[OT] Inuit? Eskimo?

[Floyd Davidson]

Skip Montanaro <skip at pobox.com> wrote:
>    >> Skip Montanaro wrote:
>    >>> "Native American" is to "American Indian" as ______ is to "Eskimo".
>
>    Floyd> The problem with the above is that there is no way to fill in the
>    Floyd> blank and be correct!  The terms are reversed...
>
>I don't think so.  My intent was to answer the question, "What's the current
>politically correct term to use in place of 'Eskimo'?"  I believe the above
>SAT-style question captures the correct relationship.  "Native American" is
>p.c., "American Indian" (or simply "Indian") is not.  "Eskimo" is apparently
>also not p.c.

I've never heard that "American Indian" is not pc, nor that "Native
American" was ever meant to be a direct replacement for it.

Obviously some people mistakenly believe that "Eskimo" is not pc,
and just as mistakenly think the "Inuit" is a direct replacement.

>    Floyd> Whatever, in Canada all Eskimo people are in fact Inuit, and it
>    Floyd> is considered impolite to call them anything else.  By the same
>    Floyd> token, the *only* word in the English language which properly
>    Floyd> describes all Eskimo people is the term "Eskimo".  "Inuit" does
>    Floyd> not, because in Alaska there are many Eskimos who are not Inuit,
>    Floyd> and in Siberia all Eskimos are Yupik.  Moreover, in Alaska the
>    Floyd> Inupiat people, who are the same as the Canadian Inuit people,
>    Floyd> simply do *not* like to be called Inuit!  (They use the word
>    Floyd> Inupiat.)
>
>Thanks for the clarification.  Sounds like there's no one best term.

Each of those terms have different meanings though, and when
used in the proper context, they are *all* precisely correct!

Of course, that is all very easy for someone like me (living
very much in an environment where all of those terms are used
with regularity), and not so easy for someone who only
occasionally has need to sort them out.

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