History UsefulNotes / IrishTravellers

In Britain, Irish Travellers are legally considered a separate ethnicity from the settled Irish community. In Ireland, they are not. This is why references in Irish media are made to 'the Travelling community' and 'the Settled community'. All of this a political hot potato.

* ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': The murder at the heart of one episode was tied to an attempt to cover up a business deal between two families of Travellers. The deal being the arrangement of a marriage between two ten-year-olds so that a "dowry" could be exchanged to pay off some business debts.

** James May once scolded one of the other hosts for using a hammer to fix a car, saying that a hammer is "a pikey's tool," which goes a bit beyond [[UnfortunateImplications Unfortunate ]]''[[UnfortunateImplications Implications]]''. For shame.

* One infamous episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' had Irish Travelers [[RecycledInSpace in SPACE]] via a group of "neo-transcendentalist" colonists known as the Bringloidi (Bringloid being Irish Gaelic for "dream"). They're about as stereotypical as you can get: slovenly, ignorant, and disruptive, led by a drunkard trying to marry off his nagging daughter. The script was approved by an Irish-American, but plenty of other Irish folks weren't amused.

* The Irish children's series by Kenneth Bird about a talking dog called Himself, whose owner is a tinker. The ongoing prejudice against tinkers is brought up several times in the series.

* In ''HotFuzz'', a group of Travellers is what ruins the original Village Of The Year contest for Sandford and drives Inspector Butterman's wife to suicide.

* In ''TheGoldenCompass'' (aka ''HisDarkMaterials''), an alternate universe counter-part of the Irish Travellers are called gyptians (derived from the word "Egyptian," and oddly their lingo is referred to as "fen-Dutch," so presumably their ethnicity is a blend). They spend their time traveling the waterways of the British Isles play a large role in helping the protagonist Lyra as she searches for her lost friend (many of their own children having been taken as well). Some Travellers take such a shine to her that she is generally considered an unofficial member of their people. The word "[[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Gypsy]]" is derived from a mistaken belief that the Romani people were descended from Egyptians. Thus, "gyptian" is probably an alternate-universe derivation along much the same lines.

* ''{{Chocolat}}'' has a band of Travellers living in riverboats, whose leader is played by JohnnyDepp. They are discriminated against by the townspeople and the conservative mayor denounces them as godless and a bad influence. The protagonist strives to overcome this prejudice, in accord with her role as the BlitheSpirit. In the book the film was based on, where the person inveighing against the Travellers is the local ultra-conservative priest, who basically rules the town through fear until the protagonist shows up, so his denunciations of godlessness have more force to them. Also, he sets fire to all of the Travellers' barges--twice. Even the chapters from his point of view, when contrasted with what the reader actually knows about the Travellers, show his bigotry to be hysterical, irrational and dead wrong.

** This has some basis in our reality as well, as many Medieval Histories of Ireland and Scotland traced the Gaelic Peoples as a whole ultimately back to an Egyptian Princess [Scoti] in much the same way Britain was traced back to Brutus.

First off, don't call a Traveller a "Gypsy." It's a derogatory word, and just about the most offensive way you can possibly refer to an Irish Traveller. Only the word "pikey" might be worse, but that only happens in Britain. "Knacker" is another well known derogatory term. Some Travellers today are significantly more offended by "knacker" than "gypsy". Older works might call them "Tinkers," from the fact that a lot of them used to be itinerant tinsmiths. This is also considered offensive. The proper word is "Pavee," not that you'll hear it used much.

An alternate term for Irish Travellers is "Pavee." Terms such as "gypsy," "pikey," and "knacker" are derogatory and will be taken as offensive by an Irish Traveller. The term "tinker" (from the Travellers' historical trade of tinsmithing) is seen as less derogatory by some, but not by all.

* In ''TheGoldenCompass'' (aka ''HisDarkMaterials''), an alternate universe counter-part of the Irish Travellers are called gyptians (derived from the word "Egyptian," and oddly their lingo is referred to as "fen-Dutch," so presumably their ethnicity is a blend). They spend their time traveling the waterways of the British Isles play a large role in helping the protagonist Lyra as she searches for her lost friend (many of their own children having been taken as well). Some Travellers take such a shine to her that she is generally considered an unofficial member of their people.
** The word "[[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Gypsy]]" is derived from a mistaken belief that the Romani people were descended from Egyptians. Thus, "gyptian" is probably an alternate-universe derivation along much the same lines.

An alternate term for Irish Travellers is "Pavee." Terms such as "gypsy," "pikey," and "knacker" are derogatory and will be taken as offensive by an Irish Traveller.

The fact that Irish Travellers are culturally ''different'' from most other Caucasians is where a lot of the media bias comes from.

First off, don't call a Traveller a "Gypsy." It's a derogatory word, and just about the most offensive way you can possibly refer to an Irish Traveller. Only the word "pikey" might be worse, but that only happens in Britain. "Knacker" is another well known derogatory term. Some Travellers today are significantly more offended by "knacker" than "gypsy". Older works might call them "Tinkers," from the fact that a lot of them used to be itinerant tinsmiths. This is also considered offensive. The proper word is "Pavee," not that you'll hear it used much.

* There is a passing reference to Travellers in the novel TheBookOfKells. John goes back to the present and sees a family in Dublin that look like they could be descendants of Ailesh and himself.

* In ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', a clan of Travellers (and their champion bareknuckle fighter in particular) plays a big role. They're all liars and con-men, but so is every other character in the film. It's a GuyRitchie movie; if there's a moral high ground, the Travellers are probably the ones occupying it, especially considering that they're up against a LondonGangster who's a CompleteMonster.

* Despite the name, the RealityShow ''BigFatGypsyWeddings'' actually tends to depict Irish Travellers, though it has followed people of UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} descent on occasion.

** The word "[[UsefulNotes/{{Romnia}} Gypsy]]" is derived from a mistaken belief that the Romani people were descended from Egyptians. Thus, "gyptian" is probably an alternate-universe derivation along much the same lines.

* In ''{{Snatch}}'', a clan of Travellers (and their champion bareknuckle fighter in particular) plays a big role. They're all liars and con-men, but so is every other character in the film. It's a GuyRitchie movie; if there was a moral high ground, the Travellers were probably the ones occupying it.