Of Gypsies and Vandals

[aggienaut]

   So I was talking to devilintraining the other day about how the word "gyp" is one of those words that the ASUCD periodically tries to ban. I think there's been a resolution on the topic (admittedly, it must have been a slow period with Lead hardliners in power in ASUCD), but at the very least I definitely remember once some unfortunate unit director unsuspectingly used the word in a sentence and got absolutely mauled by some senators.

   The thing that they didn't realize you see, and pretty much no one does, is that allegedly "gyp" is short for "gypsy," and when used to refer to being cheated, its therefore pejorative to gypsies, allegedly.
   BUT, there are no gypsies around here, and we know of no instance of one ever being offended by the word "gyp." If those using it don't have any idea it is anything other than another word for "cheat," and no one is around to be offended by it, is it still offensive?

   Moreover, "gypsy" itself is an inaccurate (and some even say offensive) term -- its derived from "egyptienne," the incorrect medieval french assumption that the Roma came from Egypt!! Though if you were to assume the word "Roma" was related to Romania you would be incorrect as well -- there is no etymological link (incidentally, Romania IS named after the Roman empire -- as part of the Roman empire the people called themselves "romans" and continued to after it fell, so in a sense the nation of Rome lives on!!)

   The whole discussion got me thinking, what other words do we use in complete obliviousness to the implications they may make about a people? What about Vandalism? Are we implying those with Vandal ancestry are a violent and destructive people? This may seem like a pretty distant allusion, but it was only in 1973 that the Swedish King dropped the Goths and Vandals from his official title -- "King of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals."

   So next time someone refers to vandalism I'm going to claim to be an offended vandal. Personally I'm going to rule gyp "not offensive" based on the fact that it is almost exclusively used by people with no inclination to link it to the Roma people (and in fact, if I see someone call someone out on that, I'm gonna blast em for using the word "gypsy," which unlike "gyp" IS documented to be considered offensive to some it is applied to!!!)