[IronGiant]

I find it slightly bizarre that someone stole my caravan wheel clamp from beside my front door yesterday...

Dave

[kopchoir]

Toe rags after researching to find a new wheel after my blackpool escapades last night i find google to be inundated with citoren xsara picasso spare wheels and jacks being stolen from cars

There are some scrubbers about

[Simian Sibling]

You fool did you not use the wheel clamp wheel clamp

[Fen Star]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I find it slightly bizarre that someone stole my caravan wheel clamp from beside my front door yesterday...

Dave

On a more serious note it could be a precursor to stealing the caravan itself my advice until you get another one take a wheel of said caravan.....

[IronGiant]

I am bearing that in mind, thanks, the caravan is temporarily secured . However as they left my sons bike yet took an old metal BBQ I suspect they were, ahem, scrap metal merchants of the itinerant variety who were picking up anything they could persuade themselves was unwanted.

Dave

[SimonH]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I suspect they were, ahem, scrap metal merchants of the itinerant variety who were picking up anything they could persuade themselves was unwanted.

Dave

Dave, that is the most polite verbiage I've ever heard to describe thieving scumbags...

[Phil57]

Originally Posted by SimonH

Dave, that is the most polite verbiage I've ever heard to describe thieving scumbags...

I suspect LGS will be making an appearance soon, in defence of said 'itinerants.'

[SeanT]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I am bearing that in mind, thanks, the caravan is temporarily secured . However as they left my sons bike yet took an old metal BBQ I suspect they were, ahem, scrap metal merchants of the itinerant variety who were picking up anything they could persuade themselves was unwanted.

Dave

We had a visit from one of them a couple of months ago. Alas, they took my old car, which was minus engine and wheels. Hope they choke on the beer they buy with the money from weighing it in, as they caused more than that worth of damage to my driveway in doing so.

It would however seem that the police never managed to track down some people with a transit pickup who have someone that walks around in front of the van with a HORN blowing it and shouting "scrap men". My level of respect for these people is pretty limited now...

[IronGiant]

Ah, a Predominantly Itinerant, Knackered Iron Extricator...

[paulyoung666]

the scrap men have got clever round here , they follow the route of the bin wagon on collection day before it comes round , i was more than amazed that one knocked on the door asking if they could take away an old cooker that i was waiting to be collected for scrap

[SeanT]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

Ah, a Predominantly Itinerant, Knackered Iron Extricator...

I'm liking the irony in your forum name though (I'll get me coat!)

[riprse]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

Ah, a Predominantly Itinerant, Knackered Iron Extricator...

Gorgio khul

[Ian J]

Sarma

[Ian J]

Just to stop riprse getting her knickers in a twist every time someone mentione the p word AV Forums take the following to be the current definition:-

Pikey's most common contemporary use is not as a term for the Gypsy ethnic group, but as a catch-all phrase to refer to people, of any ethnic group, who travel around with no fixed abode.

We would prefer it of people did not refer to genuine honest Romanies as pikeys but as a descriptive word to refer to low life thieving scum who may or may not have a fixed abode - the word is useable

[riprse]

Ian, This is a derogatory term for a gypsie just as the N word is for blacks. You can put any "twist" on it you like just as top gear tried to put there take on it a few months ago after useing it on there show. Still they were forced to issue an apology & are now being investsgated for using such a racist word.
Don't patronize me. If you had to live with this kind of abuse every day of your life like I & my children do you wouldn't take it so litely.
When your child comes home from school crying because a group of kids have spent the day chanting pikey at them, I want you to tell them not to get there knickers in twist.
If the moderaters on this forum can't hold back from making racist comments then how on earth can they moderate.
Frankly Ian I don't care one jot if you like me pulling up people for being racist, however if you were doing your job I wouldn't have to do it. Pikey is a racist term for a gypsie always has been allways will be. If we added a new defintion to the N word do you think it would be any less offensive to black people.

[penno116]

For me there is a clear distinction between a gypsy and a pikey and I think most people can differentiate between the two. Whereas your argument of calling a black person the N word the same cannot be said, and I don't think the two words are comparable.

Do you feel that the word Chav is racist? because for me Pikey and Chav are in the same league, not pikey and N***** (hence the *'s).

I feel sorry for your son if he is getting bullied, however the bullies could be calling him all sorts such as a girl or gay, it is not that there is anything wrong with these two groups of people but he is still likely to cry, simply because he is being bullied.

There is nothing wrong with Gypsies or people who live on council estates, but I am not very keen on Chavs or Pikeys.


From the Urban Dictionary:

From the English "turnpike", the place where itinerent travellers and thieves would camp near a settlement.

