[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Erik Max Francis]

Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters wrote:

> Probably an influence on the names is that Canada has a much larger
> percentage of Indian immigrants (i.e. from India) than does the US--or
> their families of 2nd or 3rd generation.  The name "Indian" quite
> apart
> from coming from a 500 year old mistake, refers to a quite different
> large group of Canadians.  Not that Indian-Americans are a rarity in
> the
> USA either, but we USAians are really quite thick in the head, as a
> rule.

I suspect that in and around large cities, thus tending toward greater
diversity, the unadorned term _Indian_ will be assumed to refer to Asian
Indians rather than Native Americans.  I certainly know that's always
been the case around here (San Francisco South Bay Area), even well
before the dot com bubble in which the demand for software people
brought a lot of (Asian) Indian folks over here.  Particularly with the
more common usage of the term "Native American," I think the inherent
ambiguity in the group name _Indian_ is starting to fade here in the US.

-- 
   Erik Max Francis && max at alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
 __ San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && &tSftDotIotE
/  \ Extremes meet.
\__/  John Hall Wheelock