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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2009 2:32:38 GMT
In NYC the gypsies are well known and have been apparently for many generations,as custodians of some of the large apartment buildings along Central Park on both the East side and West. Each member of the family or clan performs a different job,from polishing brass door handles to maintaining the water towers. They have very little contact with the inhabitants of the buildings and live in the basements. After 9/11 there was apparently a lot of flurry among them as many were of illegal immigrant status. Many were afraid naturally of being targeted as scapegoats but fortunately this did not happen to my knowledge. I was told all this by an elderly gentleman that sits on the same bench in Central Park overlooking the Boat House. I see him on every trip and he is a font of information about anything NYC. Next trip I'll pump him for more information. He spoke of them in very respectful terms and intimated that they do very well financially.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2009 15:17:39 GMT
That's very interesting, casimira. It's a shame that they are still struggling in so many ways, in different parts of the world. I know that it's always the same for newly arrived immigrants, that is until they seem to get more financially secure. It seems that money can buy just about anything, including respect, prestige, and color/culture blindness. We live in a shallow world.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 24, 2021 1:36:28 GMT
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Post by questa on Nov 24, 2021 5:27:36 GMT
In the mid 60's the leader of the Oz gypsies was admitted to the hospital where I worked. He had 10 or so people running errands, taking notes and bringing in food for them all to eat together. The girls were in flouncy skirts and their tops were decorated with coins. The lads drove garish big American cars - Pontiacs and Studebakers
As it turned out the old gentleman was Sterio Spireo Morgan and his branch came from Wales...including the heir apparent who was in Wales at that time. Each night at 11pm he would use the ward phone to call his son, and plead for him to come back and take over. He thought he would die with the major surgery coming up. He was terrified about the op and eventually a head surgeon sat and talked with him. I couldn't hear what was said, it would have been interesting.
I had 3 days leave and when back I scooted off to his room. Not there...I thought he might have signed himself out because I have never seen a man as distressed as he was.A few months later he died in another hospital with cancer and other things.I hope he got the new king in time for a proper hand-over
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Post by bjd on Nov 24, 2021 7:26:46 GMT
Questa, that story reminds me of when my granddaughter was born 3 years ago in Bayonne. It was the end of August and when we went to see my daughter and the baby at the hospital, the entrance to emergency was full of Romany-type (what do I call them?) people. Their cars had licence plates from all over France, and they blocked the emergency entrance, stood around and smoked in front of the entrance.
It turned out that one of their leaders had been taken to the hospital and they were waiting for information. They stayed there for 2 or 3 days.
There is an interesting phenomenon there -- on the one hand, nobody wanted to say anything about them blocking the emergency department entrance whereas no other group would have been allowed to do so. On the other hand, there is indeed discrimination.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 24, 2021 8:03:39 GMT
This is a fascinating thread. I must say i didn't even know they came from India and that they used Sanskrit words. The only tbings i knew is that they have been persecuted everywhere, inc by sob Hitler, and that no, big no, you mustn't come near them as they are all thieves. I dislike their music, but i dislike a lot of musics and don't think much about them, except that a lot i hear is probably false and full of racism, coming from people who know even less than myself and have no intention of trying to know more. I have unfortunately never met a Romanichel, as we said when i was young.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 4, 2022 22:25:52 GMT
So the PC movement has now caused the Gypsy Moth to be officially renamed the Spongy Moth. By scientists. Apparently “Gypsy” is a slur and to be avoided, though many of us use the word to refer to any nomad (even an insect) or even to a free spirit. I know a woman whose parents named her Gypsy. No Roma blood as far as I’m aware. Interesting read on why not to use the word Gypsy. now.org/blog/the-g-word-isnt-for-you-how-gypsy-erases-romani-women/
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 4, 2022 22:37:07 GMT
But Kimby, many people were fans of the entertainer Spongy Rose Lee!
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Post by bjd on Mar 5, 2022 6:58:02 GMT
This PC stuff from the States is getting rather tiring. They never even specify which word is supposedly so terrible that it must not be used. Here it's the "g-word". The other day I saw something about the no-longer-acceptable "s-word". I had no idea what it was, so I had to look up where the winter Olympics were held in 1960 to learn that Squaw Valley has been renamed.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2022 8:07:20 GMT
Some British article recently mentioned the p-word. Soon we will have every letter of the alphabet and nobody will know what other people are talking about.
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