Pikey is not a racial group, the term is used to describe anyone who lives in a caravan or shares the same values and "culture" of "the travelling community", and whose main sources of income are as follows:

Stealing cars, flogging roses in pubs for "childrens' charities", nicking lead off roofs, burgling garden sheds, blagging entry to old peoples house to rob them, doing dodgy tarmac jobs ("we've got some black stuff left over from a job up the road"), sometimes with mint imperials used as a substitute for white chippings, or, reportedly, using snow to lay slabs on when the sand ran out, stealing your b*llocks if they weren't in a bag and anything else that's not nailed down and anything that is nailed down but will fit in the back of an untaxed Transit when nobody's looking.

[riprse]

Are you telling me, a Gypsie, that a word I've been called all my life which has been use to offend isn't used as racist word. Unbelievable!

[mmayson]

Originally Posted by riprse

Are you telling me, a Gypsie, that a word I've been called all my life which has been use to offend isn't used as racist word. Unbelievable!

Not too sure why you have dragged racism into this thread? Pikey is a nickname for a group of people surely? Would it be racist to call a Greek person a Bubble? or a Welsh person Taffy? It may not be appropriate in some circumstances but racist it is not.(IMHO)

[Leej]

It's sad that nothing is safe from being nicked . Hopefully they'll get caught

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I am bearing that in mind, thanks, the caravan is temporarily secured .

Like this?

.

[AgentCool]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I find it slightly bizarre that someone stole my caravan wheel clamp from beside my front door yesterday...

Dave

A few years back, a friend of mine had the pond in his front garden stolen. Yes, that's right, the POND! Admittedly, it was just the preformed plastic shell and there was no water in it but it was pretty big and must have taken 2 or 3 people to lift it out and run down the street/to a waiting van with it!

[Nimby]

Regarding bullies: These scum rely on getting a reaction for their sick kicks. The only known reaction which undermines their psychopathic behaviour is amusement or indifference. Teach your child to smile at the taunts no matter how they hurt. Teach them that words cannot harm them. The bullies will find other prey unless you deliberately continue to send your child to school looking like an alien.

Kids are programmed to pick up on differences which offer survival advantages: Typically danger from strangers carrying untreatable diseases or hidden weapons. Your child needs to learn survival instincts of their own. Crying isn't one of them. You can't argue with bullies because they are damaged goods. You can't fight them either because they are always protected by an even lower form of scum. A smiling, confident child isn't usually picked on because there is no "fun" to be had at their expense. Try sending the kid to a safe, self defence course like Judo. Not to defend themselves but to build self confidence. My little sister flourished after joining a Judo club.

Two of the worst bullies I knew in school went straight into petty crime and then prison. Where they developed a nasty drug habit. No finer revenge could ever match seeing their emaciated, pallid appearance on emerging from their natural home. They sucked in their hollow cheeks as they chain smoked on skinny, misshapen roll-ups with shaking hands while constantly scratching at itchy sores. Justice had finally been done where teachers and headmasters had always turned a blind eye. Even when the bullying was serious physical abuse right under their own noses.

[IronGiant]

The gentleman concerned in the theft of my property is well known to the local constabulary and the terms applied to him are completely appropriate otherwise I would not have used them.

Dave

[SHOOTIST1971]

Originally Posted by mmayson

Not too sure why you have dragged racism into this thread? Pikey is a nickname for a group of people surely? Would it be racist to call a Greek person a Bubble? or a Welsh person Taffy? It may not be appropriate in some circumstances but racist it is not.(IMHO)

Well actually, the Welsh do find Taffy racist as the Scots find Jock racist too, but it's probably not for me to argue for them.

It's a bit rich for people to start telling minority groups that terms' used to describe them in a derogatory, spiteful and vicious manner for 40 years, isn't racist, just because people now lump in 'Chavs'.

Everyone (that means all of you) knows that 'Pikey' is a derogatory term. Have any of you been called a "dirty pikey" before? It's EXACTLY the same as being called the 'N' or 'P' word… the reason being that both are used by bullies, when trying to make said person feel belittled and oppressed – yes, do you remember the WWII, or haven't you got that far in the curriculum yet?

Ok, we could just let it go that it was meant as a joke towards 'Chavs' (why that's better I don't know), but I'm afraid a couple of people in this 'thread' have pretty much made it clear that they're talking about Gypsies. That's where AV Forums have a problem… some of the stereotyping has been outrageously racist and some initial comments (albiet not specific) has been by Moderators, who moderate offensive language… apparently.

