Well, here we go with Wikipedia again... (bolding mine)
Quote:
Irish Travellers (sometimes known as tinkers because they worked repairing tin ware) are a nomadic or itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. They refer to themselves as the Pavee. It is estimated 25,000 Travellers live in Ireland, 15,000 in Great Britain and 7,000 in the United States....
In Ireland and in Britain Travellers are often referred to (offensively) as tinker or knacker, these terms refer to services that were traditionally provided by the Travellers: tinkering (or tinsmithing) being the mending of tin ware such as pots and pans, and knackering being the acquisition of dead or old horses for slaughter. Irish Travellers are sometimes incorrectly referred to as Gypsies in Ireland and in Britain (the term, arguably offensive, more accurately refers to the Roma people, represented in Britain by the Romanichal and Kale). The derogatory terms pikey and gyppo (derived from Gypsy) are also heard in Great Britain whilst the term creamer is occasionally used in Ireland.
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You learn something every day... thanks for enlightening me, folks.
And Cyn: I agree. American English can be a bit too vague for me sometimes (even though it's my native language).
/looks for equivalent of "hippie" in Icelandic dictionary...