I wonder if there are any Rroma (also known as Gypsies, Tsigani) on the SDMB.
WRS
There was a Roma member here named Kel. At least I think that was his user name. I haven’t seen any posts of his lately, though.
I do remember that he found the term “Gypsie” to be quite offensive.
Kel of the latex division?
What I find most interesting is that it seems that the Rroma originated from South Asia, and so are somewhat related to my ancestors. I don’t think I have any Rroma ancestry, but Rroma share an ancestry that involves areas where my ancestors are from.
So, whereas I am not Rroma, I feel for them. And I deplore the discrimination and oppresion they go through.
WRS
If that’s the one, then I am afraid it would be difficult to hear from him, what with him being banned.
WRS
Well, there’s a funny smell in my office, but I think someone just took their shoes off.
If it’s Kal, he’s still around. Hope he stops by!
WRS
Yeah, that’s him! Not the un-lamented latex dude.
Think he just posted on another thread - maybe we should invite him over ?
I think the Asian origins of the Roma are sufficiently far back (around 1000 years I think) that they are as closely related to modern Indians as they are to Iranians, Irish and… um… Incas. (Maybe not the last one.) Anyway, they’re just people, like us. People who need people. You don’t have to go back many generations to discover that we’re all related to each other.
Kalidrom of NADS is a Roma, I think.
My grandfather on my fathers side was, supposedly, though he’s been dead for 50ish years and I get the impression that it was somewhat scandelous back in the more racially consious 1930’s and 40’s, so it apparently wasn’t talked about much before he died.
In keeping with stereotypes about gypsies and the law though, I do know his family ran a speakeasy in NY before the war 
It’s also somewhat confusing in that I think the name gypsy was stuck on both Roma as well as other family groups that were transients but weren’t ethnically related to the Roma, so I don’t know if the “grandpa was a gypsy” stories mean that he was Roma or that his family just traveled around the US for a few generations.
Doesn’t the whole issue of whether or not somebody is offended by a term depend on them self-identifying as the possibly offending term?
In other words, do Rroma self-identify as Gypsies?
I find it hard to be truly offended by many slurs. Take “gook” for example. It’s an ugly sounding word and I would think poorly of a person who used it, but I don’t think that I would be the offended party. I can understand how a person of East Asian birth or descent would be offended.
I guess I’ve spent too much time listening to Cher’s song from the 70’s.
When they say that the Rroma may have originated from Northwest India, do they mean the northwest of current-day India (Rajasthan, Panjab, Kashmir) or the northwest of the Indian subcontinent (i.e., South Asia) (Afghanistan, Pakhtunkhwa)?
WRS
Does Rroma = Traveller?
In the UK the term “Traveller” is now the accepted way of describing communities that would have been called “gypsies / gipsies” previously.
Tabloid newspapers still use gipsy when they want to stir up trouble, but it’s got to the point where “traveller” itself has become a term of abuse.
Funny thing is, “gook” is derived from a perfectly harmless word in Korean - the Korean word for “person/nationality” - the Koreans refer to themselves as “Han-guk” and to Americans as “Me-guk”.
They are different groups that live similar life styles,
Question. This is the first time I’ve seen the Rroma spelling of Roma. What’s the deal?
It’s two R’s now?
In a nutshell, it seems “roma” more often refers to Rome, Italy (or Tony Roma’s Ribs), while “rroma” appears to be the self-identifying spelling of the people themsleves. I say “self-identifying” because I can’t find a cite on dictionary sites (or the OED) for “rroma”. I poked around a bit on the Rroma site, but couldn’t find any explanation of the double r; maybe it’s the correct spelling as per the original language, and the single R is simply an uncorrected anglicization. (Or maybe someone with more knowledge than I will be able to answer more thoroughly. 
)