‘If you want to use the word Eskimo you had better be an Eskimo or I’ll eat you for lunch,’ tweeted Tagaq
In my personal experience its definitely a slur and a very strong one here in canada, and if i heard a canadian say it i would absolutely assume they were a racist.
Spent some time in Alaska - the natives I had a chance to speak to referred to themselves as Eskimos. And it wasn’t one of those ‘we can say it, but it’s derogatory coming from anyone else’ words… it’s just a word they use for their people. They were kind of amused at the whole controversy.
It’s anecdote, and the number of them actually offended by the term Eskimo is probably higher than zero, but by and large this is white people being offended on their behalf at something that is a non-issue.
So, call em Eskimos. Or Inuit. Or Natives. From the source, they’re cool with it.
It’s a different situation in different areas. In parts of Alaska, it’s not a slur, but in parts of Canada, it is a slur. Ultimately you need to know which situation you’re dealing with for the area you’re in.
Ah yes. The “I know a black guy who isn’t offended by a white guy saying the N word so it’s ok to say it” argument.
They are not all the same. I know for a fact that there are indeed large groups who are offended by it. Just because you know a group / groups who are not offended, doesn’t mean all the others spread out all over half a continent feel the same way about it.
Try, 'I walked on eggshells about it around dozens of them scattered about Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, and it outed me as a clueless white dude 100% of the time.
I went in with the understanding that it was a slur. I treated it as a slur. I was corrected.
I’m guessing you’re a US American? Canada and Greenland do not exist right? No one lives there right? I mean, you’ve seen 3 places in Alaska, that’s enough to know them all isn’t it? Even the ones living 4000km away (that’s 22471910.112360 bananas in “freedom” units) in a different country.
Its such an ignorant and dumb American thing to assume everyone is the same and the world outside the US doesn’t exist.
Clearly you have no clue to what the Canadian government, and the Danish government, have done to natives and why it’s such a sensitive word to many.
walked on eggshells about
Why do you desperately want to support systematic racism? Was it that hard not to use a word that might be considered offensive?
FFS, Idiocracy was far too optimistic.
Here are some sources. Maybe educate yourself before defending racism.
Am American. Canada and Greenland infact do not exist. Still sticking with what I learned directly from the culture in question over an internet stranger and a handful of articles.
Speaking also as an internet stranger to all of our readers, I know my own posts carry the same amount of weight as yours - that is, none at all.
Didn’t intend to stir up any drama in sharing my experience. I’ll be sure to learn the regional etiquette if and when I visit other areas.
While I do get wanting to steer the language away from pointlessly gendering everything (why tf do I need to know if my blender is a boy or girl??) …yeah “Latinx” ain’t it.
To me it always reads phonetically like “lah-teenks”. I hate it.
In the little corner of Latin America where I live, if people are making a concerted effort to be inclusive in writing, they end a word with @s to include both -os and -as endings: amig@s, chic@s, etc. But that is very uncommon, and I have not encountered a spoken equivalent.
As a non-native speaker, I find Spanish to be quite a bit more flexible than English. It’s very context-dependent, so I think a lot of Spanish speakers just have the mindset that you figure out the meaning of a word through its context. Words ending in -o can be for everyone or for masculine people, and you figure out the speaker’s intention by the context.
But also when your blender has a gender (it’s feminine, for people who don’t know), maybe it takes some of the gravitas out of the conversation about gendered language.
That’s clever honestly. I could see that working well for things like banners addressing a broad audience - marketing type stuff.
My bitching is more geared to why it was structured that way in the first place… and obviously it didn’t just appear overnight, but developed over ages like most other languages. Some trends stick and others don’t… gendering random inanimate objects is one that stuck. …for some weird-ass reason.
Except the desire to degender everything is a specifically English endeavor, and only because it doesn’t have gender based nouns. Spanish is VERY MUCH A GENDERED LANGUAGE. Also, Spanish already HAS a neutral article, “Lo” so not even using that while inventing our own bullshit is the most pearl clutching nonsense I’ve ever seen
Oh, thinking you can change a major language structure to make it more PC is dumb as hell. I’m not advocating for it, but I do understand a shred of of where that push is coming from. Spanish is VERY MUCH A GENDERED LANGUAGE… but… why? Why is my chair a girl, and shoe a boy? The status quo in this case is about as dumb as thinking we can change it.
Its literally a fools errand. Especially since most people speak languages that are strongly gendered. It’s just a self-absorbed virtue signal. The people who made Latinx obviously never stopped to ask most Latin people what they thought of the whole endeavour… And no, I don’t mean Francis your half Mexican schoolmate from private school…
“eskimo” is a curse word for Inuit, meaning raw meat eater. Please stop use that word, it’s disrespectful.
Any Inuit here to confirm that?
Here is an article giving some voice to both opinions after a team name change:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-reaction-edmonton-cfl-team-name-change-1.5658904
To me the “its a slur” camp seem to make a much stronger case.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/tanya-tagaq-pushes-us-band-eskimeaux-to-change-name-1.4074095
In my personal experience its definitely a slur and a very strong one here in canada, and if i heard a canadian say it i would absolutely assume they were a racist.
