I'm a traveller- AMA

[Pinkyyy]

I was actually asked on another post to start this thread, I've been debating the idea for a while but usually decide not to because I've seen threads like this turn sour before. Hopefully I can avoid that and actually provide information and educate people on a way of life they may well know very little about.

I invite you to ask any questions you may have, and I will do my best to answer them all honestly. I ask that you don't bother to comment if you're going to bombard me with racism and ignorance. If you'd like to question a common stereotype, by all means go ahead but I will not respond to those who are simply here to be hateful. I also hope you'll respect that I don't like to share too much of my personal details on here, so I'm aiming more to speak about travellers as a a whole and not so much about me personally.

So.... AMA

@interestednotnosey yes, it gets mixed reactions. Some don't care and welcome the new person in, some don't much care for it but are still polite and courteous. Marrying a non-traveller really isn't as bad as people think it is, I blame that on the TV shows. I'm from England but would prefer not to say where

@zzzzz I think stories like that circulated in the olden days as a way to 'other' a group of people that lived in a way that seemed strange or deviant to the general population, sort of to make them the 'boogieman'...the same sorts of things were said about the Jews in the Middle Ages, which lead to the expulsion of Jews from a lot of European countries in the C13th.

@donajimena you're welcome. I haven't known a traveller to go to university, a few have done various college courses but I'd love to see a traveller go to university and do really well for themselves

@pinkyyy Damian Le Bas is a Gypsy who is educated at either Oxford or Cambridge and has written some wonderful books about the culture

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/19/stopping-places-journey-gypsy-britain-damian-le-bas-review

I love this quote from him

“A publisher asked: ‘Aren’t you just some really middle-class guy who happens to have a Traveller background?” says Le Bas. “He was implying that because I’m educated, I’m inauthentic. That is not a fantastic thing to say – that you can be educated out of your ethnicity. You can’t be educated out of being a Jamaican.”

Unfortunately lots of travelers give the ones like you a bad name.

Fair play for adjusting to a 'regular' life. If only the rest of your 'ethnic group' could be more like you

God bless you

X

@TheTroutofNoCraic I think if that's the book I'm thinking of then there are members of my family (now deceased) pictured in there. Are there photographs in that book? Could be a different one

I live in Ireland where the stereotype is most travelers rob, steal, are big into crime, and not allowed throw parties in most places. 'Cream crackers' they call them.

@iLoveFoood Unfortunately lots of white working class men give white working class people a bad name.

@iLoveFoood thank you, I do wish those who give us the bad name would consider the effects it has on others

Did you wear a big frock like on the TV when you got married? If so how did you cope with moving in it?

@Pinkyyy it does have lots of pictures in it...but it's fairly recently published, so unless you've heard about it quite recently then it may not be. It would be amazing it it was the same book!

My Aunty has done a lot of dressmaking and alterations for Travellers - they're her best and most reliable customers and always pay cash on the nail.

She's in Ireland (rural) and clearly delineates between Travellers and tinkers - what they call tinkers are what you describe as the low class, messy semi criminal type.

I'm in the UK and I think like any community there are 'problem families', but the Travellers I know wouldn't mix with them in the same way that the settled community doesn't. They say the 'problem families' are usually an extended family group and take up residence on car parks, playing fields etc are their behaviour is unacceptable on private/council sites so they aren't welcome.

The travellers I know are settled but go off in trailers in the school holidays to visit family and friends. The vast majority of them work, either for themselves or others
Lots of builders, landscapers, mechanics, craftsmen. Most teens (boys and girls) have Saturday or part time jobs as well as school.

Many people think their parenting is strict - I don't. If having a curfew, being expected to pull your weight in the house/yard, take turns and speak to your elders with respect is 'strict' the world has gone mad.

Would that be a similar way of thinking to you?

@pinkyyy I suggest not engaging with pp as I think they may be on a wind up mission.

What’s Romany language like? Is it closely related to another language? Does it have a written form?

@zzzz not really, as it was to instil the worst fear and suspicion in the general population...what fear is greater than someone moving around might snatch your child?

@meeash77 the language comes from India, the Romany people are descended from the Indian diaspora in the Middle Ages

I'm sorry it's you getting the bad end of the stick OP. I've just had awful experiences with travellers in my area in Ireland, as have most people I know/ family etc.

Some words are in use in English as well
Cushti- good, fine
Chav
Cosh- truncheon
Lollipop
Narc- police informer
Skip- romany for basket
Scran- food
Togs- clothes

@iLoveFoood I'm going to take the advice of @TheTroutofNoCraic and not justify that with a response.

@Weezol what you wrote all sounds exactly spot on, we really don't associate with that type of people and it's so sad that they're all people tend to see.

@Meesh77 it's mainly individual words, not a different language entirely. I don't believe it has an official written form, we write words how they sound

That’s fascinating about the language. So it’s badhcally English but with some items of Romany dialect? You’d say ‘are we having any scran?’

@Pinkyyy - I'm a BBC journalist and would love to do a piece about the traveller community and the discrimination and challenges they face etc. Let me know if you'd be interested in chatting and I can send you my email for us to be in touch?

@Meesh77 yes that's correct, we just add our own words where they fit, there isn't a word for everything

@BBCJourno1 feel free to PM me discuss this