Romanian Roma Community to Fight Discrimination Through Dictionary Definition Change

Romania's Roma population has stepped up pressure for political correctness, hoping to make the word "gypsy" an insult. Photo by bGNES

Romania's Roma population has demanded a change in the dictionary entry for the word "gypsy" in a bid to fight discrimination.

Romania's estimated 1.5 million Roma citizens have insisted that the nation's leading dictionary should add "pejorative" to its definition of the word "Gypsy" as "people with bad habits", according to reports of international news agencies.

The step is aimed at phasing out the use of the word "gypsy" which allegedly has negative connotations attached to it and encourages discrimination.

Romanians, as well as Bulgarians, use the word "gypsy" to refer to somone who is uncouth or dishonest.

Dictionary editor Eugen Simion told the Romania Libera daily Wednesday the change would be made, but warned it would not wipe out use of the word's pejorative meaning among Romanian speakers.

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