[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Floyd Davidson]

Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
>Floyd Davidson wrote:
>
>I don't care if other groups call themselves Eskimo.  All I
>care about is whether we've been fed a load of crap for all 
>these years and should ignore any advice implying that the
>Inuit do not like to be called Eskimo.

You cannot lump all Inuit people and get just one answer.

Inuit people in Alaska use the term Eskimo all the time.

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.

Note that in Canada and Greenland, *all* Eskimos are Inuit,
hence there is little need to use that term to describe those
people.

I would also caution that the implication of the first sentence
in the quoted paragraph above is that there is some great
difference between Inuit and "other groups [who] call themselves
Eskimo".  The most obvious characteristic they have, is that
they are exceedingly similar.  The Inuit branch separated from
the Proto-Eskimo branch about 2000 years ago, and hence are a
"newer" form than is the Yupik branch.  The Aleuts separated
probably 4000 years ago, and have evolved to something
specifically non-Eskimo.

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