Is It Free To Insult Gypsies In Dictionaries

Weekly Agenda

Ali Mezarcıoğlu
Is It Free To Insult Gypsies In Dictionaries 14/11/2010
An issue getting big reaction from Gypsy community is brougt to agenda with a news published on our web page. There is some words insulting Gypsies like randy, greedy as mean of the word Gypsy in a dictionary published by a private publisher. There are also some idioms, which is common among society and reflecting prejudices against Gypsies, in the dictionary. In addition that, one of the idioms is published in the dictionary even it's not common among society.
The idiom "Gypsy Faith", i only see it in the dictionary for all my life, is defined with those words in the dictionary: "Suspicious and fake faith". So faith and world view of millions of Gypsies have been accepted as questionable in a trice! It is indisputable that prayerful Gypsies from all religions have been devastated because of those insulting words.
It's possible to see uses of words and idioms insulting social or ethnic groups all over the world. Societies have prejudices about eachother. These prejudices could be identify with the name of one in the eyes of the other one. People who went to Germany from Turkey to work have been suffered by virtue of prejudices describing themselves as "Barbarian Turks". Efforts to change these prejudices are stil continuing.
Similarly, it's also known that people living in different regions of Turkey have prejudices about eachother. And there also some jokes and folk songs about these prejudices. However, nobody thinks to publish these prejudices in dictionaries. Nobody writes prejudices as mean of names of ethnic or regional groups in dictionaries. On the other hand, heaven knows why, prejudices are written as mean of the word Gypsy.
There were some insulting words and idioms about Gypsies in dictionaries published at 1998-1999 by The Ministry of National Education and Turkish Linguistic Society. These words and idioms were taken out from dictionaries at the end of legal action taken by Mustafa Aksu, one of the most important representeters of Gypsy community of Turkey. However, private publishers are continuing to publish these prejudices against Gypsies in dictionaries.
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The publishers generally defend themselves on the account of the fact that words and idioms being published in the dictionaries are reflecting general perception of society. Whereas, these dictionaries are not only reflecting general perception of society. The dictionaries, being used in secondary education generally, also carry prejudices from older generations to new generations. When children, who have already been misinformed about Gypsies by their families, see idioms and words insulting Gypsies in the dictionaries used as school books, the prejudices they have about Gypsies started to be solidified.
We want to ask publishers who publish the words and idioms insulting Gypsies in their dictionaries. Please, put yourself in a childs place for a moment; a children with Gypsy origin and who is trying to have education under difficult conditions and poverty. Think that you have always feeled pain of prejudices about your society and suffered from discrimination. You have the chance to have education with help of some bonafide teachers and a few benefactor people. How will you feel when you see those words in a dictionary used as a school book?
"Gypsy: 1-A society whose origin is indefinite but being believed to migrate from India,..., mostly nomadic. Roma, Kıpti. 3-Greedy, Rapacious 4-Piker
Expressions:
Gypsy Loan: Small loan taken from someone.
Gypsy Plays, Kurd Dances: It's used for blowsy societies and places hugger-mugger
Gypsy Tent: Scrappy, scruffy places...
...
Gypsy Faith: Suspicious, insecure faith.
Gypsyness: 1. Being Gypsy. 2. Being greedy 3. Being rapacious..."
How do you feel your self honorable publisher? I am not sure that you were able to put youself in the childs place for a moment. Let's do an easier testing for you. Please, put yourself in the desk mate of the child trying to have education under difficult conditions. What kind of standpoint will he have after reading the idiom claiming even faith of his friend is fake and suspicious? Could they keep their friendship easily? Please try to understand us. Do you imagine what kind of disasters could be existed from a "small" mistake maden by you?
We hope that sensibility of the issue will be understood by everybody. Taking out of these expressions would not trivialize the dictionaries. Further more we will have respect for them if they start to share our sensibility about the issue.
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Have a nice sacrifice holiday.
Have a nice week.
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