Posted on 09/06/2004 3:51:50 PM PDT by blam
The more interesting possibility is that this group can't create much of anything that can be remembered. Not music, not art, not food, no stories, no poetry...can you think of any other ethnic group in the US that can say so little for itself in cultural contribution?
I listened to some visiting musicians at a university, who claimed to be Rom with "authentic" music (which I suspected was yet another con)--mostly percussion and well-nigh unlistenable. If it truly was authentic, which I doubt, I can see why it was lost.
Imagine, working so hard, taking so much trouble, to steal about thirty bucks of paint?
Addresses the point that stealing is more than the merchandise--it's a kind of hunt, a point of pride in putting one over on the "gaijos".
Social workers have attempted to "cash in" on Gypsy culture, thinking that they've found a new grievance group with which to demand government attn and launch themselves as the Great White Father of the Rom on Network Television and the Academic Circuit. But these social workers themselves get conned, over and over.
A delightful thing, that.
Someone posted that the gypsies had managed to maintain their criminal reputation without violence.
Wrong. They are just about the lowest form of life with access to 'human' anywhere in their scientific name.
Less than two years ago my 85 year old mother was kidnapped by gypsies. First described as hispanic I am certain that they were the Indian and not Irish or other troops. She was picked up (a) in a stolen car, (b)after a phony 'restore your car' scam and (c) between care givers (early Alzheimers)then (d) found wandering in a used car lot after a failed attempt at conning her and general motors out of a new pick up truck.
When the police determined that gypsies were involved they simply dropped the case as impossible to prosecute. We made links to another scam she'd been hit by, bogus charities run out of one of those nondesctipt rent-a-shop clusters, that also turned out to be gypsies. Same thing, nothing from the police, one local news paper ran a mild sounding story. By habit, there was a name change, new pamphlets with the same hype and the whole story went along as before.
Interestingly, MY letters and demands were followed up by written responses blaming other people and including lurid details of drugs and other misdeeds. Again, these creeps were described as either hispanic or black when I canvassed the area. I doubt they were either but believe that it does provide a nice cover for dark skinned indo-europeans.
I believe today's gypsies pushed her death forward by months or years and PC be damned, they are not worth the air they breathe.
I don't remember much about this one's pickup except I noticed it was a very high dollar, late model 4wd. About what you would expect a contractor to be driving.
I did notice a few days later in the paper that a gang had been caught near here, pulling the same scam. I think they are going to be prosecuted.
I know a lady who is from South Carolina and lived near their home area. She said it is full of mansions. Seems She said it is not far from Augusta, Georgia.
She also agreed with me that they tend to be well groomed and handsome-pretty.
The trick to it is the few who did arrived at the same time the Brits were imposing strict enclosure and rent laws.
Consequently, as native folk were being driven out of their homes to live on the roads the Roma were there to teach them how to do it.
There are also varying degrees of sophistication among the families. Some of them constitute a "lawyer caste", for example. At least one became an elected judge in Marion County, Indiana many years ago. I learned how to split dollar bills from his grandchildren.
Then there's the Waltons ~ not that they're Gypsies, but then neither are the Tysons, the Williams', and all those other rich guys from West Central Arkansas (where a gazillion of them eventually settled ~ once the authorities in Oklahoma Territory figured out they weren't really Indians).
Believe it or not there are independent conmen with no history of Gypsy ancestry who prey on the elderly. No group of humanity is free of having thieves! Gypsies have no monopoly in that regard.
As others have stated, their Indian origin is widely accepted. However, what I found new about this is the extensive DNA testing. A series on one of the educational channels a few years back focused on their history, they the proof of the linkage was primarily linguistic. I find this DNA work very interesting indeed. Thank you.
So, you think that some DNA tests ought to be done on these Black Irish in Ga and SC who act so Gypsy? Sounds like a great idea--fascinating, even. We could place bets--and my bet is that there's some shared ancestry.
The Travelers don't even use Romany words ~ they have a totally different "secret language" which has it's roots in Gaelic.
Now, in America, it's different. Odds are George "W" Bush has an Hispanic nephew for example, and John McCain has a daughter from India.
None of these folks are doing flamenco dancing, but they can if they wish.
Not to excuse the gypsies but there are a lot of people preying on the elderly with impunity. A man I knew who was in his 80's and who lived alone was conned out of tens of thousands of dollars by a US Navy veteran. After my elderly friend had to move to an assisted living facility, the ex-submariner kept coming around in the guise of being a helpful visitor, but probably just to see if the relatives were on to him yet. One night my friend died and soon after the full scope of this crime became clear. The prosecutor refused to do anything and the criminal probably went on to more victims. I have often wondered if he somehow helped to hasten the death of my friend in order to try to cover up his crime.
Sometimes I see elderly people in the bank who are withdrawing money and who appear to be accompanied by someone who is waiting for payment. The banks should be very suspicious of this.
ER personnel are often in contact with Gypsies. The police arrest someone, who immediately gets "chest pains" and has to be brought to the ER. Then the arrestee can't speak English. One spoke Romanian, in an ER not too far from DC. There was a nurse who spoke Romanian back to her! LOL! Immediately the patient forgot her Romanian and changed to some other gibberish.
If you could get past the lies, the study of these erstwhile Irish "gypsies" could be fascinating history. But, like everything else, they'd even steal that.
The apartment building I used to live in had a family of gypsies. The father allegedly made his living fixing cars in the driveway and the wife did palm readings/taro cards. They had a lot of relatives over and played poker all night... I think their last name was Clintoon.
Remember the tv interview with that ol'gal he hit on at the White House? Bill offered her a cup of coffee. He went back to the area where they kept the coffee cups and all he had there were Starbucks cups.
So where were the White House cups, and where in the world did he get the Starbucks cups?
I'd say that was a double scam.
You know he spent his summers with his maternal grandmother traveling with the carnivals.
I have never heard that Bill was Gypsie related. It would explain a lot tho.
"Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me..."
My father in law let a bunch of gypsies paint his barn too. Whatever they used washed off & took the galvanize off with it. The barns rusted immediately. Gypsies are scum. My brother in law sold some scrap metal to a bunch of gypsies who arrived at our place of business in a pink Lincoln. He let them have it at a fair price. The gypsies went behind his back to some of our employees & tried to get them to load up more than they had paid for. Gypsies deserve their reputation as scum.
I don't know if these stories are true. There does seem to be an element of petty criminals in Slick Willie's family tree, not apparently related to any known Traveler kinsmen. For instance, his maternal grandfather, Eldridge Cassidy, was allegedly a bootlegger in Hope, AR. Another relative was a bookie in Hot Springs, AR.
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