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The G Word
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There was a post a while back where it was discussed whether it was PC to call it GJ or would it be more respectful to call it jazz manouche. Never been to Europe and don't know what is considered impolite or disrespectful there. Here in the US most people probably don't know what manouche is or know that gypsy is impolite. After seeing that video I looked around on the net and didn't see much against calling it GJ but curious what others who have actually hung out with people in France, etc. think about this.
Interesting question, especially as 'political correctness' is such a big thing now .....
I'd be disappointed if none of the members who regularly play with manouche/sinti/etc musicians didn't respond .....
... and how do they refer to themselves, and are we 'allowed' to use the same words... ?
I personally like to be called Freckles.
www.scoredog.tv
It all started with the PC bandwagon, some people (romani and non-romani alike) took it upon themselves to describe Gypsy as being offensive. I can understand their point of view. Gypsy culture is today still very misunderstood. A lot of people are using the word "Gypsy" very casually to describe a lifestyle that has nothing to do with Gypsy culture. That is definitely sure to piss off some Romani people.
I think this might be especially true in America, where Romani culture is even lesser known than in Europe. So you have these hippie people talking about their "chi" and Gypsy lifestyle. I'm sure that would upset some American Romani. For a lot of people in America, people don't even know that Gypsy is an ethnicity and culture.
The notion of Roma instead of Gypsy is also popular in central/eastern Europe. Notice I wrote Roma instead of Romani. The word Roma comes from Romani. Certain central/eastern European Romani with political influence are campaigning for the word Roma to replace Gypsy.
However, Sinti Gypsies (one of the Romani groups of western Europe) absolutely hate the word Roma. They do not identify as Roma, they want to be distinctly called Sinti. Ironically, they'll accept the word Romani (even though Roma comes from Romani). They certainly don't mind being called Gypsy, they use it all the time, themselves
In central/eastern Europe, many Romani also use the word Gypsy. Of course, without any poll, it's not possible to know the exact percentage of Romani for/against the word Gypsy. My personal encounters (which, while extensive, certainly does not represent all Romani population) show that most Romani really don't care about the use of the word Gypsy.
In fact, personally, the only times I've ever been told about Gypsy being offensive was from , you guessed it, north American Romani, and, even worse (my pet peeve), non-Romani who have had no contact with Romani. I had one person who knew nothing about Romani culture tell me that I shouldn't use the word Gypsy (aargh).
I wrote a lot about this for djangobooks, you can find all my articles on the topic on my website in the blog section www.denischang.com
www.denischang.com
www.dc-musicschool.com
We are so very lucky to have a number of very knowledgeable and skilled people posting here.