[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Floyd Davidson]

Geoff Gerrietts <geoff at gerrietts.net> wrote:
>Quoting Peter Hansen (peter at engcorp.com):
>> 
>> I guess I need that spelled out more clearly.  Are you saying
>> unequivocally that there is not a *single* group of Inuit anywhere
>> on the planet who have expressed a strong desire to be known as 
>> "Inuit" rather than as "Eskimos"?  If that's the case, my apologies,
>> as I must have missed that part of your posts in my skimming.
>
>No. He's saying that there are Eskimo, and there are Inuit. The two
>have some overlap but not a lot.

All Inuit are Eskimos, but not all Eskimos are Inuit.

>Eskimo is not a pejorative. Calling a person who considers himself
>Eskimo an Inuit would be like calling a German person French.

How about like saying that we must never use the word
"European", because some Brits really do like to be called
British and some French really do like to be called French, and
therefore we should call Italians and Germans English, so as not
to offend the Hungarians by the use of the word European.

If that sounds like a twisted maze of foolishness...  it is!

>Sometimes you're going to get away with it, and sometimes you're going
>to get a fight.
>
>The same is true in reverse. Both terms are acceptable, when applied
>to the right people.

You know one of the odd things about Canadians and this word "Eskimo",
is that Canadian Inuit people don't seem to mind Alaskans using that
word, whether to describe Alaska Eskimo or to describe Canadian Eskimos.

They don't mind, because we use the word as it is meant to be used.

What they find offensive is not the word, but the *way* that white
Canadians use it.  And *that* is what definitely is not pc.

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