My favourite post in this reasonable and decent discussion about irish travellers in UK on UKhippy.com forum, although the use of the word "pikey" can be and often is offensive to irish travellers therefore note that this article is an excerpt from a thread in a forum (and does not reflect the expressions associated with this site):
"We have a huge traveller community here in Frome. The council-run gypsy
site is full of irish decent travellers.. pikeys if you like... lots of
them have been rehoused in the social housing in the town so there are
ALOT of them about.. makes life colourful :)
I lived with some on a field for a while and they were ok...
Manthing washes the windows and all the upvc for some who live on their
own bit of land.. very nice people.. i know one of the women quite well
.. her little daughter is same age as Henry.
My experience of pikeys is that they don't rob off their own, they don't
do their own no harm so if you are friends with them then your stuff is
safe pretty much...They're very closely bonded in their families and
its a brave man what goes up gypsy lane lookin for trouble...They are
careful bout who they invite in.. but if you pass then they can be the
loveliest caring souls .. they like fine bone china and mammoth
frilliness.. well at least marie-ann's mum does LOL!
The men folk who was on the field that time would play a game with the
lads - sort of chuck a penny game.. that was cool to see.. i got a
similar sense of masculine gaming at trev last week when there was a
good old fashioned game of "bung the rugby ball dart thingy" happenin
from one end of the field to the other. The women did drive from their
trailers to the toilets which were about 50 foot away cos they didn't
wanna get muddy...was funny :) They thought us quite mad for livin in
trucks/lorries etc.. they seemed like very proud people... never spoke
to any of the women mind..just the men came out socialising.
My friend up the road is the first gypsy lady who has ever spoken to me
but she isn't gypsy by birth she has married in... tis her husband who
is the traveller and its his parents they live on land with...
You can't get one over on a pikey and they always want sommat for as little as possible and preferably nothing..." (by Sarah).
Just so you know it can be illegal to use the word pikey now, as classed as a hate crime word it comes under racially aggravated harassment , a guy made legal history in 2007 by being convicted for it - i know people still use the word and in some context for articles etc like this , but maybe you should just cover yourself by saying , this article is not the views or expressions associated with this site and all posts are by members etc blah blah blah , so if someone does report it your covered
ReplyDeleteVery much appreciated comment. On a personal level and in regard to respect towards irish travellers. Some things have to change.
Deleteand very pertinent.
ReplyDelete