Cool

Origin of the Romani People Pinned Down

Europe's largest minority group, the Romani, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago, new genetic study finds.

The Romani, also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed "gypsies" in the 16th century, because this widely dispersed group of people were first thought to have come from Egypt. Today, many consider "gypsy" to be a derogatory term.

The Indian theory has been around for awhile, but has now been backed up through genetic testing. The Romany people have suffered discrimination throughout Europe and, like the Jews, were targeted by the Nazis during World War II and sent to death camps. In some post-war Communist countries, there was forced sterilisation. Even outside Europe there is a lot of prejudice against the group. The phrase 'I was gypped', for example, comes from the term 'gypsy' and relates to the perception of thievery and trickery of the often nomadic people. This, to my mind, is as offensive as the phrase 'to jew a deal', which is used to a lesser extent by the ignorant around here and beyond. Most people know enough not to use the latter expression. They don't realise the origin of the former, though, and the Romany are sparse enough here that thoughtless words don't get corrected. While I never heard the latter phrase growing up, I did grow up with the former, and I try to make sure I do not use it.

An amusing twitter post (not mine)

from librarianwonder, who has a blog, too, the Pop Culture Librarian

People keep asking me how my family is doing in Haiti and want to help. Positive: ppl are kind. Negative: ppl have no idea where I'm from.

[Her parents are from the South Pacific and she describes her ethnicity as Desi. So, nowhere near Haiti. But since she grew up in different places in the US and now lives in the Pacific Northwest, even she says if you want to know where she's from, prepare to sit down.]

I know the feeling, a bit. My family is from Kentucky but I grew up in five different states and about nine different locations, with two kindergartens, two elementary schools, three junior highs, and two high schools (is it any wonder I didn't acquire any social skills until I was an adult?) The life of a military brat is complicated sometimes. I once told someone I was from Louisiana (because I spent the longest there, and we were talking about Cajun food, and I was trying to impress her, and it just slipped out that way), despite being born in Kentucky and being a ninth-generation Kentuckian, and a friend has never let me forget it. But at least I was born in a town where my family lived and came back in time to graduate from high school there, so I can say that Danville, Kentucky is my hometown. Still, I wasn't raised there, so it gets a little weird if you go further than that. And of course, I've lived over half my life now in Lexington, so it really is home.

How about you? Do you have a place you identify with more than a hometown, really?