<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40499"><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40985">"<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40620" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40622" class="">I suggest that you do some research into the countless number </span></i><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41022"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40624" class="">of times that "progressive" people have screwed over minorities who </span></i><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41023" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;">weren't in their own demographic."</i></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40698">Inapplicable analogy. By"screwing" you mean political or economic discrimination. Contra dancers are not of any particular demographic. and are not "screwing" people not in their own demographic.</span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41027"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40980" class="">Please re-read the messages pointing out that in Europe, particularly, </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40984" class="">"gypsy" still definitely gets used as a hateful slur.</span></i><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><font face="Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41229">The connotations of words vary from country to country. Without more information about the extent to which and in what nations/regions "gypsy" has serious negative connotations, Judgment should be withheld based on undocumented comments in this thread. </font></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><font face="Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41883">Quite a few callers form our side of the Atlantic have called in Europe. We have not input from them about how or if the dance figure we call gypsy has been handled.</font></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><font face="Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40699"><font face="Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_41992">This discussion may leave all our dance gypsies nameless</font></div><div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40497"> </div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446099123190_40484">Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217 239 5844</div> <br><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> On Thursday, October 29, 2015 8:51 AM, Aahz Maruch via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container">On Wed, Oct 28, 2015, Michael Fuerst via Callers wrote:<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> I have been contra dancing for 30 years or so and this is the first<br clear="none">> time I've encountered a question about "gypsy" being controversial.<br clear="none">> The people who contra dance on average are well left of center<br clear="none">> politically--people who would never use an ethnically offensive<br clear="none">> word.(Finding a bumper sticker at a contra dance gathering supporting<br clear="none">> a Republican candidate is quite impossible.)As you noted, language<br clear="none">> evolves, and the use of "gypsy" in contra dancing never had any<br clear="none">> offensive baggage or intent. Given the thousands of left-wing contra<br clear="none">> dancers who have guiltlessly gypsied over the years, having a single<br clear="none">> individual (who may not well be a member of the allegedly offended<br clear="none">> group) come to a dance, and for some reason makes the connection she<br clear="none">> did, does not seem adequate to drop the word.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><belly laugh> Your suggestion that progressive people promoting<br clear="none">political correctness always stick to their progressive principles is<br clear="none">risible. I suggest that you do some research into the countless number<br clear="none">of times that "progressive" people have screwed over minorities who<br clear="none">weren't in their own demographic.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">To save you a bit of time, here's one specific example that consumed<br clear="none">large amounts of time and emotional energy in one of my other social<br clear="none">groups:<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://fanlore.org/wiki/RaceFail_%2709" target="_blank">http://fanlore.org/wiki/RaceFail_%2709</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">> Your examples of "nigger" and "faggot" are not comparable, as they are<br clear="none">> today often sill used with intended hate.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Please re-read the messages pointing out that in Europe, particularly,<br clear="none">"gypsy" still definitely gets used as a hateful slur. And I don't know<br clear="none">enough about *ALL* of American culture to presume that "gypsy" isn't used<br clear="none">that way here in significant subcultures. Certainly "gyp" (as a verb)<br clear="none">does get used.<br clear="none">-- <br clear="none">Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 <a shape="rect" href="http://rule6.info/" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/</a><br clear="none"> <*> <*> <*><br clear="none">Help a hearing-impaired person: <a shape="rect" href="http://rule6.info/hearing.html" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/hearing.html</a><div class="yqt9407402864" id="yqtfd06479"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Callers mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net" href="mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net">Callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net" target="_blank">http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>