[blam]

When I was a child, my mother told me that Gypsies steal babies.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Jeff Chandler]

This is not news. It has been commonly accepted that Gypsies came from India.

[Jeff Chandler]

At the risk of perpetuating stereotypes, I thought I'd relate a personal story.

My parents rented one of their houses to Gypsies in Whittier, CA, about 20 years ago. They trashed the place and stuck them with the rent.

[Ditter]

My mother told me the same thing. Do you suppose that was wishful thinking?

[Paleo Conservative]

I wonder why they migrated out of India 1,000 years ago. Could it have anything to do with the spread of Islam?

[RightWhale]

Legend has it that European Gypsies came from Egypt

Everybody knows they came from the region of India.

[EggsAckley]

"Gypsies....Tramps and Thieves..........."

[tbird5]

When I was a child, my mother told me that Gypsies steal babies.


Why would they steal babies? To make them work in the circus? My husband heard that too.

[Mamzelle]

Linguists established this origin early in this century--the language is an offshoot of Sanscrit.

We have some Gypsy words in our vernacular--"Punch" means "five"--five fruits for a drink, or five fingers for a fist. "Shiv"--knife.

A cryptic culture, with no music, art, storytelling. No Gypsy restaurants. Any music we think of as Gypsy is largely a romanticized Balkan pastiche, more Hungarian than Romani. To be frank, Gypsies have contributed practically nothing to Western culture except their own image as romantic vagabonds.

The reputation for itinterant thievery and con-artistry is well-deserved, but they have also managed this without a commensurate reputation for violence.

[Darksheare]

Dreaded red x on the image.

But still an interesting article.
Thanks!

[Don Corleone]

"Initially Gypsies were called Gypsies because Europeans believed, and this was a legend that the Gypsies maintained themselves, that they came from Egypt,"

In Hugo's novel,"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" La Esmerelda was often refered to as "The Egyptian". It was a common belief.

[LonePalm]

Personally, I always thought that their moths were neat.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[LonePalm]

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[yarddog]

In Sir Walter Scott's novel, "Quentin Durward", there is a description of Gypsies and their origin which is as accurate as any I have seen even today.

He says they came from India, but that they were once thought to have come from Egypt originally which is where they got the name "Gypsies".

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

blam you are usually on top of the news but this has been the accepted answer for some years now.

[AIBC]

Gypsies=thieves, liars, con artists, filthy, ugly
They will still your money, your property, they'll break into your house and, usually, they do not speak well the language of the country they happen to live in (plunder).

[VadeRetro]

"[The research] is the best evidence yet of the Indian origins of the Gypsies," the researchers write in an article published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

We've known this for decades because the Romany Languages are clearly descended from Sanskrit.

[FreedomSurge]

"But she said Gypsies had been persecuted due to superstition, racism and prejudice."

Maybe they were persecuted because of excessive lying and thieving?

[austingirl]

My mother told me she would sell me to the gypsies if I didn't behave,

[bankwalker]

Is it true that all of their daughters are foxes?