# Brandeis University considers 'picnic' to be oppressive language **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016 "2021-06-25T19:26:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 388
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016/388 "2021-06-30T10:02:09Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > . But it’s not an example of “Political correctness gone MAD”. And furthermore, we generally like to err on the side of caution. It’s not enough to find, say, some Japanese people who don’t mind being called “Japs”; if it’s hurtful to enough people, we switch terms. I think we’ve taken this discussion about as far as it will go but some final thoughts to sum up my position. I never disputed that Roma don’t like to be called gypsies. I said that 1) most of the people in the UK that you might call Gypsies are not Roma. 2) ‘Gypsy’ is how they refer to themselves and how the government refers to them. 3) the word itself is not a slur. The sites you shared made it clear that Roma in America don’t like to be called gypsies, but I already knew that. In other news, Scottish people do not like to be called English. I rolled my eyes at the idea that ‘gypsy’ is a slur. It’s not. It’s the word that gypsies use to refer to themselves. I provided several sources that show that that’s the case. You said it’s better to refer to them all as Roma. It’s not. From DemonTree’s link: > In continental Europe, however, all groups with nomadic histories are categorised as “Roma”, a much broader term that, while it includes Gypsies and Irish Travellers, is not the way in which most British communities would identify themselves. [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/360/full-report.html#content](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/360/full-report.html#content) On the matter of relative numbers, I learned from DemonTree’s report that most of the Roma in the UK are recent immigrants from the EU and arrived in the last 20 years. There were barely any before 2000. I didn’t know that before. I do now. > [@](#): > > The Government acknowledges that this is likely to be an undercount, with estimates of between 100,000 to 300,000 Gypsy/Traveller people and up to 200,000 Roma people living in the UK. Incidentally, most will have to leave soon as barely any have registered for settled status and their status as legal immigrants expires in July. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandeis-university-considers-picnic-to-be-oppressive-language/945016)._