[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters]

anton at vredegoor.doge.nl (Anton Vredegoor) wrote previously:
|>    "Native American" is to "American Indian" as ______ is to "Eskimo".
|>Anyone in the .ca domain care to educate the .us folks?
|To my (eu-domain) eye the use of "American Indian" instead of "Indian
|American" is strange.

Incidentally, in Canada, "First Nations" is generally used rather than
"Native American."  But in either case, Native Americans themselves are
quite split--as would be any group of people when it comes to
politics--over best names.  In a lot of cases, when referring to a
particular person, naming her particular nation and tribe (Navaho, Oglala
Sioux, etc.) is better.  But lots of NAs themselves prefer "Indian" as a
term.

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.

Yours, Lulu...

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