# Is "gyp" a derogatory word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502 "2012-05-10T15:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/61 "2012-05-14T23:15:28Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > How do you feel about the terms “philistine” and “barbarian” (both of which have been applied to specific ethnicities in the past)? Well, I am genetically barbarian on both sides, Welsh, Manx, Scotts, a soupcon of English, a tad of French and a hefty dollop of German [in the form of Amish] but you can feel free to call me a barbarian if you like. And to be perfectly blunt, you can find someone who is amazingly insulted at being hung with a brand new rope. Words do have the power to hurt, but at the end of it all, they are just words. If you spend all your time trying to be politically correct, you will never get to function. I doubt more than 25% of USians actually know where ‘gyp’ came from. Hell, my grandfather had a motor launch for his sailboat named Little Gyp [the sailboat itself was the Sea Gypsy, it made sense to name the launch Little Gypsy shortened to Little Gyp.] I rarely get upset at what people call me, I know _myself_ and am happy with myself. Call me any derogatory term you like, if it isn’t true it has no power. I self identify as a fat old cripple. Can’t get much more derogatory than that, other than to call me a fat cunt. You call me that to my face, I would inform you that you forgot ‘old’. ---
**Author:** ![elleha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@elleha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elleha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/62 "2012-10-11T19:54:11Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Well, I am genetically barbarian on both sides, Welsh, Manx, Scotts, a soupcon of English, a tad of French and a hefty dollop of German [in the form of Amish] but you can feel free to call me a barbarian if you like. > > And to be perfectly blunt, you can find someone who is amazingly insulted at being hung with a brand new rope. Words do have the power to hurt, but at the end of it all, they are just words. If you spend all your time trying to be politically correct, you will never get to function. I doubt more than 25% of USians actually know where ‘gyp’ came from. Hell, my grandfather had a motor launch for his sailboat named Little Gyp [the sailboat itself was the Sea Gypsy, it made sense to name the launch Little Gypsy shortened to Little Gyp.] > > I rarely get upset at what people call me, I know _myself_ and am happy with myself. Call me any derogatory term you like, if it isn’t true it has no power. I self identify as a fat old cripple. Can’t get much more derogatory than that, other than to call me a fat cunt. You call me that to my face, I would inform you that you forgot ‘old’. So you’re an American, then? One of my biggest bug-bears is when people believe that they can be part English or Welsh. From the list you gave, you can’t even tell whether you’re black, white or _gasp_ a traveller. What you gave is a list of countries that your family members have at one time lived in, something which isn’t actually genetically determined, unless you grew a limb from the earth in each of those lands… You’re (presumably) caucasian. You’re your nationality (the country/countries in which you hold nationality). You can’t be part English or Welsh, and certainly not ‘genetically’, as you said. That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand why people, particularly those from the US, can be patriotic as you like one minute (I’m all-American, they say as one!) but still insist on segregating themselves and announcing their individuality by dissecting their family history into such tiny peices that it doesn’t make sense anymore. It just doesn’t make sense! Nationality =/= ethnic origin. I joined this forum specifically to reply to this post - sad, I know. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/63 "2012-10-11T20:31:39Z")
I’ve been told by at least one person that “gyp” is derogatory toward gypsies. That’s enough for me to stop using it since I have lots and lots of other words that I can use. Of course, if my vocabulary was so small I don’t have anything to replace “gyp” with then I would have to keep using it and I would be indignant that everyone was trying to suppress my abilty to express myself. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/64 "2012-10-11T21:28:05Z")
I voted Other because my grandparents came from Hungary and they (and their children) absolutely considered it to be an ethnic slur. However, among the next generation (me, my siblings and our cousins) the word has absolutely no ethnic connotations to any of us. Not that any of us would use it around the Romani, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/65 "2012-10-11T21:46:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Apparently, in this particular context ‘giving me gyp’ is a contraction of ‘gee up’ as in horse whip ([cite](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gyp)), so not actually offensive in origin, but highly likely to be misunderstood as such. I know around the track it used to be a negative term because trainers who gyped their horses were considered of a lower class who were too cheap to pay exercise riders. Of course, gyping was exercising a horse on a lunge line and today the lunge line is king in some parts of the horse industry while the track trainers happily clip their horses onto a metal exercise device and still run them in mindless