Re: Nazis

Dan Jones
>john Cowan wrote:
>
> > Dan Jones scripsit:
> >
> > > They ignored the fact that I also studied French and Italian. And that
>I'm
> > > dark and stocky with a mediterranean complexion. And I was called gay
>and
> > > gyppo (no idea why). Ironic, I was the gay Nazi gyppo from France!
> >
> > "Gyppo" = "Gypsy".  Probably because of your appearance.
>
>Actually, they called me "tatter", Warwickshire for gypsy. I "translated"
>it
>as gyppo, theorising that those who don't come from the wet hilly bits of
>England won't know what I'm talking about.
>
>FWIW, Low Saxon (Plattish) dialect for "gypsy" is "tater".
Hm, in Swedish we have _tattare_, which until the 1800s meant "Gypsy", but
then came to refer to people who weren't ethnically Gypsies but still
practized a gypsy-style lifestyle. Proper Gypsies was then called
"zigenare", which's now usually replaced by "romer" (cf "romani"), at least
in newspapers and such.

"Tattare", and in all likelihood also "Tater" and "tatter", is derived from
"Tatar". This, like "Gypsy", is due to a faulty identification.

                                                        Andreas
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