Gypsies aren't a race, what they do is a lifestyle. Kinda like classical pirates and brigand bands. But while the latter examples have disappeared for the most part in Europe, gypsies are still a plague upon law and order.
> Gypsies aren't a race, what they do is a lifestyle
I said the exact same thing for like 20 years. Until I realized that this thought is utterly racist. Luckily, I was disgusted about myself and my environment where this is a normal thought, and improved, instead of doubling down.
You've just called a behavior based on a name of an ethnic group. You cannot be more racist than that.
I think some people simply aren't aware that "G**y" references the Roma (and is also considered a slur by most), because they associate it with the negative stereotypes which have been ascribed to them.
Gypsy seems to reference at least a dozen or so different groups of people in different languages (some languages use Tsinganoi-related version). Some groups use the word themself, others don't.
Most often it is the mainstream society living in stationary houses describing people living in temporary encampments with a different culture.