Penno: "Stealing cars, flogging roses in pubs for "childrens' charities", nicking lead off roofs, burgling garden sheds, blagging entry to old peoples house to rob them, doing dodgy tarmac jobs ("we've got some black stuff left over from a job up the road"), sometimes with mint imperials used as a substitute for white chippings, or, reportedly, using snow to lay slabs on when the sand ran out, stealing your b*llocks if they weren't in a bag and anything else that's not nailed down and anything that is nailed down but will fit in the back of an untaxed Transit when nobody's looking."

Someone expalin to me how this isn't inflammatory and unhelpful?

Someone explain to me how this isn't racial sterotyping?

Someone explain to why I am a graphic designer and yet still… a gypsy?


IanJ: "We would prefer it of people did not refer to genuine honest Romanies as pikeys but as a descriptive word to refer to low life thieving scum who may or may not have a fixed abode - the word is useable" Ian, I can see where you're trying to come from, but I'm afraid you're just making the same mistake as everyone else. The most common use of the word 'pikey' is to describe a Romany Gypsy, and plenty of people out there take your words and twist your meaning. This day and age you just can't use terms like this when innocent people can be potrayed as thieves and villains.

English Romany Gypsies are NOT: New Age Travellers, Irish Travellers, Chavs, Sink Estate Dwellers, Prisoners (amazing though it seems, the prisons are full of NON-Gypsies so maybe you should all be calling yourselves Pikeys eh?), (the important one) People who live in CARAVANS!. Yes, I'm afraid – hard as it is to believe – gypsies are in fact a RACE of people. Yes, they are what they are through heritage and bloodline, not how they choose to live and plenty of us own our own houses, have an education and further education and are still called 'pikey's' every single day by people who know they are romany gypsies through school, or their family etc. It's a burden being what you are when we should be proud of our heritage. If you think that all gypsies are nomadic, then you're wrong. If you think you have to be nomadic to be a gypsy, then you're wrong. If you think you gypsies shouldn't be offended by the word 'pikey', then you are misguided and wrong.

So when you use derogatory words to describe them… it's racist. End of story.

PS. There's no point in arguing with me. You're all wrong as you don't live with the racist slurs each and every day so please don't try and patronise us by copying and pasting meanings from dictionaries.

An apology from the Moderators and Penno would be nice but I don't expect it. Also, I would insist the term 'pikey' is NOT usable anymore please. It doesn't NEED to be used and a race of people would feel happier if it wasn't used.

I enjoy using AV Forums and find it very useful and informative… hopefully I have been of some help informing everyone today

Cheers

[IronGiant]

There must be a collective noun that would be appropriate then, perhaps you could suggest one? This is a serious question, so no silliness people.

Dave

[SHOOTIST1971]

Thief?

Or… thieving ******. You could fill '*' it with whatever nastiness you wanted to, as long as it's not the 'P' word or a description of any race.

Just to reiterate; my garden shed was broken into recently and my £600 mountain bike and my lawnmower was stolen. My parents house was burgled a few years ago, and it was trashed when they (thieves) did it.

The people who did that were a lot of things, but they weren't 'pikies'. It's a non-term, because it doesn't really describe a specific person, but it does actually condemn a race of people to humiliation and derogatory sterotyping by lumping them in with 'thieves and beggars'.

PS. Cheers IronGiant for trying to sort this out in a helpful way.

[Iccz]

It's also worth mentioning that Roma, Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are protected by the Race Relations Act.

The examples of using the word "pikey" to refer to a thief etc is being justified as it's not aimed at a gypsy in a derogative way, could you still use the N word in such a way?
Saying that how you use the term is where it becomes racist is fair enough, but when you start to stereotype the term then if you call someone it, it is also derogatory to the group of people or race to which that it is commonly applied to.

[jassco]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

There must be a collective noun that would be appropriate then, perhaps you could suggest one? This is a serious question, so no silliness people.

Dave

Townie

although that might offend all the people that live in towns

[Iccz]

Originally Posted by jassco

Townie

although that might offend all the people that live in towns

What's wrong with the common term thief?
I don't see why there is such a need to use a word different to the obvious?
If you must use a different word, for whatever reason use something like larcenist perhaps?

[johntheexpat]

Originally Posted by jassco

Townie

although that might offend all the people that live in towns

My indigenous local friends have a very useful word which covers all thieves, charlatans, loud, self opinionated, obnoxious chavs.

Round here we call them Parisians. (Apparently it all stems back to the French revolution and they still bear a grudge. But feel free to adopt it as a general cover-all for those you wish to be rude about)

[johntheexpat]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

The gentleman concerned in the theft of my property is well known to the local constabulary ..............................
Dave

Your Chief Constable is the thief?