West Oxfordshire District Council is currently trying to find a way to stop a certain demographic from racing ponies and traps on the A40 dual carriageway.
West Oxfordshire District Council is currently trying to find a way to stop a certain demographic from racing ponies and traps on the A40 dual carriageway.
Calling them travellers and/or gypsies (I know they are technically different groups of people but generally the terms are often used interchangeably) is not in itself a slur.
It's not a slur, but naming them in an online discussion usually provokes an unproductive shitfight about whether they're as bad as their reputation.
And ostentatiously not naming them has a similar effect. You could have just said "people".
But almost anyone who lives in the UK would know who you were referring to. So you are just using a euphemism, which is arguably worse.