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1. Originally referred to poor, homeless itinerant workers in the USA. These original hobos travelled from town to town seeking temporary employment, usually along the lines of physical labour. They are traditionally associated with freighthopping (illegally riding in the carriages of freight trains). See also drifter, vagabond and okie.
2. Nowadays commonly used throughout the English-speaking world to refer to any homeless person. See also bum, tramp and beggar.
Traditional hobos are often romanticized in popular culture, for example in the books "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac and in the music of Woody Guthrie.
The portrayal of modern homeless people, however, is usually much less favourable, with a widespread belief that homelessness is self-inflicted and that these "bums" should "just get jobs".
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Originally a derogatory term for Romani people, who were known by the British population as gypsies because it was falsely believed that they originated from Egypt.
With the arrival of Irish Travellers in Britain, the terms "gyppo" and "gypsy" were also applied to these people.
Nowadays the term "gyppo", like "pikey", is often used as an insult to refer to anyone who is perceived to be poor, dirty, smelly and/or inclined to theft.
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A mildly derogatory term used by Australians and Kiwis to refer to the English people. The term originates from the abbreviation "PoHM", which stood for "Prisoner of Her Majesty" and was used to describe the convicts shipped from Britain and Ireland to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term was turned on its head, and is used in reference to the fact that the English are still, in the 21st century, stuck in Britain, while the Australians are now free from the British Government, living in independent Australia.
It's pronounced like "pom".
We're definitely gonna beat the Pohms at cricket!
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1. In France, "métis" is a general word referring to anyone who is mixed race.
2. In Canada and the northern USA, the Métis are a distinct ethnic group, descended from French and Scottish men who married Amerindian (mostly Cree, Ojibwa and Algonquin) women.
There are around 390,000 people in Canada who identify as belonging to the Métis people: around 1.3% of the Canadian population.
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1. The Italian name for Rome, the capital city of Italy.
2. A traditionally nomadic people, also known as Romani, who left the Indian Subcontinent in around the 11th century and migrated to Europe. Nowadays they are found throughout Europe, with especially large populations in Andalusia, the Balkans and Central Europe. They have experienced much discrimination (known as antiziganism) throughout history, and were systematically murdered in the Holocaust alongside Jews. The Roma have their own language, which is more closely related to Hindi and Gujarati than to any European language. The similarity between the names of the Roma and the Romanians is purely coincidental, although there is a large Roma population in Romania. The Roma are sometimes known in English as gypsies, due to a historic belief that the Roma originated in Egypt.
1. "Roma" is the Italian name for Rome.
2. There are around 650,000 Roma in Spain, 540,000 in Romania, 500,000 in France, 370,000 in Bulgaria and 210,000 in Hungary.
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1. Originally used in Spanish to refer very specifically to a person of 50% European and 50% Amerindian descent.
2. Nowadays used to refer to any Hispanic person of mixed Amerindian and European descent, regardless of proportions. Sometimes even used as a general term for any Hispanic person of mixed racial origins.
3. Sometimes used to refer to the Hispanic culture of the Americas (as it is a mix of different indigenous, European and African cultures).
The cognate word in Portuguese is mestiço, while in French it is métis.
1. "Mestizo" was just one category in the very complex system of racial categorization used by the Spanish Empire.
2. Most people in Mexico, Central America, Ecuador, Colombia and Paraguay are mestizo, while in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay most people are just of European descent, and in Peru and Bolivia most people are Amerindians.
3. "We are one single mestizo race from Mexico to the Magellan Straits." - Ernesto "Che" Guevara
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1. <noun> A person from New Zealand. The term is very commonly used because the alternative, "New Zealander", is perceived as being kind of long and cumbersome.
2. <adjective> From, of or relating to New Zealand. This term is very commonly used because the country of New Zealand doesn't really have any other adjective ("New Zealandic" or "New Zealandish" are not correct).
3. <noun> A small, brown flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand. A common national symbol for New Zealand.
4. <noun> A fruit (also known as a "kiwifruit", a "Chinese gooseberry" or a "melonette") which originates from southern China, but is today grown in many parts of the world, notably Italy and New Zealand.
1. Kiwis have cooler accents than Aussies!
2. A Kiwi family moved in next door.
3. I'd love to see a kiwi in the wild.
4. A single kiwi isn't much of a lunch!
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