"Pike" is a word for "road" (in American English we still use the word "turnpike" for a toll road), so "pikey" originally just meant someone who lives on the road. It is a slur, but not as bad as, say, "the N word". It refers to the Travellers (or "Mineceiri" in their own language), a nomadic ethnic group originaly descended from Catholic Irish who were driven off their land by the Protestant English. Some people aren't aware that they are a different ethnic group from the Roma, but others intentionally use the names of the two groups interchangeably as an insult to both groups. The Shelbys' mother was Romni; their father, and thus their family name, were Irish.
Aunt Polly has Tommy's personality summed up with her line "You have your mother's common sense, and your father's devilment. I can see them fighting."
So the Shelby's are gypsies because they're descended from Romani gypsies. Romani have been in the UK for centuries but the Shelby's also have Irish ancestry which explains why they don't look like Romani people in places like Romania. Not sure if their Irish ancestry is related to Irish travellers, which are sometimes also referred to as gypsies but as far as I'm aware they have different origins to the Romani
@@gingermanc98 You can't really go by there ancestry by the show, the real Shelby's that the show is based on are said to be of Irish Traveller decent (but who knows 100%? In the show there's a error straight off in Season 1, as Tommy wrongly speaks Romanian not Romani. Also it's said that at times they speak Shelta, which is spoken by Irish Travelers. I don't know if the two cultures cross over, relationship wise, unite via marriage, that they possibly could be both Irish-Romani? But it's written as being the Father was Irish-English (Traveller?), the mother Romani-Gypsy, so your guess is as good as mine.
You made me so happy to see you beginning this journey. I am huge fan and it is wonderful to see another react to this series. The Gypsy term is not as an ethnic description but as a life style. England and Ireland have gypsies.
The Shelbies are related to the Gypsies. They went mainstream but they have blood connections to the Kingdom, or whatever they call it, and this becomes more clear going forward, because this is a powerful connection that is very useful at times. Gypsies are everywhere, some look like it, some don't but many of them have a fierce loyalty, and also fierce feuds. Databyter
Arthur's dad was an Irish Traveller (tinker) and his mom's side was Romani/y (gypsy). It gets confusing, since whether Romany (which was used in the British Isles) or Traveller was used, they often called themselves gypsies. Tommy's father's side were Travellers and his mother's side were Romany, even though his paternal Aunt Polly said she was the daughter of the “Gypsy Princess” Birdie Boswell. I think it was just an instance of where they had the choice between two pejorative terms and decided to keep it simple and just use the more common of the two since they were a mix.
historically there are several families of British gypsies/Romani and no, they don't share the cultural look of easteern european romani even if many other parts are similar
You might probably enjoy Penny Dreadful too. Now that’s an underrated series (until someone starts the reaction to it). Great cast and a list of great stories.
I highly recommend reacting to the Saban's Power Rangers Movie from 2017. staring Dacre Montgomery who played Billy in stranger things, Naomi Scott who played Jasmine in the live-action Aladdin movie, Bryan Cranston who played Walter White in Breaking Bad, and Elisabeth Banks who played Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games.
Not really a insult when that what they our gypsy plus I was brought up with gypsy and they don’t see the gypsy word as a insult clearly you don’t no what your talking about plus not all gypsy our Irish you have English Scottish Welsh but unlike them they don’t make a big thing about being a gypsy unlike the Irish do common fact 😂🤣
I'm so happy you're doing this. My family is Sinti gypsy This is what you Find a lot in Germany. More dark-skinned people look like they might be from India or South American. My grandfather was in 4 concentration camps, his(my great, great ants and great great-grandmother ) 4 sisters and mother were gassed at the same time. The term gypsies comes from the people that come from India. The people from Britain and Ireland who are white moved into the culture. But they're not truly gypsies. They're Irish travelers. My family In Germany, still go on the yearly pilgrimage that gypsies do. I will be traveling soon. And I need something to watch so I will be joining your patron, Just for this, Keep up the great work. Much love from Lawton Fort Sill Oklahoma.
Travellers / Tinkers and Romany / Gypsy are two different cultures, we have both in the UK though most people can't tell the difference. The Shelby's in this story are a mix of the two. The family has links to both.
Bolster: to support, strengthen. Also to pad, stuff. Both definitions apply b/c the ranks of the police were being increased, and filled by uncorrupted officers. Cosh: a weighted small club-like weapon, much like a blackjack or baton. As others have pointed out, Tommy is smoking opium; it wasn't illegal at that point in the UK. Many WW1 vets used it to deal with their PTSD. The new barmaid isn't a "Red", she's working for the Chief Inspector. In the first episode, when they were in the bar the labor organizer (and Ada's fling) talked about the razorblades in the hat, and they showed a shot of them. The gang's name is allegedly from their use of razorblades hidden in the edges of their peaky hats, which they'd use to slice around people's eyes to blind them (hence Peaky Blinders). The term you wanted is "deadbeat" dad. Yes, "the pictures" is short for moving pictures, aka movies. Several others did a great job explaining why they're calling the Shelby family ethnic slurs. Great series... I can't wait for your reactions to the Peaky fookin' Blinders.
Did you know Aunt Polly (also in Harry Potter) was married to Captain Winters from Band of Brothers. She has unfortunately passed away in recent years.
Ok biss, we all know that you have a patreon, but you should do more minutes in RU-vid for each episode like other reactions of this show, it will be appreciated
i am from this neck of the woods & my great, great uncle ralph had his bicycle stolen by two of the real peaky blinders. they were arrested as they were in the process of trying to sell it. true story.
The peaky blinders pub is still there , closed down but i hear they are going to remodel it as a resturant , i live 3 miles away ,but i still visit the pub and the area .
Tommy needed the opium to sleep because he suffered severe ptsd. They were coal miners at home, and were digging tunnels under German lines. That’s where the hand to hand combat showed up, the Germans were digging tunnels too.
One nice goof you'll pick up on, is they occasionally use Romanian rather than Romani in season 1. They don't do a good job. They mistranslated from English to the wrong language and used poor pronunciation. They do a better job with translating to the right language in season 2. Later, they used Shelta, the language of Irish Travellers.
Most of these characters fought in the trenches of WWI and have PTSD which isn't to say they wouldn't have used opium otherwise because many people did back then.
@@bluewizzard8843 Wouldn't it more be Mole? She not a gang member passing on info, a Rat. She a crown agent, an out sider, pretending to be a insider, passing on info, a Mole.
