Gypsy Followup

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

In an earlier episode, we had a call from a contra dancer who said that there was a controversy in her community over the name of a dance move that was called Gypsy.

And some people felt that it was offensive to the Roma people, and some people wanted to hang on to it, saw nothing wrong with it.

And we advised them, Grant, to give up the term.

If they could.

Yeah, if they could. And we got a lot of really interesting response to this. A lot of people had mixed feelings about that. We heard from Jared Rossman, who lives in Humboldt County, California,

And he wrote, around here, gypsy is a term of admiration. Gypsy dancing, a gypsy clothes style,

And the commercial gypsy cold care tea I’m currently sipping. All of those are positive connotations. We also heard from Ed in Indianapolis who reminded us that on Broadway,

Gypsy is a really positive term. There’s actually a gypsy robe ceremony that is given at the beginning of each Broadway run for a dancer in the show who’s a real trooper, who embodies the hardworking ethic of dancers who go from show to show, the kind of show must go on person. I mean,

It’s a really, really positive thing.

We also got a phone call from a woman named Ashley, and she said that her parents are Roma and, in fact, spent time in the death camps in Germany.

And she was offering us heartfelt thanks.

She was saying, you have no idea how offensive the term gypsy is to people like me.

And I really appreciate your suggesting that, that people don’t use it.

Because there were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of the Roma people who were killed during that time.

And even Brian Garner, the usage expert, says that although some authorities recommend avoiding gypsy in all contexts, that seems unduly strict.

There’s no ready substitute for gypsy moth, for example.

So it’s sort of a mixed bag, right?

I think we were kind of that way in the original call.

I think we were a little uncertain about where to go with this.

And yet knowing that if you have an opportunity to take some sting or stigma out of somebody else’s life, you should try to do that.

And it sounds like those positive situations, perhaps there would be no sting or stigma there.

But I don’t know.

It’s about context, as we always say.

It is totally always about context.

And certainly in the contradancing, it doesn’t sound like it’s negative at all.

But it does sound like it does refer back to the Roma, who almost always say they prefer not to be called gypsies.

Right, right.

And if it is considered a slight, I mean, what do you gain by using it?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that kind of ambivalence towards language is, well, that’s why we have the show.

We discuss these things.

And each person ultimately, despite whatever advice you and I give, decides for themselves.

Well, I guess the bottom line is that we’re at a point in the evolution of this word where it’s changing right under our feet.

And it will be interesting to watch.

Well, we’d love to hear your thoughts about language.

So give us a call 877-929-9673 or send them an email.

That address is words@waywordradio.org.