Quote Originally Posted by Howlin Mad Missy View Post
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gypsies/rom are an ethnic group. Tyson Fury and irish tinkers, pikeys are not.
You see Missy, The thing is they see themselves as a different breed.

In Irish history the British Empire forced Irish families and tribes from their land. The famous Cromwell quote was "to hell or to Connaught." Later the British allowed Irish people to take up small plots of land with two options; convert to British rule and the Church of England or pay heavy rates to take up land.
The travellers derive from those that never took up land and refused to pay anything towards the British Empire. Rather than taking up land they lived as nomads and quickly garnered a bad reputation. This has a point, I swear

Today, Irish travellers/pikeys remain very traditional, many still live nomadic lives, they speak in a fashion which is a direct translation of the old irish language and retain old traditions such as "NA DEISE" or faction fighting.

However, my main point is they still only marry other travellers as it is seen as shameful to "breed" with anyone outside of other families they feel have endured and set themselves apart as a different breed.