"The noun "gyp" was described at the time as "current in polite circles," and "derived from the popular experience with thieving Gypsies."
"I encounter a lot of people who tell me that they never knew the word 'gypped' had anything to do with gypsies, or that it's offensive — especially when the word is heard not read," says University of Texas at Austin professor Ian Hancock, who was born in Britain to Romani parents. "My response to them is, That's okay. You didn't know but now you do. So stop using it. It may mean nothing to you, but when we hear it, it still hurts.""
"Gypsy" may also refer to (Irish) Travellers, thanks to their similar lifestyles. A significant population of Travellers emigrated to the US during times of economic hardship in Ireland and the UK, and local police departments in the US will still issue general crime alerts when a migrating band of Travellers is expected to be in the area.
These often take the form of "Please don't make our municipality look like an easy score. Lock up everything not bolted down. And also please put locking nuts on your bolts." (paraphrased)
They are a distinct, non-integrating cultural enclave in the US, and seem to subsist largely on exploiting legal loopholes in life insurance policies, and by working trades with inconsistent demand, like asphalt paving.
Either way, both Romany and Travellers seem to have a universally bad reputation for trustworthiness and respect for unattended personal property, which seems to be not entirely unearned.
But despite this, it is inappropriate to refer to an individual by a group identity that person has not specifically invoked, so the non-racist alternative of "gyp" would be "con", "cheat", "reneg", "deceive", or "defraud", depending on the context. Take care to not use "welch", because that could be similarly offensive to Welshmen.
"Polite society" or "polite circles" just means the upper class.
It was 1914, polite society was all about colonialism and "scientific racism." I actually read a excerpt of a textbook from that time period. The excerpt was "the races of man," crazy stuff.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/why...
"The noun "gyp" was described at the time as "current in polite circles," and "derived from the popular experience with thieving Gypsies."
"I encounter a lot of people who tell me that they never knew the word 'gypped' had anything to do with gypsies, or that it's offensive — especially when the word is heard not read," says University of Texas at Austin professor Ian Hancock, who was born in Britain to Romani parents. "My response to them is, That's okay. You didn't know but now you do. So stop using it. It may mean nothing to you, but when we hear it, it still hurts.""