Posted on 09/21/2002 8:52:13 PM PDT by Conservababe
No, but I've heard quite a bit of it on C-SPAN when covering Congress, and also from Obama and his spokesmen.
“Romaian gypsies? But is there any difference from the Celtic travelers?”
The Roma are not Romanian, though there are Roma in Romania, as there are in most of Europe.
The Roma and Travellers are the same people, slightly different only in the names they choose.
http://www.coe.int/T/DG3/RomaTravellers/Default_en.asp
The origin of the Roma is India.
http://www.cbc.ca/newsinreview/dec97/gypsies/roma.html
Look up Roma on the Internet. They are an interesting and persecuted people, but not necessarily admirable.
Hank
This past year a house across the street from us was robbed. They came in the afternoon and took everything. Furniture, rugs, pictures off the walls, clothes out of the closet, EVERYTHING.
It may mean something maybe not, but the house next door to it had the roof replaced about 2 weeks before the robbery. I heard “travelers” mentioned when the owner talked about his conversations with the police.
“Are these Roma or are they Irish people who became gypsies?”
Of course I cannot know the details of a specific incident, but I can almost certainly assure you they were Roma, not Irish. The Roma are very independent, and very sensitive about the “purity” (odd word in their case) of their line.
I’ve personally known families of “Stanleys” in New England for over 40 years, and they remain the same over all those years. That particular family is quite famous here, and they continue to scam people, year after year. (A 14 year old Stanly girl came to my door about 8 years ago asking if she and her brothers could clean my roof of leaves and such. She was one of the most creatures I’ve ever seen, and her younger brothers were all handsome dark young men. Part of their ability to scam people is their innate charm.)
They are also greatly into “palm reading” and “fortune telling” and very very clever at it.
They are not usually into grand-theft, by the way. They work on the unstated principle that you cannot cheat an honest man, but know there are plenty of dishonest who think they can get something for nothing, so are easily cheated—and they are experts in that field
Hank
Sorry my question was not clear. I was asking about the gypsies in Ireland. Were they Roma or are those people Irish who took to the roads. A young girl from one of the wagons came up to our car and asked for money. She was absolutely beautiful, with dark hair, very blue eyes and fair complexion. She would remind you of a young Elizabeth Taylor.
There was a cable tv series about a Traveler family a few years back called ‘The Riches.’ It lasted only one and a half seasons, though.
It had the awesomely funny Eddie Izzard in the lead, with Minnie Driver as his co-star.
“Cant” is just a heavily slanged form of Gaeilge I’ve heard.
“Sorry my question was not clear. I was asking about the gypsies in Ireland. Were they Roma or are those people Irish who took to the roads.”
I did understand your question, but am afraid I did not make my response very clear, apparently.
Not knowing the individuals involved, I cannot say for certain, but I doubt very much that the travelers in Ireland are Irish. I’m sure they are Roma. There are to this day Blond blue-eyed Indians, (research Arians), and many Roma have those characteristics, since it was from India they originally migrated.
This is probably much more answer than you wanted. Hope it is useful to you.
Hank
I don’t know if you still respond to this site;
I’d like more information about the terrible Williamsons. They are of interest in the abduction of Beth Gill in 1965. 2.5 yrs old from her front yard. Her family is still hopeful that she is alive somewhere and they are still looking for her. Your statement that these people often went to beauty pageants of 3 and 4 yr olds got my attention. Hope to hear from you.
I’ve only run into “Travelers” two times in my life that I’ve recognized. One was in a State Park campground west of Kenosha, WI. There was a relatively large group in two RV’s. They were definitely cautious of the large dog (German Shepard) we had and stayed away. Not very friendly.
The second time was at Maquoketa Caves State Park near Maquoketa, Iowa. They were very interested in a tiny dog (4.5 lbs) my brother had. They wanted to buy the dog, etc., etc. I had to warn brother to keep a close watch on his pet. Again, they were in RV’s. Since I have been a full time RV’r, etc., I must say there is a large difference in the two groups. The Travelers are different. They do speak a different language if you get close enough to hear it. They have an aura about them that is just about touchable. It’s an comfortable feeling that is very hard to define. They did not make a commotion, were not discourteous, or anything else. It was just a feeling. Once you have been aware of the Travelers, you, probably, will always be able to recognize them. AS far as their law breaking, or “conartisting”, I have had no experience other than reading about it. However with the “aura” I felt, I would not turn my back on any of them, including their children.
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