circles. > [@Doug\_K](#): > > “In North America, the word gypsy is commonly used as a reference to lifestyle or fashion, and not to the Romani ethnicity.” This is what I’m used to. I grew up in a location that Travelers frequented on a yearly basis. They were “gypsies”, 'travelers" or “Irish travelers”. I was a kid, but the adults all spoke about them in hushed tones and implied that they were not to be trusted. To me they looked like a fun group and I always envied their lifestyle. > [@elleha](#): > > I don’t understand why people, particularly those from the US, can be patriotic as you like one minute (I’m all-American, they say as one!) but still insist on segregating themselves and announcing their individuality by dissecting their family history into such tiny peices that it doesn’t make sense anymore. It just doesn’t make sense! Nationality =/= ethnic origin. I think it is a cultural hold over from the early days when all those in the US were first or second generation US citizens. Ethnicity and country of origin are a curiosity and give a sense of identity. Talking about them allows a bit of a sense of ‘travel’ without the actual travel. Over the years, I think identifying our ethnicity just stuck. We have many ethnicity based groups who hold annual festivals (e.g. Irish, Greek, Polish, etc). The festivals focus on the foods, dance and other things from that culture and are open to everyone to enjoy and learn. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/66 "2012-10-12T02:22:35Z")
> [@elleha](#): > > You can’t be part English or Welsh, nd certainly not ‘genetically’, as you said. That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand why people, particularly those from the US, can be patriotic as you like one minute (I’m all-American, they say as one!) but still insist on segregating themselves and announcing their individuality by dissecting their family history into such tiny peices that it doesn’t make sense anymore. It just doesn’t make sense! Nationality =/= ethnic origin. Actually, I don’t understand your little rant; it doesn’t make any sense. I’m astonished that you would say something like this. :eek: You just ran down what it means to be American. Our various ancestral ethnicities and our American identity are bound together inextricably, and all of that together is what makes us American. I’m not even sure what your point is. You totally came out of left field with that. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/67 "2012-10-12T03:50:44Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > - “Mildly” [derogatory] in the way that “Indian” for “Native American” is mildly derogatory or offensive. The Native Americans I know commonly refer to themselves as “Indians.” And the African-Americans I work with call themselves “black.” Should I chide them for being racially insensitive? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/68 "2012-10-12T06:09:46Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > And to be perfectly blunt, you can find someone who is amazingly insulted at being hung with a brand new rope. Words do have the power to hurt, but at the end of it all, they are just words. If you spend all your time trying to be politically correct, you will never get to function. I doubt more than 25% of USians actually know where ‘gyp’ came from. Hell, my grandfather had a motor launch for his sailboat named Little Gyp [the sailboat itself was the Sea Gypsy, it made sense to name the launch Little Gypsy shortened to Little Gyp.] I’d say calling some one a “gyp” is derogatory, as in using it to refer to any random gypsy, or using it as a verb. However, if you’re talking about your boat, I don’t see the problem there, since it’s a nickname. One of my cats is named [Gypsy](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/gypsyinmyroom3.jpg) (after a character on _MST3K_), and I often call her “Gip” or “Gippy”. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/69 "2012-10-12T12:13:04Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The Native Americans I know commonly refer to themselves as “Indians.” And the African-Americans I work with call themselves “black.” > > Should I chide them for being racially insensitive? Yes, absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502/70 "2012-10-12T20:36:32Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > “Derogatory” = the speaker or writer used it as an intentional put-down > “Offensive” = the listener or recipient of the word takes offense > > Usually but not always the same. > > So yes, I’ve heard and used the term many times in my life; no, I didn’t mean it in a derogatory fashion (not realizing its origin); no, I don’t use it any more if I can help it; and since I’ve never knowingly spoken to a gypsy, nobody could have taken offense at it directly (only indirectly, as someone who isn’t a gypsy saying “You can’t use that word, it means gypsy and that you think they’re cheating scum!” - not that that’s how I learned about it, either). > > No harm, no foul. > > Do Serbians, Poles, Russians, etc., take offense at the English word “slave”, which derives from Slav? Or how about the Welsh, who can not only take offense at the verb “to welsh (or welch)” meaning to renege on a bet, but also from the very term coming from a Saxon word meaning “foreigner” at best and “slave” or “captive” at worst (it’s not at all close to the actual Welsh term for Wales or the Welsh people)? How do the Irish feel about paddy wagon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gyp-a-derogatory-word/621502.md?page=3)