Gypsy effigies burnt on bonfire

[JamesM]

From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3222321.stm)
Patricia Knight, who was at the bonfire with her seven-year-old daughter, said: "A caravan was wheeled down the street which portrayed women and children inside, with 'pikey' written on the back and the image of a scantily-clad woman standing in the door.
Looks like 'pikey' is alive and well as a term for gypsy is some parts of the country.
But Richard Gravett, chairman of Firle Bonfire Society, said: "There was no racist slant towards anyone from the travelling community. If anything, it's actually completely the other way.

"It is to try to make people sit up and listen and realise that these people obviously - as all of us do - need somewhere to live."
Ah yes, raising awareness of a cause by that traditional method of burning them in effigy. That makes sense.

[UnrepentantSinner]

I believe they prefer to be called "Romas."

At the very least this was an exercise in poor taste. Burning a family alive inside a trailer isn't funny nor is it something to be cheered.

Anyone know if effigies are involved in the bonfire anually or was is a singular incident? (the story mentioned secrecy, but I didn't see anything about previous years)

[JamesM]

Originally posted by UnrepentantSinner
Anyone know if effigies are involved in the bonfire anually or was is a singular incident? (the story mentioned secrecy, but I didn't see anything about previous years)
We're coming up to November the 5th, when it is common to have bonfires and to burn Guy Fawkes in effigy (penny for the Guy and all that).

There is virtually no political intent behind this, it's just about being able to burn stuff and set off fireworks, not celebrating the defeat of a papish plot to subject the free people of England under the tyrannical boot of Rome. You don't see the Pope burning in effigy any more. I expect there'll be a bit of Tony Blair/George Bush burning this year.

If you wanted to be really charitable, you would suggest that deciding to burn a mocked up caravan and gypsies was ill-judged and ill-advised in the extreme.

[Jon_in_london]

I fookin hate pikeys!
/snatch.

Why are they called 'pikeys' in any case?

[richardm]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london
Why are they called 'pikeys' in any case?

I doubt that anyone knows. I've seen it suggested that it is an old name derived from the habit of hiring gypsy children to mind tollgates and turnpikes, which sounds unlikely, or a corruption of "Parkies", from the caravan parks they inhabit. Or you could make up your own reason based around Private Pike from Dad's Army, which would sound more plausible.

One thing about these "Travellers". Until you've had some camped on your doorstep, you cannot fully appreciate why they attract such animosity.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by JamesM
From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3222321.stm)

Looks like 'pikey' is alive and well as a term for gypsy is some parts of the country.

Ah yes, raising awareness of a cause by that traditional method of burning them in effigy. That makes sense.

Yes, that is the term Rikzilla prefers to use.

[richardm]

The plot thickens (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3259887.stm).

I don't know what the penalty for inciting racist hatred is these days. Probably quite stiff.

I also have to wonder if it really is racial hatred. For the majority it is, after all, a lifestyle choice rather than a race.

[Nitpick]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london

Why are they called 'pikeys' in any case?
Originally posted by richardm


I doubt that anyone knows. I've seen it suggested that it is an old name derived from the habit of hiring gypsy children to mind tollgates and turnpikes, which sounds unlikely, or a corruption of "Parkies", from the caravan parks they inhabit. Or you could make up your own reason based around Private Pike from Dad's Army, which would sound more plausible.

One thing about these "Travellers". Until you've had some camped on your doorstep, you cannot fully appreciate why they attract such animosity.

It seems a magpie is/was called a pikey in some parts of the UK (Latin term: pica)


2Links from (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/OLD-ENGLISH/2001-02/0983247031)

an OLD-ENGLISH Forum (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/OLD-ENGLISH/2001-02/0983267807)

[Tony]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london
I fookin hate pikeys!
/snatch.



Do you like dags?


dags?


Yeah..dags.


Ohh, DOGS!...I like dogs, I like caravans better

[Nasarius]

Originally posted by richardm
I also have to wonder if it really is racial hatred. For the majority it is, after all, a lifestyle choice rather than a race.

IMHO, it's more of an ethnicity rather than race or lifestyle. Still something you're generally born with, like nationality or even religion, rather than something you choose. It's no less "racist" to discriminate against, say Christians, just because they can choose not to be Christian.

[Nikk]

Originally posted by richardm
The plot thickens (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3259887.stm).

I don't know what the penalty for inciting racist hatred is these days. Probably quite stiff.

I also have to wonder if it really is racial hatred. For the majority it is, after all, a lifestyle choice rather than a race.

Just to complicate the issue there seem to be several different groups of itinerants. First there are gypsies who are also called "Roma" and who, these days, tend to travel in elaborate highly decorated motor homes. Second are what I have heard called "Irish Tinkers", typically poor and using rather crappy transport and as the name implies of Irish origin. Third there is a catch all group usually called travellers, best defined as social drop outs often with a high woo woo content. The midsummer festival at Stonehenge attracts them.

All the above groups are sometimes called "gypsies" and all can be a right pain in the ar$e. I suspect any prosecution under the race relations act might have a hard time in convincing a jury that any definable ethnic group was under attack.

[JAR]

Where I live there are hardly any Gypsies. There's only one time I know of where I saw Gypsies. It was during the summer of either 1989 or 1990, and these Gypsies were having this huge get-together at the park near my house while I was playing in a baseball game. Several times during the game, the umpire had to tell some of them to not walk across the field while the game was going on and when I was sitting at the bench waiting to bat, two of the Gypsy kids came up and one of them asked me and the guy next to me whether we wanted some type of food but I can't remember what he called it. We asked what it was and he said it was some type of cake. Both of us said we couldn't eat anything at the time because we were too busy playing baseball.

[American]

The burning that gypsies do is usually with cigarette butts on their children when they fail to make money for the family as prostitutes. Don't give me PC crap about stereotypes- that's what's going on in that culture.

[The Fool]

Originally posted by American
The burning that gypsies do is usually with cigarette butts on their children when they fail to make money for the family as prostitutes. Don't give me PC crap about stereotypes- that's what's going on in that culture.
source? (other than your arse?)