Both Rom and Romani have been in use in English since the 19th century as an alternative for Gypsy. Romani was sometimes spelled Rommany, but more often Romany, while today Romani is the most popular spelling.
Although Gypsy is sometimes used as a neutral or positive self-descriptor, it is recommended that those for whom it is not a self-descriptor use Roma or Romani/Romany instead.
Pikey (/ˈpaɪkiː/; also spelled pikie, pykie) is a slang term, which is pejorative and considered by many to be a slur. It is used mainly in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to people who are of the Traveller community, a set of ethno-cultural groups found primarily in Great Britain and Ireland.
Romanichal Travellers in England are generally known as "English Travellers" or "English Gypsies". They are found in England (as well as South Wales, Northeast Wales and the Scottish Borders), and they speak Angloromani.
American Gypsies - Meet the Gypsies | National Geographic
What does a pikey mean?
pikey (plural pikeys) (UK, Ireland, ethnic slur, offensive) An itinerant person, especially one of Romani or Irish Traveller heritage. quotations ▼ (UK, Ireland, derogatory, offensive) A working-class (often underclass) person with negative connotations of benefit fraud, theft and living on rundown estates.
Who are Irish Travellers? Irish Travellers refer to themselves as Pavees, Minkiers or in Irish 'an lucht siúil' meaning 'the walking people'. They are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group who maintain a set of traditions including their own secret language.
Some of the better known areas of work that Gypsies and Travellers are involved in include seasonal agricultural work, motor trading and tree-felling. Some are employed as academics, teachers and public servants and in this way they add to the local economy.
Most Eastern European Roma are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly Roman Catholic or Protestant. In southern Spain, many Roma are Pentecostal, but this is a small minority that has emerged in contemporary times.
The Gitanos, or Cales, living in Andalusia, in Northern Spain and in Southern France; the Manouches, or Sinti, living in France, Germany, Austria, as well as in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Veneto, and Emilia; the Cales, living in Northern Europe; the Roma of ex-Yugoslavia; the Roma and Sinti from Slovakia, Hungary ...
What is the difference between a Gypsy and a Traveller?
There are around 300,000 Gypsy Roma and Irish Travellers in the UK – Roma Gypsies are originally from northern India, whereas Travellers are of Irish origin – and both groups are nomadic. Since 2002, Travellers have been recognised as an ethnic group and are protected under the Race Relations Act.
In this sense, the modern-day gypsy is someone who embraces a lifestyle of travel, adventure, and exploration, and who is not bound by the conventions of traditional society. The modern-day gypsy might be a digital nomad who works remotely and travels the world while maintaining a steady income.
Roma (Gypsies) originated in the Punjab region of northern India as a nomadic people and entered Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries C.E. They were called "Gypsies" because Europeans mistakenly believed they came from Egypt. This minority is made up of distinct groups called "tribes" or "nations."
Even more devastating is the fact that 16% of Roma girls get married before 15 and 5% give birth at the same age (Antonijević, 2023). Looking at Bosnia and Herzegovina, five out of ten Roma girls and two out of ten Roma boys enter marriage before the age of 18 (Beker, 2019).
You may have Romani, Traveller or Gypsy ancestry if your family tree includes common Romani or Gypsy surnames such as Boss, Boswell, Buckland, Chilcott, Codona, Cooper, Doe, Lee, Gray/Grey, Harrison, Hearn, Heron, Hodgkins, Holland, Lee, Lovell, Loveridge, Royles/Ryalls, Scamp, Smith, Stevens/Stephens, Wood and Young.
How do the girls stay so slim? It turned out that just like their romany cousins across the pond, these romanichal gypsy girls eat a lot of malt vinegar and salt. However, unlike the Brits they don't sprinkle them on their chips (fries): they put them on fruit.
One village in Romania is home to many newly wealthy Gypsies - who've made their pile after the fall of communism. Many of the four-thousand townspeople of Buzescu, in Romania, are gypsies. But contrary to unflattering stereotypes, they're doing just fine. Their houses are opulent.
No. Roma identity is something you're born with. Your Romanipen is what defines you as a Roma person (aka “gypsy”, though that word is a racial slur). It's something you are born with and raised in, and almost impossible for an outside to understand or adopt.
What is the difference between a pikey and a gypsy?
Pikey is actually a word discribing non-Gypsy (as in non-Romani) travellers. Romani gypsies have called non-Romani travellers as pikies for years. "Often they would often say they're not gypsy they're pikies" when refering to non-Romani travellers of the UK.
Irish Travellers are sometimes mistakenly called gypsies. They have no genetic relation with the Roma people. In Ireland Travellers were also commonly known as tinkers, derived from the sound their tools made hitting metal when many Travellers worked as tinsmiths.
Explore famous Gypsy Roma Travellers as role models e.g. Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hoskins, David Essex OBE, Keith Duffy, Shayne Ward, Cher Lloyd, Michael Caine, Joaquín Cortés, Lívia Járóka, José Antonio Reyes, Harri Stojka, Ceija Stojka, Iva Bittová, Pablo Picasso.
/ (ˈdɪdɪˌkɔɪ) / nounplural -coys or -kais. (in Britain) one of a group of caravan-dwelling roadside people who live like Gypsies but are not true Romanies.
The OED defines “in Romani usage: a person who is not Romani; a non-Gypsy” as 'gorger' (first-used 1843) but also uses almost the same definition for 'gadjo' (1886).
True Romany Gypsies were regarded as being of the pure “black blood” and the word “black” was regularly used as a compliment, particularly in people's names, meaning a gypsy of the purest type.
