(while we're on the subject of words people dont understant)... to find the use of the word...

[swottybetty]

piky completely unacceptable?? the world and her aunt kick of at the mention of so many other ethnically derogatory terms,and yet piky is acceptable. how is that???

??

is it acceptable?

and is this a thread about a thread

wtf is a pik*y?

ahhhh Pikey! as in traveller?

got you.

I dont think it's acceptable really. i dont think i have seen it used on Mn either

I am trying, but I really can't think of a letter to go where that star is so that word makes sense. Can you be more specific please?

I don't remember ever seeing 'pikey' go unchallenged on MN....

what word again ????

t'other thread is madness. but reminded me of this pet hate. people use the work pik*y loads and it really winds me up. has somehow become mixed up with the word chav and i know teachers are guilty of not picking kids up on the fact it's a derogatory term for gypsies

xposts, I get it now. I don't think there are many on mn who use that word. I haven't seen it anyway.

Isn't gypsy a derogatory term too? I thought traveller was the correct term.

the words pikey and chav get short shrift on MN

dunno about in RL ...

Oh I have been on here too long.

I remember a HUUUUUUUGE thread about this a while ago, and it was not deemed acceptable at all.

There was a big stooshy over it if I remember correctly...

My mums adoptive father was romany gypsy and very proud of it. didn't think it was offensive if used properly.

it's probably un PC though because many travellers aren't gypsy.

Gypsy is now an accepted term, traveller can connatate something else. Tis a minefield the whole 'acceptable words' game.

i had never heared of the term until i came to england (from scotland) and had to have it explained....at the time i didn't think it sounded bad..but perhaps it is

That's it mamazon I remember that thread mawbroon.

Yes, I've always thought there was a distinction between Gypsies or Roma, and travellers who aren't Gypsies, but that to use the word Gypsy is fine. Have never thought of pikey as being anything other than an offensive term for a Gypsy.

first time i heard the term "pikey" i thought they were talking about rip of nike trainers.

i didn't think it had anything to do with an ethnicity...more a style of aquiring things!

Pikey

The travellers we know (DP lives on an unofficial traveller site most of the time) use it among themselves, but find it offensive when used as a label by others. General consensus is that traveller is the correct term, elaborated if necessary (ie, new age, Irish, Gypsy are all groups within the travelling community)

Good old MN to-do about the term

My grandmother was from an Irish traveller family and she/we used the word pikey all the time. They used it in reference to each other and it was said only sometmes in a mildly derogative manner in the way I might call a good friend, 'silly cow'.

I suppose if you use it as an insult then it is one but the traveller community use it all the time.

Having said all that, when we visited friends in the States, their teenage son referred to himself and friends as niggers in an almost affectionate way. (They were black) Yet I would find it incredibly offensive had I heard someone white refer to him that way. I don't know...

it is a nasty word. Yet I know loads of people who think it is ok to use. i always challenge them on it.

As I said, my GM was from a traveller family and they all used it amongst themselves in the traveller community.

My Mum would call them 'the itinerants'. Is that offensive?