[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Peter Hansen]

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.

> 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.

-Peter