"Eskimo," according to the dictionary, refers to Native Americans (and more) who live up toward the Arctic Circle. They include the Yupik, the Inupiat, the Inuvialuit, the Nunavut, the Kalaallit, the Nunavik, and the Nunatsiavut. Think of it like "Asians" which includes all the "tribes" and countries of the Asian continent. It's just a group term pointing toward the Arctic Circle indicating "those people there." A rumor circulated for some time that the word meant "eaters of raw meat." Oh, now that's derogatory, right? Really, I don't know why, if you happen to eat raw meat. But most scholars now agree that the word comes from an Innu-aimun word, ayas̆kimew, which means "a person who laces a snowshoe." So it is a reference to wearing snowshoes or, far less likely, what they eat.
"Maybe, but it is a term applied by someone other than the people who bear it. That makes it derogatory." I find that interesting as well. We use "Asian" for people from Asia and "European" for people from Europe. We refer to Germans as "Germans." Turns out that the Germans use "Deutsch" for themselves and, oddly, aren't offended that we call them "Germans," the term we applied to them. And so on with Asians and Europeans and so on and so on. Conversely, I've met many people from China who have requested a new name when they come here. "You won't be able to pronounce my name, so give me one you can pronounce." That's what they told me. Now, I've always tried my best to pronounce their names, but one young lady from India told me to stop. "Please just go with the shortened version." So "Milly" it is, only vaguely connected to her real name. Because the term that is applied isn't as important as the relationship.
"But, some people have used the term in a derogatory manner." Likely true. Most haven't. And if we decide that "using the term in a derogatory manner" means "stop using the term," I suspect before long we'll run out of terms because we have a lot of derogatory people who are delighted to take any term at all and spit it out like it's a curse and -- poof! -- we've lost another term because of a small number of idiots. I mean, I heard a kid refer to another with the term "a cute little boy" and meant it to be cruel. So we eliminate it because of a bully? I don't think that's reasonable.
So we continue to dismantle reality. No longer can I buy an Eskimo Pie because misuse of an Innu-aimun word has led to disaster. I suspect that the disaster is really because a white person used the term and our culture today thinks that anything white people do is cruel. Or it's like the term "retarded." Long ago they used to refer to someone who was mentally challenged as a "moron" because "moron" meant someone who was mentally challenged. Then "moron" became offensive, ostensibly because it was derogatory but, I believe, actually because it denoted a difference between this person and most everybody else. So they changed it. "All we're saying is he's not as fast mentally. He's a bit slower than others. He's retarded." That was a grand change … until again it was viewed as derogatory and, again, I'm pretty sure only because it pointed to a difference. How long before the current "intellectual disability" dies the same death? "Eskimo" is like that. And the euphemism treadmill goes round and round.
12 comments:
Stan: I wonder when the social censors will start demanding that words be bleeped on TV? We watch the GRIT TV station a lot (I didn't know Audey Murphy made so many movies!), and all those old Westerns are filled with words that the sensitive might not like, like "Indian", "half-breed", "squaw", even "carpet bagger". That would be in line with your therory that "using the term in a derogatory manner" means "stop using the term,": just bleep it out and no one will hear it.
Speaking of bleeping out words on TV, in the old days, you didn't dare run afoul for the FCC, so you didn't use cuss, curse, and swear words. But it is comical to me what passes for censorship today. I'm offended by lots of words that do not get bleeped, but no one cares about my sensitivities.
Oh, and thanks a lot for that post title. Now I can't get "that song" out of my head.
If I was to say that my applying the brakes retarded the speed of my automobile so that I could safely stop, am I being derogatory to the car?
On a serious note, it seems strange that so many societies exist where the highest strata of society labels some other group as "unclean", "untouchable" or "tabu", yet somehow I've never heard the folx scandalized by terms like Eskimo, complain. Also, look at some of the names applied to the various native tribes by other tribes, not necessarily all positive.
Bruce, good thoughts on censoring words. I remember when they started bleeping the "N-word" in the movie, Blazing Saddles, not realizing that the word was in there to ridicule people who use it. Now they appear to have no limits … except the new ones, I guess.
Craig, interestingly (at least to me) a lot of the information I got on the word came from a blog from a person who self-identified as an Eskimo himself and couldn't figure out how it was "denigrating." Ironically, as I pointed out, our word comes from an Eskimo word -- from a tribe in the Eskimo region. We didn't apply it to them; they did.
I read recently that many Indians prefer to be called Indian rather than Native American, even though one is more accurate than the other.
It’s all just a little crazy
I've a friend who, you wouldn't know by looking, is half Cherokee (or maybe it was his father who was...), and is now a Sheriff's deputy in New Mexico (where the words "sheriff" and "deputy" somehow seem more at home to me). His area of patrol is vast and includes two different Indian reservations. In conversations with them, he was asked why some whites insist on calling Indians "Native Americans".
Any word a white liberal decides would be good to weaponize as a way to disparage conservatives and/or Christians is from that point on to be regarded as derogatory.
Jerks will always find a way to insult, and to use a perfectly acceptable word to hurt another eventually becomes a pejorative. As Stan pointed out, "idiot" and "moron" were clinical terms, with one replacing the other as the other became weaponized. Those were also replaced by updated alternatives, which themselves became weaponized.
With regard to terms referring to mental development, I've always believed it was feigned outrage against one who might use such words to reprimand one who does something stupid. For a person who's truly mentally challenged, there must be some way to describe the condition as well as the person who has it. For such a person, using the term is legitimate and not in any way pejorative until someone decides it is. But if someone is derided as mentally challenged for, say, smoking near flammable liquids, it's not an indictment of those who have no choice in being mentally challenged, but rather describes just how foolish the smoker is who one would expect should know better.
Frankly I'm fed up with the whole thing. While I don't wish to offend anyone who is undeserving, I don't wish to forever walk on eggshells because everyone insists on being overly sensitive...and far too often only pretending to be for illegitimate reasons.
That last thought was interesting to ponder, Marshal. I think of stuff I've written about Christians being persecuted and people say, "Oh, you're not being persecuted. Look at North Korea or Iran or China. That is persecution." But we cannot counter, "Oh, you're not being insulted. I'll show you 'insulted'." When everything is offensive, nothing is offensive because "offensive" no longer means anything.
Another way to express my position is that I'm fed up with the weaponizing of being offended. It usually doesn't take into account whether or not I'm offended. I'm kinda dealing with this right now in my personal life, and it's maddening. Again, I don't want to offend, and I guess, I don't want to be offended. I wish to speak on what offends me, but I'm warned off over fears of offending...and the possible consequences of that would bring. Gosh, I'm tired of it. What does saying nothing bring?
Stan,
Did you intend for your title to work with the tune of American Pie?
I'd agree that this increase in words that now mean anything and everything is troubling because it actually dilutes the real meaning and renders the word virtually meaningless. I also agree with Art that the problem is as much with those who seek to be offended as with those who use the term Indian because it's what they were raised saying. It's like there is a large population of people who think that they've been guaranteed a life free from ever being offended.
I did indeed, and Bruce "thanked" me for it. :)
Clearly I'm slow and missed that earlier.
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