# What is that Spanish Minority Group? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550 "2018-05-21T10:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/1 "2018-05-21T10:47:15Z")
Hey, Nava (or anyone else), I forgot the name of that oppressed group in Spain and France. Famously, they speak the local language, practice the local religion and are loyal to the local governments. Despite this, they have been discriminated against for centuries, just for being part of this group. They were liberated (or whatever) by the French Revolution and decrees by various Popes. The group still exists. There is a Wikipedia page on them and everything. I read it and then I forgot the name of the group. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/2 "2018-05-21T10:51:21Z")
The Cagots? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/3 "2018-05-21T10:59:30Z")
Yep, you got it in one. My memory was hung up on Cathars. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/4 "2018-05-21T13:54:57Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/5 "2018-05-21T15:29:47Z")
Woah Interesting in all sort of weird ways. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/6 "2018-05-21T16:52:48Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Yep, you got it in one. My memory was hung up on Cathars. Which are, of course, [a completely different minority group](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cathar_(species)). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/7 "2018-05-21T19:31:39Z")
Weird, they were discriminated against because they simply belonged to a certain family line? If you spoke the same language, acted according to the same customs and practiced the same religion as your neighbours, but your great-great-great grandfather was a Cagot, that was you scundered? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/8 "2018-05-21T19:36:43Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Weird, they were discriminated against because they simply belonged to a certain family line? > > If you spoke the same language, acted according to the same customs and practiced the same religion as your neighbours, but your great-great-great grandfather was a Cagot, that was you scundered? Hatfields and McCoys. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/9 "2018-05-21T19:48:34Z")
Interesting, I hadn’t heard of the Cagots before. From the description my mind immediately went to the Basque. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/10 "2018-05-21T20:06:40Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Interesting, I hadn’t heard of the Cagots before. From the description my mind immediately went to the Basque. Some similarities, but the OP says “they speak the local language.” Also that they were “loyal to the local governments,” while especially the Spanish Basques had a significant independence movement. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/11 "2018-05-21T22:23:25Z")
I have never heard of this before. Fascinating and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/12 "2018-05-22T00:05:32Z")
It was like “By god we need someone to discriminate and we are going to discriminate no matter what” ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/13 "2018-05-22T00:39:22Z")
And from there we get “categories” and “canards”. Something new for today. Perhaps Nava has some more insight? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/14 "2018-05-22T01:53:05Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > It was like “By god we need someone to discriminate and we are going to discriminate no matter what” Absolutely 100%. People in poor conditions feel much better when there is a class of people considered worse than them. It doesn’t matter if the reason they are considered worse makes any sense or not - so long as the entire community agrees that they should be discriminated against. The fact that there is no obvious way to group them other than the fact that they are the ones discriminated against isn’t all that hard to explain - it’s the same as the caste system in India I’d say. People knew who belonged to which “caste”, and you couldn’t marry outside of it, and were restricted by profession, so it was easy to keep track of down the generations. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/15 "2018-05-22T16:04:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Weird, they were discriminated against because they simply belonged to a certain family line? > > If you spoke the same language, acted according to the same customs and practiced the same religion as your neighbours, but your great-great-great grandfather was a Cagot, that was you scundered? Something similar (and similarly depressing) is the situation of the Burakurim in Japan > **[Burakumin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin)** > > Burakumin (部落民, 'hamlet/village people') is a term for ethnic Japanese people who are believed to be descended from members of the pre-Meiji feudal class which were associated with kegare (穢れ, 'defilement'), such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. The term encompasses both the historical eta and hinin outcasts. > During Japan's feudal era, these occupations acquired a hereditary status of oppression, and became an unofficial class of the Tokugawa class s... Except that the discrimination is still going on ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/16 "2018-05-22T18:09:41Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > And from there we get “categories” and “canards”. > > Something new for today. Perhaps Nava has some more insight? Re: canard. No one knows the origin for sure. > **[The Origin of the Word Canard](http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/origin_of_canard)** > > 'Canard' is the French word for duck, but in both French and English it can also mean a false or absurd story. According to one theory, the word acquired this meaning on account of a 19th Century experiment involving cannibalistic ducks. But is this... ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-spanish-minority-group/814550/17 "2018-05-22T20:43:50Z")
Would love to see what DNA testing would show for them. Perhaps the living people are little better mixed, but presumably centuries ago the dead were buried separately from the bigots so maybe some telling DNA there. Maybe they are genetically the same as their neighbors as well.