Opinions on a term.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Do you feel "gypsy" is derogatory?

    • 10
      Yes
    • 28
      No
    • 7
      Unsure

45 members have participated

Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

Ever since I moved to the south I have come across a group of people deemed "gypsies" by my co-workers.

I don't use this term in general, but I was curious how it is used in other areas, and if most people view it as derogatory.

This was the entry I found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy but it wasn't really all the helpful in answering my question.

I think, based on the negative things my co-workers have to say about this particular group, that it is derogatory in my region.

Any other opinions?

Tait

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I've heard the term most of my life. I believe the term this particular ethnic group uses is Roma, but I'm not sure.

While I was growing up in Ohio, a group of "gypsies" would summer in a local park. I never had any sort of contact with these folks, but there would be the occasional rumor that they frequently stole from locals.

Where I am now, there seems to be a community of these people also, but I have not run into any that I know of. I do know one nurse who was working in ER at another hospital and the female leader of their group was brought in very, very ill, and the entire bad parked themselves in the ER and told the nurse that if the elderly woman died, they would kill the nurse and the doctor. Not sure if this was an empty threat said out of fear or not.

My limited understanding of the Rom (?) is that they don't believe that anyone can "own" anything as far as land and that it belongs to everyone so they have the right to live where they like, hence they move around where they wish, and when they wish.

I have heard the term gypsy romanticized-people who are footloose, fancy-free, go where the wind blows them, take what they need, etc. I've also heard the term used for people who travel a lot including travel nurses-gypsy nurses, as well as names for pets who tend to wander off.

To get back to your actual question, yes, most of the time when the word is used in reference to this ethnic group, it's used in a derogatory way.

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I don't think there's anything wrong with the term but I do think there may be something wrong with your coworkers.

To clarify, I don't think it's the term that is derogatory as it just denotes a group.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I have felt that it was derogatory ever since I learned that the term "gypped" (as in, "I got gypped on that purchase"), is considered by many to be a racial slur against this population. Many people consider it the same as saying that someone "jewed them down" meaning haggled on the price. Both terms are grossly disrespectful and have no place in our language, IMO. I am ashamed to say that I was in my 20's before I realized what the origin and true meaning of these phrases are, and once I realized it I was horrified.

***Disclaimer*** I mean no offense by these terms and they are not terms I would ever use myself. This is in the interest of sharing information. I apologize if anyone is offended.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

From a metaphysical prespective, being called a gypsy is not derogatory; in fact, it would be more interpeted as a free spirited person.

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I guess it could go either way for me. It would depend on how the person is using the term. For instance, I can use the word Jew to denote someone of Jewish heritage or I can use it in a way that makes it sound derogatory, kwim?

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Specializes in OB, NICU, Nursing Education (academic).

No, I don't think so. I even have a friend whose first name is Gypsie.

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Specializes in Coronary Rehab Unit.

I voted "unsure," as that's the closest answer to "it depends on the use of the word." Dunno if Cher helped the perception of the word when she recorded Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves , though 15_9_16.gif:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Case Management, also OR/OB.

Gypsy is often used to identify an ethnic population known as Romani or Roma. In our city, there is a large segment of Roma population. They typically all have the same last name. In general, when one is hospitalized, the whole family comes to the hospital to suppport their family member. They do speak the Romani language, which to me sounds like a mix of Portugese and Arabic. If anyone has any other info, or any experiences, I'd like to know too.

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