Travellers use various terms for non-travellers, with common ones including "Gorger" (from Romani for non-Romani), "Flattie", "Buffer", "Settled person", or even culturally specific terms like "Kaaje" (in Finnish Romani) or less polite slang like "Pikey" (UK), depending on the specific group (Irish Travellers, Romany, etc.) and context, often distinguishing between those in houses and those not.
'Settled community' is a term used by Gypsies and Travellers to describe people who are not Gypsy or Traveller by ethnicity or culture and who live in bricks and mortar housing. 'Country People'/'Flatties' are the Irish Traveller equivalents of the 'gorjer' and refer to non-Travellers resident in housing.
In Romani culture, a gorja, gadjo (masculine), or gadji (feminine) is a person who has no Romanipen. This usually corresponds to not being an ethnic Romani, but it can also refer to an ethnic Romani who does not live within Romani society.
Family, extended family bonds and networks are very important to the Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller way of life, as is a distinct identity from the settled 'Gorja' or 'country' population.
Pikey (/ˈpaɪkiː/; also spelled pikie, pykie) is a derogatory slang term referring to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. It is used mainly in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to people who belong to groups which had a traditional travelling lifestyle.
Gorger comes from the Romani language gorgio or gadjo, referring to a person who is not an ethnic Romani. Its etymology is obscure. In 19th-century England, a gorger was adopted as a slang term for a “man,” including a “dandy” or “landlord.”
Feen, also spelled fein, has been borrowed from the slang of Travellers, the argot formerly used by tinkers and known as Shelta, itself deriving mainly from Irish Gaelic. In Irish, feen simply means “man”, but in slang it sometimes has the extra senses of “stranger” or “rogue”.
Cushti Bok means good luck in the Romany language. Bok, is how we refer to him, was previously named the Log before he came to America. Bok is the first registered Gypsy Vanner in the world, and is 23 now.
In British slang, "mush" primarily means "mate," "pal," or "friend." It's a friendly term of address, particularly common in the north of England and also in some parts of the south. The word's origin is believed to be from the Romany Gypsy word "moosh," meaning "man".
Example: He's a right joskin – he's got a tractor and everything. According to the Collins English Dictionary joskin is a slang word meaning “a country bumpkin; hick”. Wiktionary suggests that is comes from the dialect word joss (bump) and (bump)kin. Alternatively it comes from the name Joseph + (bump)kin [source].
The author repeatedly states that UK Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are happy to accept the label of Gypsy when talking about their culture. However there are many instances of UK Gypsies who do not like to be known as Gypsies because of the negative connotations and prefer to be known as Travellers.
JOUGAL n. “Jougal” was only sparsely recorded in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) initially. Defined as “a dog”, it is labelled as a “gipsy” word.
Born in a caravan on the side of the road, Alfie Best becomes the richest Gypsy in the world, tackling the biggest challenge of modern times. Born in a caravan on the side of the road, Alfie Best becomes the richest Gypsy in the world, tackling the biggest challenge of modern times.
Romani is a rich family of languages with an Indo-Aryan root. Romani is the only Indio-Aryan language that has been spoken exclusively in Europe since the Middle Ages and whose vocabulary and grammar are related to Sanskrit.
The Romani in Spain, generally known by the endonym Calé, or the exonym gitanos (Spanish pronunciation: [xiˈtanos]), belong to the Iberian Romani subgroup known as Calé, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ciganos) and in Southern France (known as gitans).
Devla basically means "God". It cannot be confused with the English word Devil, because the word for "Devil" in Romani is Beng. These Roma words existed in the Roma language centuries before any Roma adopted Christianity or Islam. That is, "Devla or Del" is a common noun meaning "a god".
Roma have at least two given names: The gadžikano name is an official name used in direction to 'the others' while the romano name is an un-official name used within the community which in some traditional com- munities may have a protective function. The romano nav is usually chosen by the mother.
