Finding the right words to describe people is tricky

FEW subjects excite more controversy among Romani activists than terminology. The traditional word “Gypsy” is seen as pejorative by some and inaccurate by others though some Romanies robustly defend its use. Outsiders often use it to mean anyone with a traditional itinerant lifestyle (it retains that meaning in English law). It is now largely out of fashion, especially in bureaucratic circles where the favoured new term is “Roma”. Strangely in an age that prizes gender-neutral language, that is the literal plural of “Rom”, a Romany word meaning man or husband.

The old adjective “Romany” or the newer “Romani” can be used as a noun, which is better (and preferred by this newspaper), but still tricky. In many languages it is all but identical to the word for “Romanian”. Everyone involved finds that tiresome. One way round that is to double the “r”, producing words like “Rromani”. That is a handy way of representing the two different “r” sounds in some Romanian dialects. But it looks too odd to catch on. …