This morning on a motorway in Poland we were chosen as possible victims by a car load of Roma. They waved frantically at us – mother, father and grinning children – that we should pull in to the hard shoulder. Yeh right! We continued on to the service area we had already decided to stop in, pulled up at the pumps and the Roma, in a tatty old German registration vehicle, pulled up alongside. Husband spoke English, but I spoke German, asking what the problem was. “ Was ist los?” I might as well have shouted “Heil Hitler”, because they took off like a scalded cat. They obviously have a healthy respect for German. I know that with fair hair and blue eyes and a good knowledge of German, I might have appeared intimidating.
Now I realise that these wicked Roma are only a tiny percentage of the whole population. But obviously the solution is to send the whole bunch back so that the angelic 99.9% can show the remaining 0.1% naughty ones the error of their ways.
Boadicea's Chariot 
That seemed to work, Sheona. I’m the same, blue eyes and fair hair, and without even opening my mouth, I’m used to being “German” where ever I go, even in Germany!
So where do the Roma go? They seem to be unwelcome everywhere.
German is a good language to know at times. It can be quite intimidating if spoken roughly.
I’ve often had to make use of that skill on the bus in San Francisco. People just won’t move, but they
will give ground when I growl at them roughly. Were it not for that, most people would not think that I was
German. For some reason they think I’m British.
Rather think you may just have it the wrong way round sheona! Like 99% no good thieving, lying bastards and 1% angels!
Biggest mistake ever letting them out of the Balkans, they couldn’t wait to get them to leave and all thought the rest of the EU was mad, we were!
I know exactly what I would do with them but hesitate to damage the sensibilities further of some here!!!
“I know exactly what I would do with them but hesitate to damage the sensibilities further of some here!!!:
Christina, we are not worthy! 🙂
Blond genug and gut zeigen, Sheona.
Sorry for that, but I have only ever learnt Prisoner Camp German. As immortalised in ‘The Wooden Horse’.
I realise, of course, that I could have tried harder in the first six weeks of my life that I enjoyed in West Germany before Dad and Mum moved on from occupation. Never felt the urge, to be fair (genug), but still have a soft spot for my natal port of Hamburg.
Moving on again. What is so threatening about ‘Was ist los’ when weighed in the balance against our own dear ‘Are you looking at me, pal?’, ‘What’s your problem?’ ‘Do you want your head in your hands to play with?’ ‘Do you know where the nearest hospital is? Then away there and stitch that!’ Possibly initial gibberish to those who do not speak Jockthreat but usually understandable to them, in a very real and immediate sense. In due course. You surely have to admit that we are unequalled at seriously guttural and unintelligible aggression when needed.
With respect, I feel that you have failed our nation by resorting to non-Jockish in such a confrontational situation.
How do you know that they were Roma?
JM, I used German because they were in a German registered car and I actually wanted to know if there was a problem. They may have been Asian rather than Roma to judge by skin and hair colour, but I think the game is more of a Roma trick. I have used Jockish at times, as when pestered by a persistent beggar on the Ramblas in Barcelona. “You got a problem, son?” – worked a treat. But there is a colony of Roma housed in Govan, surrounded by do-gooders and paid for by us, who will have learned the “See you, Jimmie” patois.
Christina, I was being very pc, but with tongue firmly in cheek. The EU is currently having discussions with Romania and Bulgaria about their treatment of their own people so that they can be shipped back home to stay there. All EU countries could block entry for Roma if they followed EU rules – too much political correctness around.
It can be a nuisance, Araminta, when people ask you for directions in a German town you’re a stranger in too.
Backside and I are similarly Arrian in appearance. However when I worked in Austrai my German was judged to be ‘like a Dutchman’s’. I must have overdone the throat, I suppose.
Mornin’ all. i find that an aggressive Scouse-accented, “Wazzup son? Wanna wake up wid a crowd round yer?” works every time.
OZ
The treatment of the Romani diaspora over the centuries does not make for comfortable reading. I have read estimates that there are over ten million in Europe the majority of whom live in poverty. It is a huge problem which doesn’t seem to have an easy solution.
Araminta, there are quite a few instances of groups moving to other countries because of persecution and taking their skills with them, like the Huguenots. The Roma have made themselves unpopular in their own countries because of their life style and do not seem to realise that they are the ones who must change that life style if they are to be considered as reasonable members of society and not simply a bunch of thieving scumbags. The sad fact that their children are being trained to the same criminal life style does not bode well for their future, but that future is in their hands.
Ara @9 Some form of pest control?
National Geographic September 2012, Here’s a link
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/wealthy-roma/gachet-kashinsky-photography
I don’t think the majority live like that, LW, well not according to many reports I have read.
Araminta: the Jews have also had an unfortunate history which involved purges, pogroms, and genocides. Yet the Jews always managed to survive, to thrive, to bring wealth and culture to any place they lived.
