The reaction to the UK company’s surname blacklist shouldn’t overshadow Ireland’s own discrimination against Travellers
I was well into my adult years when I realised a word that I, and every other Derry child I knew, had been using as an insult was actually a name. The word, which I won’t repeat here, was used to denote people or actions that were trashy, uncivilised, poor or dishevelled.
You could be called this word if you had scuffed trainers, or if your school uniform had gone a little threadbare. I was called this word if my hair was unkempt, and I used it on others if they took a few crisps too many from a charitably proffered packet.
