# Is the term "gypsy" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-gypsy-offensive/394092 "2007-02-28T22:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-gypsy-offensive/394092/7 "2007-03-01T00:45:29Z")
As it happens, I have co-written a staff report about Gypsies. It’ll be a while before it hits the website though. Here is the reference section: Belton, Brian, _Questioning Gypsy Identity: Ethnic Narratives in Britain and America_ (2005) Blurred history of Gypsy terms, BBC News, March 21, 2005: [BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Blurred history of Gypsy terms](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4368791.stm) Borrow, George, Word-Book of the Romany, or English Gypsy Language, [globusz.com](http://globusz.com), 2003: [Globusz - Libros y más libros](http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Romano/00000001.htm) Clark, Frank, The Never-ending Road American Roma (Gypsy ), Travellers, & “Others,” 2005: [American Roma (Gypsies) and Travellers (North and South America)](http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/index.html) Crystal, Ellie, Roma People - Gypsies, [crystalinks.com](http://crystalinks.com): [Romani People - Gypsies - Crystalinks](http://www.crystalinks.com/romapeople.html) Dellal, Jasmine, “American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody’s Land” (2000): [http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/americangypsy/index.html](http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/americangypsy/index.html) Dragonmir, Marius, Europe’s Beggars, Romania’s Roma, Central Europe Review, November 27, 2000: [http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/dragomir41.html](http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/dragomir41.html) Duna, William, Gypsies: A Persecuted Race, 1985: [http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Histories\_\_Narratives\_\_Documen/Roma\_\_\_Sinti\_\_Gypsies\_/Gypsies\_\_A\_Persecuted\_Race/gypsies\_\_a\_persecuted\_race.html](http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Histories __Narratives__ Documen/Roma ___Sinti__ Gypsies_/Gypsies __A_Persecuted_Race/gypsies__ a_persecuted_race.html) Fonseca, Isabel , _Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey_ (1996) Gardi, Balazs, The Roma People, The Digital Journalist, November 2006: [The Roma People by Balazs Gardi - The Digital Journalist (November 2006)](http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0611/dis_gardi.html) Garofoli, Joe, "Crystal-ball crackdown – New S.F. Fortune-teller Law: City Takes Gypsies’ Sensitivities into Account, San Francisco Chronicle, July 17, 2003: [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/17/MN240405.DTL](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/17/MN240405.DTL) Gatlif, Tony, _Latcho Drom_ (1993) Godwin, Peter, “Gypsies: The Outsiders,” _National Geographic_, April 2001 Gray, Russell & Atkinson, Quentin, “Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin,” Nature, November 2003: [http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/Psych/research/Evolution/Gray&Atkinson2003.pdf](http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/Psych/research/Evolution/Gray&Atkinson2003.pdf) “Gypsies” in the United States, Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies: [http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/gyp/gypstart.html](http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/gyp/gypstart.html) Hancock, Ian, _The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and Persecution_ (1999) Hancock, Ian, Roma, The Handbook of Texas Online, 2001: [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/pxrfh.html](http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/pxrfh.html) Hancock, Ian, _We Are the Romani People_ (2002) Mattras, Yaron, ed., History of the Romani Language, University of Manchester Romani Project: [http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/files/11\_origins.shtml](http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/files/11_origins.shtml) Lockwood, William & Salo, Sheila, Gypsy and Traveler Groups in North America, The Gypsy Lore Society, July 1, 2005: [http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html](http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html) McClure, Erica, “Ethnoanatomy in a Multilingual Community: An Analysis of Semantic Change,” _American Ethnologist_, (August 1976) 525-542. Nahabedian, Matilda, All Ethnic Problems Solved?, Central Europe Review, November 27, 2000: [http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/nahabedian41.html](http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/nahabedian41.html) Nemeth, David, “DX: Gypsies (Romanies) and Travelers” (online version of exhibit at Carlson Library, The University of Toledo) Summer, 2005: [Welcome to the University of Toledo Libraries](http://library.utoledo.edu/inf/exhibit/gypsy/beginning.htm) Nemeth, David, _The Gypsy-American: An Ethnogeographic Study_ (2002) Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, Religion and Culture of the Roma, 1998-2005: [http://www.religioustolerance.org/roma.htm](http://www.religioustolerance.org/roma.htm) Pancevski, Bojan, “Villagers to sue ‘Borat’ Romanians angry over their portrayal vow legal action today. Fox disputes accusations,” [latimes.com](http://latimes.com), November 20, 2006: [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-borat20nov20,0](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-borat20nov20,0), 1256926.story?coll=la-home-headlines Partos, Gabriel, Nations unite to help Roma people, BBC News, February 2, 2005: [BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Nations unite to help Roma people](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4228681.stm) The Patrin Web Journal: Romani Culture and History, 1996-2002: [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://www.geocities.com/~patrin/) Reinhardt, Claudia & Ganzel, Bill, Gypsies in North America During the Great Depression, Wessels Living History Farm: [http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life\_33.html](http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_33.html) Roma (Gypsy) Origins & History, [Romani.org](http://Romani.org), 1998: [http://www.romani.org/local/romhist.html](http://www.romani.org/local/romhist.html) Roma (people), Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006: [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia\_761568856/Roma\_(people).html](http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568856/Roma_(people).html) [RomaniWorld.com](http://RomaniWorld.com): [http://www.romaniworld.com/](http://www.romaniworld.com/) RomNews Network Community: [http://romnews.com/community/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web\_Links&file=index&req=MostPopular](http://romnews.com/community/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&req=MostPopular) Schneider, Howard & Spolar, Christine, “Czech Prejudice — and TV — Fuel Gypsy Migration to Canada,” Washington Post, September 1, 1997: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/americas/sep/03/gypsies.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/americas/sep/03/gypsies.htm) Smith, Fergus, Romany Language, 1998: [http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/index.html](http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/index.html) Sutherland, Anne, _Gypsies: The Hidden Americans_ (1975) Tong, Diane, ed., _Gypsies: An Interdisciplinary Reader_ (1998) Van Horn, Carol, “Census 2000 Informational Memorandum No. 3,” [Census.gov](http://Census.gov), January 20, 1999: [http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/InfoMem.pdf](http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/InfoMem.pdf) Weyerauch, Walter, ed., _Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture_ (2001) Yoors, Jan, _The Gypsies_ (1967) Yoors, Jan, _The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies_ (2004) --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-gypsy-offensive/394092)._