I have a hard time believing that the Jews had an easier for of it than the gypsies.
Yes, Christopher, both the Jew and the Roma have similar histories of persecution, and I don’t think for one moment that the Jews have had an easier time of it, but they do seem to have been rather more successful than the Roma, as you say.
The Jews of course live by strict codes of behaviour – which perhaps distinguishes them from other persecuted minorities.
This article on The Economist is interesting, although a little dated:
http://www.economist.com/node/11579339
“I know exactly what I would do with them but hesitate to damage the sensibilities further of some here!!!:
Admirable, Tina, and I will follow your example and refrain from commenting further on this thread, lest my lefty pinko liberal tendencies offend. 😉 Although, I repeat, it’s a huge problem which does not appear to have an easy solution.
I must admit I do find it curious that that some deem it acceptable to make positive generalisations about certain ethnic/racial/religious groups but claim that negative generalisations lack foundation.
Sipu, it’s much more rational – because evidence cannot prove negatives.
In France at least people living in the area near a Roma encampment find that crime increases and that public health suffers. Two positive facts that give a negative impression.
Janus is a teapot!
I have read some very conflicting opinions about the Roma:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8226580.stm
Depends whether you believe James Randi or Stephen Hales.
Que?
Bertrand Russell wrote that if he claims that a teapot orbits the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars, it is nonsensical for him to expect others to believe him on the grounds that they cannot prove him wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot
Sipu, I’ve just been googling your epithet for me. If you are using the rhyming slang ‘teapot lid’ to mean ‘Yid’ then your comment is deliberately offensive, not to say wrong. But why let a fact get in the way of yet another slur?
Janus, I take it you had not read my explanation when you wrote your comment, so I will forgive you for jumping the gun and casting nasturtiums upon my character. I thought my ‘teapot’ remark, in response to your #19, was rather witty and certainly not offensive. I did not take into account your lack of erudition. (Now that is offensive. 😉 )
Now now sipu, you ought to know by now that slurs and insults are only allowed to emanate from Janus.
‘He don’t like them up him!’
Re roma scum.
Method of dealing with them country style.
First weld closed as many as possible gates that open onto roads to deny access, that also stops rustling.
Shoot their dogs.
If they end up on your land burn them out instantly at night.
Do not call police/social workers/ pinko liberal bleeding hearts. Once they are involved it is you who will be ‘guilty’ whatever happens.
They seem to understand that they are not wanted and leave rather hastily.
Excellent inhuman and indecent method of removal, works every time. (And doesn’t get in the newspapers!)
Indeed, Christina.
Interestingly, as of midnight tonight, squatting becomes a criminal offence in England and Wales. However, as with any law, the police have ways and means of letting the guilty go free.
And about time too. It is a dreadful headache owning property that is empty. I have been so lucky that the house in Wales was on a main corner of the town and impossible to break into without being seen by all and sundry passing by. Finally sold and completed last Friday. I am very glad to have got rid of it!
I have known of several people that just hired a gang of thugs to break in and chuck out squatters. Trouble is most people are too damned law abiding and call the police, once that is done you are ‘done for’!
Nobody in rural Wales ever calls the police if they can possibly help it, deal with it yourself, one of the big differences between Wales and England, Thank God!
Yes, but who put the rude in erudite? 🙂
Christina,I believe slurry spraying around the encampment, or even in it if it’s on your land, works well too.
I’m beginning (or finally) to lose patience with groups of people who want to live in a society, refuse to conform to that society and then scream ‘discrimination’. I’m also more than a little fed up with report after report showing that these groups are ‘disadvantaged’ and living in abject poverty. And I am really annoyed that so many people think that it is the responsibility of the society in which these people choose to live to solve the problem…
It isn’t.
The difference between the two peoples is quite simple. The Jews have conformed to the laws of the society in which they live in (except religion) and the Romas have not. The Jews have supported themselves by hard work – the Romas seem to have a culture of supporting themselves by the goods and work of others. I think Araminta’s link to the Economist shows this.
I’ve lived in two countries where there are large populations of Roma – Serbia and Romania. The same themes were apparent in each. The Roma had an extremely bad name. If you dug around a bit, the reasons were also the same. ‘Not trustworthy.’ ‘Not reliable.’ ‘Insular.’ ‘Dishonest.’ I haven’t explored deeply enough to substantiate an opinion, but for what it’s worth anyway I feel that these are learned reactions leading to prejudice rather than an ingrained prejudice like anti-semitism. It is patently clear that most Roma wish to live in a culture and by mores that is and are different to the mainstream wherever they find themselves Fine. Go ahead – but pay for it yourselves, don’t expect me to dig into my already overdug pocket.
When I was a child, every time the gypos were around the old man used to padlock the gates (wooden) and we used to lose chickens every night and anything that wasn’t nailed down until they were run out of the neighbourhood.
Nuf said!