Frank Sinatra circa 1958

The other day I found a clip of a VTuber talking about expanding beyond their typical music taste. In this case they had heard a small snippet of a song by Frank Sinatra somewhere, and decided to check it out. The song? It's Nice To Go Trav'ling from the Come Fly With Album. The clip took a turn that I found a bit surprising.

The VTuber stated that they really liked the song… It was basically a silly piece of music, one they even had a thought of covering. Until they heard one verse, a verse that changed everything. Why? Well, as they stated, Frank said a slur word. And he didn't just say it once, he said it three times!

Frank Sinatra uttering a slur? In a song? A song on a record from a major recording label? A recording from 1958? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I had to understand what has going on. So I looked up the song lyrics, and what I encountered was quite a bit more complicated than I would have initially thought.

The lyric in question is:

It's quite the life to play gypsy And roam as gypsies will roam It's quite the life to play gypsy But your heart starts singin' when your homeward wingin' 'cross the foam

This wasn't my first time encountering the interpretation of this term for the Romani people as a slur. But, as with many situations there is more to this than one might expect, or at least I expected from the context.

On The Surface

If you search the web for the phrase “is [redacted] word a slur”, you will likely find articles like Why It’s Time to Stop Saying “Gypsy”, which claim:

To answer your question about this frequently Googled term, the short answer is yes, absolutely. The word is as a racial slur against the Roma people, the PC term for gypsy.

Reading this article, I was immediately put on alert. Anytime someone decides to take an absolute position, it seems more likely they will have reached a conclusion that is, at best, dismissive of part of the information that is available.

The Etymology

This was where I took a look at the word from an etymological standpoint. Why? Because our language has history. Contextual use of language based in history is frequently ignored when people take a stand, especially an absolute stand.

Enter Grammarphobia with the article: Is ‘Gypsy’ a slur?. This article very clearly documents that the origins of the word were used in a pejorative manner:

The earliest form of the word in English, which the Oxford English Dictionary dates to the 1530s, was “Gipcyan,” an abbreviated version of “Egyptian.” […] And many early appearances of “Gypsy” in English were highly pejorative because, as OED citations show, these itinerant foreigners were often viewed with contempt and mistrust, suspected of crimes, and driven away.

But, then there are some turns and twists in the story:

In later use, Oxford adds, “gypsy” (by this time lowercased) was used playfully rather than contemptuously for a woman, “and applied esp. to a brunette.” All those uses have died out.

But since then “gypsy” (also spelled “gipsy”) has acquired several more meanings, none of them pejorative. Most date from around the mid-20th century, [...]

And it's these meanings that many of us are more familiar, and are likely the origin of the verse in the Frank Sinatra song:

1) Someone who’s free-spirited or doesn’t live in one place for long.

2) A person with a career or way of life that’s itinerant or unconventional, especially a part-time or temporary college faculty member or a performer in the chorus line of a theatrical production.

So, there it is, the likely reason the song contains (the Sammy Cahn penned) lyric that is interpreted as containing slurs. These definitions are the likely reason Frank Sinatra sang them: they were understood as meaning carefree and free-spirited.

I think it's safe to say the conclusion that Grammarphobia states, was likely the prevailing thought in the 1950s-1960s:

Our conclusions are that that “Gypsy” (with a capital “G”) is offensive to some people, and should be used with caution if at all. It should be avoided entirely if any ethnic connection is implied; instead, the words “Roma” or “Romani” should be used. Meanwhile, the non-ethnic uses of “gypsy” (with a lowercase “g”) should not be condemned.

Final Twist

So, if I were to take Grammarphobia's conclusion that should be the end of the discussion, right? Not exactly, there was still another piece of context to consider. And, it's the context that the VTuber was most likely having the strongest reaction to when they condemned Frank for using a slur.

The VTuber in question is British, and their understanding of the Romani people is likely very different from the majority of people in North America. We have long prided ourselves on being open and welcoming to immigrants and itinerant peoples (despite what our current government would have you believe).

This is not to say that we are in any way perfect. There are plenty of examples of distressing things that have happened to immigrants in this country (no example is louder than the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II). There is no debate on this topic. However, on the whole, we have a better track record compared to many countries.

The Romani in Europe, however, have had to endure what appears to have been a ceaseless stream of racism, and distrust. One of the worst cases was the Romani Holocaust (aka Porajmos) by Germany in World War II. But, there are systemic biases and racism that remain throughout Europe to this day.

While there are efforts underway to try to establish the Romani in Europe, there is a very long path ahead for tensions to be reduced. I would likely say that it is going to take several more generations.

Which is where this VTuber comes back in to the picture. They are part of a generation that is being more sensitive to these issues. And for that they are to be applauded. Seeing that this particular song would likely be seen as being incredibly insensitive to the Romani, they are right to take a pass on it.

Although, maybe there's a way to change the verse to remove the stigma? Perhaps this would work?

It's quite the life to play carefree And roam as nomads will roam It's quite the life to be at ease But your heart starts singin' when your homeward wingin' 'cross the foam

---

Category: #Essay Tags: #music, #vtuber, #history, #romani, #sinatra,