I just found the Straight Dope site and happened upon the following two columns:
What are the nine Eskimo words for snow?
And Are there nine Eskimo words for snow (revisited)?
I found both columns really quite funny, although probably a bit insulting to that particular Native American group.
What I found most interesting was Marie G’s comment. She called herself an Eskimo. To my knowledge, this particular group of people prefer to call themselves the Inuit which, translated means “the people” or “the human beings”. It led me to believe that Marie G is somewhat distanced from her roots … or is lying.
Welcome to the SDMB, TeanBean316. In a recent staff report, I visited the question of terminology. Those Eskimos who come from Greenland, Canada, and northern Alaska can properly be called Inuit. Those who come from extreme eastern Siberia, western Alaska, and southern Alaska are Yuit, not Inuit. Marie calls herself a Koniag Eskimo. The Koniag are from southern Alaska and so are Eskimos, but not Inuit.
I call myself Scottish, although I must admit my ignorance of many things Scot. I live in New England, and actually expect snow to come with winter, not several months of nothing but rain instead of rainrainrainsunrainrainrain which is in the summer.
I don’t like haggis either, but I play my bagpipe and there is a claymore on my mantel.
Bibliophage is right, of course. In addition, I’ve know Inuit who cheerfully identified themselves as Eskimos to white folks, and others who would use the term in a jovial fashion (“I’m going to get me some Eskimo food”) in much the same way that some black people will use the term “nigger”.
Ahhh, cool. Thank you for the enlightenment. Things to go hunt down my Anthropology professor about!
Of course, you know the definition of an Inuit family: A father, a mother, a son, a daughter, and an anthropologist.