michele Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Formula One commentator Martin Brundle is being investigated by media watchdog Ofcom after using the term "pikeys" in a television broadcast. But where does the word come from and how offensive is it? It's a word very rarely heard on television. In an interview with Bernie Ecclestone before Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Brundle referred to repairs being made to the track. "There are some pikeys out there putting down new tarmac at Turn 10. Are they out of the way yet?" Ofcom said it had received seven complaints and ITV apologised to viewers. Brundle isn't the first media figure to be condemned for using the word, which is considered insulting by the traveller community. The OED says it's an offensive term Last year on ITV's Hell's Kitchen, chef Marco Pierre White said: "I don't think it was a pikey's picnic tonight." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its first use in print was in the Times in 1837, referring to strangers who had come to the Isle of Sheppey island to harvest. Later that century it meant a "turnpike traveller" or vagabond. But in more recent years it has become a term of abuse and in the eyes of the law using it can even be deemed a racist offence, given its association with Irish travellers and Roma Gypsies. In December, at Lewes Magistrates' Court, Lee Coleman, 28, admitted using racially-aggravated threatening words and behaviour after a row with a nightclub manageress. He had told her: "I'm not paying you, pikey." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carioca Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 dont know where pikeys come from but i know where they all were over the weekend just down the road from me @ appleby horse fair :$ :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 hi Michele The pikey word might not be on the telly but is used quite a lot down thissy way. It refers to a not particularly nice type of traveller who will knock on your door to sell you something while his mate is in your shed knicken it.I think the only people to object to the term are the ones who are it. Mick H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 carioca - 2008-06-11 5:28 PM dont know where pikeys come from but i know where they all were over the weekend just down the road from me @ appleby horse fair :$ :$ Have you looked in your shed lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohgrandma Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Hi Mick, Welcome back, By the way I live down thissy way, and I have never heard the term Pikey,,, I am off to look in my shed, Ria. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carioca Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Have you looked in your shed lately. no they wont be in there their sheds have wheels on (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 ohgrandma - 2008-06-11 5:39 PM Hi Mick, Welcome back, By the way I live down thissy way, and I have never heard the term Pikey,,, I am off to look in my shed, Ria. (lol) Thank you nice to know I,ve been missed. Been some places but most dont seem to have wireless connectios to the net. Mick H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohgrandma Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Hi, Are they horse drawn, had some of them round this way, 2 weeks ago, Ria. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohgrandma Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 In other words Mick, You have been on your travels, (lol) (lol) Will there now be some picture quiz's. Ria, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 I had a friend and she was my conductress she was black & she would hang off the back of the old RMs down town good old Hackney Dalston Market and shout to anyone who annoyed her in the course of her collecting fares some rather rude racist words her favorite one was the N word .. One day I said to her you cant call black people that julie she said yes I can I said but your black puzzled ,she said yes, but I am not a N ...i never made sense of that yet .. I thought it was rude to use the terminology Gypo's now apparently its Pyky's i have to laugh because in the snatch film Brad Pitt plays it fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 the word is short for a turnpike traveller which stems back a couple of centurys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Shed? What shed? Hey - where is ours??! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Sparkle - 2008-06-15 2:14 AM Shed? What shed? Hey - where is ours??! 'sniff' Anybody wanna buy a shed. Anon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9withdogs Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Mick H. - 2008-06-15 2:04 PM Sparkle - 2008-06-15 2:14 AM Shed? What shed? Hey - where is ours??! 'sniff' Anybody wanna buy a shed. Anon. ..and what's inside the shed... shall we look through the keyhole... "who would own a shed like this?" spoken in a very dodgy Lloyd Grossman accent :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I thought somebody said that the threads are getting boring. Mick H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I thought he was refering to DADS ARMY PIKEY!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick H. Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 maggyd - 2008-06-15 3:14 PM I thought he was refering to DADS ARMY PIKEY!! Stupid boy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Travellers/Pikeys are a seperate community with their own customs and beliefs and many of them are exactly like ourselves. As honest and hard working as ourselves, clean and tidy too, but as with our own community there are some rouges amongst them, well maybe a lot because what you have is several nationalities of them each nationality with a different set of morals Most criticisms of the pikey community stem from a complete lack of knollege of their customs and way of life, they are qiuet clever people too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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