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Bring Back The Gypsy Talent Title
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I mean if there were path choices for talents, it might work.
I would love this idea, this is an amazing idea.
If it is hard coded to do that then, regardless of whether people see it or not, it is in the game and so it is a problem. Perhaps it would be better, instead of having a ready made private name to just allow folks to rename any talent how they'd like, subject to the language filter. This frees Nexon legally and allows people to come up with anything they want.
You can't always assume words like "Indian" and "Gypsy" to be inherently negative.
The N-word, on the other hand, is. That's why the blacks use a version ending with an "a", to differentiate it from the original slur.
Again, a racially charged term.
That's not how Reagan used it, but everything about Trump screams "white supremacy".
Would black people make that distinction if someone from outside their community used this version, with an a, to their face?
Helsa, think of it this way:
Men often teach boys that modern street smarts dictate that it's a bad idea for men to decide to wear a handkerchief out on his butt's belt.
Why they do that is, well... I'd have to tell you not to Google it. Even if it's something from the past, modern LGBTQ culture kept it in that loop.
It works the same for white men calling them black boys N's on the streets.
They won't do it unless
A- They're stupid and are actually trying to pick a fight
B- They're trying too hard to click with the locals, and the situation became awkward, so they just back off and apologize
In reality: street smarts, communication, and observation can easily determine the situation and appropriate reaction.
If you're here in the states, we aren't actually taught that Gypsy=Romani.
It's simply not a historically accurate context for the use of the term. (Due to the wide variety of use for various nomadic groups)
We're taught the historical use and prior context, and the reasons behind that context.
Seeing as how the history of N is more or less in the past, there are some people who are okay with the term.
(Depending on when it's used or how it's communicated)
I bet the same could be said of the Romani outlook on the word of Gypsy, if Nexon had the time to ask as many as possible.
strangely the topic about learning about the N word came up in a college class I took about 10 years ago. I forget exactly how the topic came up but it was a class about improving social skills and helping you discover what career you might be interested in kind of class and my teacher was black. the only time it is acceptable for white people to use that word is if you are very good friends with people you are saying it around and if they give you permission to use that word around them. but you should still be careful when using it at all anyway and assume that it is not okay unless you are told it is okay from the black friend or friends you are with. not sure if that has changed over 10 years or not but I thought the information was interesting to learn at the time. also have to be extremely careful to only use the version that ends with an a because the other version of the word is still extremely offensive no matter what the situation is. sorry if any of this information is inaccurate and not trying to offend anyone, this is just what my class was taught.
Damn my dad was racist as hell. smh.
I believe it it was meant to call them people from the Niger River region, as many of the captured people were loaded from that region of West Africa. Of course, there were people from different nations from all over Africa that was captured and sold on the western coast. And that is how people justified using that word back then (and even today). Of course, it can't really be justified because with DNA testing, some people were traced to have their ancestral origins from various parts of Africa and even beyond. Unfortunately, there are some people who just can't be traced, either their lineage really started from the Americas or records were just lost. This is but just 1 reason why it is wrong to use that term. But of course, not the main reason why it's wrong to use that term.
From Nexon's point of view, it is prudent to not use the term. Why would they invite potential bad press or even litigation when they can utterly avoid it; they have nothing to gain from it and plenty to lose. Arguments of: Romani just shouldn't feel offended and it would be really cool to me and people who agree with me, are not going to sway them, regardless of whom has the last say on the matter.
Sometimes having prudence and pragmatism is for the better.
Records have been historically notorious as easily burned in fires or lost to raids.
The N word was historically used to outright persecute and berate others, unlike how gypsy became a general term for nomads.
There were still some who might've used the term to offend, but if you ask me... How could you offend a nomad, by calling them a nomad?
Seems rather counter intuitive if you see gypsy through that definition, rather than as calling a white elf NPC bard a Romani.
By calling them gypsies when they're not.
One does not simply decide to settle down, and still remain defined as a nomad. At that point, your tribe has settled.
Henceforth, if any of the Romani decide to settle, then they're indeed no longer considered nomads.
So by then it's still nothing to be offended about.
Look at the bottom of the article, and try to see things from ye old civilian's perspective.
You lived in a hovel on a filthy street, and these homeless people came in on wagons to peddle wares, making more money than you in a day.
Now, looking at their occupations at the time, and knowing the old views on poor folk...
Why wouldn't gypsy have been used as an all around insult to nomads at that time?
"Many Sinti and Roma traditionally worked as craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, cobblers, tinkers, horse dealers, and toolmakers. Others were performers such as musicians, circus animal trainers, and dancers.* By the 1920s, there was also a small, lower-middle class of shopkeepers and some civil servants, such as Sinti employed in the German postal service. The numbers of truly nomadic Gypsies were on the decline in many places by the early 1900s, although so-called sedentary Gypsies often moved seasonally, depending on their occupations.**"
*= This is the key part of history that fantasy writers focus on, not the historical wrongs towards the tribes, also without intent to name drop or offend. (Through utilizing gypsy as a general term)
**= Sedentary is abiding in one place; not migratory. So, these were likely the ancestors of our modern, less nomadic Romani.
"They were called Gypsies because Europeans thought they came from Egypt."
If they didn't come from Egypt, then why did they get offended? Are they even still offended?
If we keep insisting that the Romani are, or should be offended by a positive change in the view of the word, then it's not really helping either side of the argument if they don't actually have a way to communicate with us.
The issue is that people (especially the racist and ignorant) will still refer to them as gypsies even after they've settled down, in which I go back to my example in Italy. There are those who have settled down after gaining status, but the anti-immigrant people trying to drive them out will still refer to them as Romani/gypsies and would not allow them to be incorporated into Italian society. And that is exactly where some people will take offense to. And of course there will be offense being called something you're not.
Namecalling has nothing to do with origins and history. Just like derogatory use of the N word has nothing to do with people's origins.
In Mabinogi, I still believe "Gypsy" was scripted as a fantasy driven correct term.
After all, elves descend from Connous, which is a desert like place- similar to Egypt.
So while the Romani in real life are upset with outsiders utilizing the term, the Bard Camp NPCs seemed to have been fine with it.
They're aware of how others see them: As nomads who dance, sing, and play music.
Also unlike the Romani who hate the term, elves are naturally fair skinned.
They're legally more representative of the original use for "gypsy" than the Romani people.
It's pretty ironic, if you ask me.
But that's this world isn't it? Just full of hypocrisy that makes it feel like a fictional world with non real peoples have a better life than real people do. Well, that's why it's "Fantasy Life" I guess.
Fantasy is fictional for a reason, as it does not reflect reality- it's merely inspired by it.
(And yes, authors also intend it to make people feel better.)
Yes. Unless you're Eminem. Then you can get away with it.
The N-word is a corruption of the word "*blocked*", used to refer to people classified as Negroid.
Well, you can guess the word (odd that the forum accepts the oid suffix one).
The difference with Gypsy is that it has more than one official use; the N-word doesn't (N-word ending with an a isn't official terminology)
Everyone knows that history, they already know it was bad, and it easily becomes predictable to the story.
So they'd much rather desire to hear a complicated story of characters who wear beautiful silk and belly revealing clothing from an unfamiliar, circus like setting. Even if those character's endings are tragic, they're always part of some greater mystery for the hero to solve.