Spent some time in Alaska - the natives I had a chance to speak to referred to themselves as Eskimos. And it wasn’t one of those ‘we can say it, but it’s derogatory coming from anyone else’ words… it’s just a word they use for their people. They were kind of amused at the whole controversy.
It’s anecdote, and the number of them actually offended by the term Eskimo is probably higher than zero, but by and large this is white people being offended on their behalf at something that is a non-issue.
So, call em Eskimos. Or Inuit. Or Natives. From the source, they’re cool with it.
It’s a different situation in different areas. In parts of Alaska, it’s not a slur, but in parts of Canada, it is a slur. Ultimately you need to know which situation you’re dealing with for the area you’re in.
Ah yes. The “I know a black guy who isn’t offended by a white guy saying the N word so it’s ok to say it” argument.
They are not all the same. I know for a fact that there are indeed large groups who are offended by it. Just because you know a group / groups who are not offended, doesn’t mean all the others spread out all over half a continent feel the same way about it.
Using these slurs enables systematic racism.
Try, 'I walked on eggshells about it around dozens of them scattered about Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, and it outed me as a clueless white dude 100% of the time.
I went in with the understanding that it was a slur. I treated it as a slur. I was corrected.
I’m guessing you’re a US American? Canada and Greenland do not exist right? No one lives there right? I mean, you’ve seen 3 places in Alaska, that’s enough to know them all isn’t it? Even the ones living 4000km away (that’s 22471910.112360 bananas in “freedom” units) in a different country.
Its such an ignorant and dumb American thing to assume everyone is the same and the world outside the US doesn’t exist.
Clearly you have no clue to what the Canadian government, and the Danish government, have done to natives and why it’s such a sensitive word to many.
Why do you desperately want to support systematic racism? Was it that hard not to use a word that might be considered offensive?
FFS, Idiocracy was far too optimistic.
Here are some sources. Maybe educate yourself before defending racism.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/475129558/why-you-probably-shouldnt-say-eskimo
https://sinchi-foundation.com/dont-use-the-word-eskimo-anymore/
https://www.calendar-canada.ca/frequently-asked-questions/why-is-the-word-eskimo-offensive-in-canada
https://indianreservation.info/eskimo-definition-controversial/?amp=1
Am American. Canada and Greenland infact do not exist. Still sticking with what I learned directly from the culture in question over an internet stranger and a handful of articles.
Speaking also as an internet stranger to all of our readers, I know my own posts carry the same amount of weight as yours - that is, none at all.
Didn’t intend to stir up any drama in sharing my experience. I’ll be sure to learn the regional etiquette if and when I visit other areas.
Latinx is still the dumbest thing I’ve heard
While I do get wanting to steer the language away from pointlessly gendering everything (why tf do I need to know if my blender is a boy or girl??) …yeah “Latinx” ain’t it.
To me it always reads phonetically like “lah-teenks”. I hate it.
In the little corner of Latin America where I live, if people are making a concerted effort to be inclusive in writing, they end a word with @s to include both -os and -as endings: amig@s, chic@s, etc. But that is very uncommon, and I have not encountered a spoken equivalent.
As a non-native speaker, I find Spanish to be quite a bit more flexible than English. It’s very context-dependent, so I think a lot of Spanish speakers just have the mindset that you figure out the meaning of a word through its context. Words ending in -o can be for everyone or for masculine people, and you figure out the speaker’s intention by the context.
But also when your blender has a gender (it’s feminine, for people who don’t know), maybe it takes some of the gravitas out of the conversation about gendered language.
That’s clever honestly. I could see that working well for things like banners addressing a broad audience - marketing type stuff.
My bitching is more geared to why it was structured that way in the first place… and obviously it didn’t just appear overnight, but developed over ages like most other languages. Some trends stick and others don’t… gendering random inanimate objects is one that stuck. …for some weird-ass reason.
Except the desire to degender everything is a specifically English endeavor, and only because it doesn’t have gender based nouns. Spanish is VERY MUCH A GENDERED LANGUAGE. Also, Spanish already HAS a neutral article, “Lo” so not even using that while inventing our own bullshit is the most pearl clutching nonsense I’ve ever seen
Oh, thinking you can change a major language structure to make it more PC is dumb as hell. I’m not advocating for it, but I do understand a shred of of where that push is coming from. Spanish is VERY MUCH A GENDERED LANGUAGE… but… why? Why is my chair a girl, and shoe a boy? The status quo in this case is about as dumb as thinking we can change it.
Its literally a fools errand. Especially since most people speak languages that are strongly gendered. It’s just a self-absorbed virtue signal. The people who made Latinx obviously never stopped to ask most Latin people what they thought of the whole endeavour… And no, I don’t mean Francis your half Mexican schoolmate from private school…
Ummmm, actually, it’s Eskimx
X-kimo, final offer.
but also Eskimo and Inuit refer to different things… Inuit people is one part of Eskimo