Thanks for the explanation Pete - One of my degrees in is Anthropology and I did some writing about the Freeborn here in the States but it never ocurred to me that someone from within the culture would use the the term Gypsy or Rom to describe an Irish traveller - in fact I'd not seen it before. The fact that "Country Irish" in the states (City folk - townspeople) use the terms interchangeably is a very sore point with the Freeborn here.

In and around NYC, we had plenty of contact with people of Rom descent who had settled somewhat such as my dad's friend who made winter camp and in his retirment, settled his whole famly in the winter camp locale. They were more than sore about being compared to the Freeborn - not something I'd recommend doing. Gadjo is not a word used that much over here but is used more in Canada. No need to explain the difference to me.

So I'm still confused - is Mally Freeborn Irish or is she Rom? Surely she isn't both is she?