhere else!