Gipsy Proverb--Common Proverbs in Gipsy Dress--Quaint
Sayings--Characteristic Rommany Picture-Phrases.

Every race has not only its peculiar proverbs, sayings, and catch-words,
but also idiomatic phrases which constitute a characteristic chiaroscuro,
if not colour. The Gipsies in England have of course borrowed much from
the Gorgios, but now and then something of their own appears. In
illustration of all this, I give the following expressions noted down
from Gipsy conversation:--

_Tacho like my dad_. True like my father.

_Kushto like my dad_. Good like my father.

This is a true Gipsy proverb, used as a strongly marked indication of
approbation or belief.

_Kushto bak_. Good luck!

As the Genoese of old greeted their friends with the word _Guadagna_! or
"Gain!" indicating as Rabelais declares, their sordid character, so the
Gipsy, whose life is precarious, and who depends upon chance for his
daily bread, replies to "Sarishan!" (good day!) with "Kushto bak!" or
"Good luck to you!" The Arabic "Baksheesh" is from the same root as bak,
_i.e_., bacht.

_When there's a boro bavol_, _huller the tan parl the waver rikk pauli
the bor_. When the wind is high, move the tent to the other side of the
hedge behind it.

That is to say, change sides in an emergency.

"_Hatch apre! Hushti! The prastramengro's wellin! Jal the graias
avree! Prastee_!"

"Jump up! Wide awake there! The policeman's coming! Run the horses
off! Scamper!"

This is an alarm in camp, and constitutes a sufficiently graphic picture.
The hint to run the horses off indicates a very doubtful title to their
possession.

_The prastramengro pens me mustn't hatch acai_.

The policeman says we mustn't stop here.

No phrase is heard more frequently among Gipsies, who are continually in
trouble with the police as to their right to stop and pitch their tents
on commons.

_I can hatch apre for pange_ (_panj_) _divvuses_.

I can stop here for five days.

A common phrase indicating content, and equivalent to, "I would like to
sit here for a week."

_The graias have taddered at the kas-stoggus_--_we must jal an
durer_--_the gorgio's dicked us_!

The horses have been pulling at the hay-stack--we must hurry away--the
man has seen us!

When Gipsies have remained over night on a farm, it sometimes happens
that their horses and asses--inadvertently of course--find their way to
the haystacks or into a good field. _Humanum est errare_!

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