[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Floyd Davidson]

Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
>Floyd Davidson wrote:
>> 
>> Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
>> >Floyd Davidson wrote:
>> >>
>> >> In Canada and Greenland Inuit people will not appreciate the
>> >> term "Eskimo" as a specific term for them when used by locals.
>> >> That is particularly true of Canadians.  They do not seem to
>> >> mind the general (correct) use of the term by others who do not
>> >> have any intent to insult them.
>> >
>> >Okay, thanks for taking the time to clarify, Floyd!
>> >
>> >The impression I get then is that because some people (although
>> >I think more so in the distant past than in recent years?)
>> >might hold ill will towards their northern neighbours, the
>> >rest of us with nothing against them might as well avoid the
>> >term Eskimo entirely, to minimize the risk of someone making false
>> >assumptions about us and how we feel about them.
>> 
>> That doesn't follow, logically, from the facts.  No other word
>> in the English language can be used in place of the term
>> "Eskimo", and therefore if you want to correctly refer to the
>> group of people known as Eskimos, you have no choice but to use
>> that term.
>
>Hmm... I was unclear.  I meant to refer only to the Inuit
>living in Canada above.  If it wasn't clear in the past, I'm
>in Canada and all comments I've made apply only to the situation
>in Canada.

I can only respond to what you actually do say.  I've never been
able to read your mind, or anyone else's.  You did *not* said a
word about restricting your comments to Canada and Canadian
users.  When you address me about Eskimos, after I've made it
clear as a bell from word one that I'm talking about Eskimos
from Greenland to Siberia, it is absurd to suggest that I would
know you are a Canadian or that I would know you are limiting
your comments to the usage by Canadians.

However, it is also true that the point doesn't change even
then.  Would you like me to find a list of appropriate uses of
the term Eskimo by Canadians?

The difference is just that in Canada you have a less frequent
need for that term than we do in Alaska.  But you still have
occasion to use it.

>> >> Note that in Canada and Greenland, *all* Eskimos are Inuit,
>> >> hence there is little need to use that term to describe those
>> >> people.
>> >
>> >Probably where the institutionalized advice comes from in the first
>> >place.  If all Eskimos in Canada are Inuit, and all Inuit can be
>> >called Eskimos (but only by those who don't have intent to insult
>> >them, apparently :-), then it's best to avoid the whole issue and
>> >just use the term Inuit.
>> 
>> But you *cannot* correctly call all Eskimos Inuit.
>
>Certainly not, as you've made clear.  You've also made it clear
>that "in Canada ..., all Eskimos are Inuit", and once again I

The inverse is also true.  In Canada, all Inuit are Eskimos.

>point out that my only interest in this matter is in relation
>to the situation in Canada, and the (what I called) institutionalized
>advisory not to use the term Eskimo in relation to them.
>
>In light of this clarification, I think my comments do follow
>logically from the facts as you've described them.  I can't
>tell whether the fact you keep confusing what I say results
>from my poor way of expressing myself, or perhaps from your
>certain knowledge that you know more than anyone living (or
>at least anyone else present here) about this stuff, and that
>therefore any comment from others containing the words Eskimo
>or Inuit must surely therefore contain factual errors.  I hope
>it's just the former, and if so I apologize again.  And I don't
>intend to post here again, as I think I've understood you quite
>well, even if it's not clear to you that I have.
>
>Cheers,
>-Peter

Sounds like you have an ego problem, not one of how to express
it.  I am _not_ sorry to have abused you with the facts though.

-- 
Floyd L. Davidson           <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd at barrow.com