# "Injun" is derogatory? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 14, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827 "2012-02-14T17:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/61 "2012-02-19T17:32:29Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Joey Belladonna can still wear his hat, right? Grandfather clause? I went to High School with him, and he did claim that his grandfather was an American Indian, and none of us had any reason to doubt it, so I would say “Grandfather clause” would definitely apply. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/62 "2012-02-19T17:35:16Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Evidence please. _On the Origin of Species_ (Darwin, 1859). > [@](#): > > Brazil has the greatest biodiversity in the world. What is that supposed to mean? Most number of different species per unit area? If that’s the case, then the Budapest Zoo probably has an even greater biodiversity, but I wouldn’t use that as an argument for its inhabitants being native to Budapest. Your objection to the claim that Native Americans are “native” appears to be based on the fact that they migrated there from elsewhere some number _n_ years ago. Provided you set _n_ high enough, the same can be said of any other population of organisms currently found on the earth. Plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and other life forms are constantly evolving and migrating. Name any species of organism currently existing in Brazil (or anywhere else) and I guarantee you that there was a point in time when it could not be found there. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/63 "2012-02-19T21:09:52Z")
What I find offensive is the division of our population by these labels. I’m the person who, when I got my 2010 census form, and had to indicate my race, checked “Other” and penciled in “human” Can’t we be proud of our various backgrounds without making hateful or divisive? Or is being politically correct more important? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/64 "2012-02-19T21:20:32Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’m the person who, when I got my 2010 census form, and had to indicate my race, checked “Other” and penciled in “human” The census form is making people hateful and divisive? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/65 "2012-02-19T23:33:30Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > [Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/native?q=native) > > an animal or plant indigenous to a place: the marigold is a native of southern Europe > > Humans arent indigenous to the Americas. Native American conveys more of a political twist than a factual one. One of the definitions in the cite you provided would indicate that they _ **are indeed** _ Native Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/66 "2012-02-19T23:43:50Z")
Remember, nigger is also just a corrupted pronunciation of the term Negro. It being a corrupted pronunciation is irrelevant to its offensiveness status. And the poster in question was allowed to make several similar remarks before he even got his first Warning. When someone consistently uses derogatory terms, it forms a pattern that leads one to believe it is hate speech, even if, in isolation, the term isn’t that bad. I will admit I have no idea how offensive that word is to the American Indian population. I do know that most prefer not to be called Native Americans, though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/67 "2012-02-19T23:50:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I will admit I have no idea how offensive that word is to the American Indian population. I do know that most prefer not to be called Native Americans, though. I don’t think that’s the case. My understanding is that the majority considers the term “Native Americans” fine, but that a majority use the term “American Indians” more often. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/68 "2012-02-20T11:46:24Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Umm… Woosh? I didn’t have a point. You made a joke. I responded with another one. Unless your previous post had a serious point, and I missed it, in which case the woosh is on me. I think I had a point. That hate speech isn’t allowed in a forum designed specifically for that. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/69 "2012-02-20T12:42:33Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > What I find offensive is the division of our population by these labels. > > I’m the person who, when I got my 2010 census form, and had to indicate my race, checked “Other” and penciled in “human” Me too, for a 2011 census and for forms and questionnaires generally. I got yet another census form last week and this time to my pleasant surprise there weren’t any questions on race. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/70 "2012-02-20T21:58:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I don’t think that’s the case. My understanding is that the majority considers the term “Native Americans” fine, but that a majority use the term “American Indians” more often. So it’s more like what most black people think of African American? Well that’s what I get from learning what’s offensive to American Indians from some white guy. Have I mentioned that I live in one of the most non-racially diverse locations in the country (unless you count Latino as a race)? Oh, and I think I opened this thread a long time ago, and left it open in a tab, and didn’t realize all the posts that had went on in the mean time. I still think it’s good advice for thinking about the general topic though, even if it doesn’t really apply to this specific incident. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/71 "2012-02-21T00:46:09Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So it’s more like what most black people think of African American? There seems to be a movement now for Native Americans to disfavor any kind of collective term, preferring any reference to their ethnicity be to their particular tribes/nations. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827/72 "2012-02-21T21:04:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There seems to be a movement now for Native Americans to disfavor any kind of collective term, preferring any reference to their ethnicity be to their particular tribes/nations. A friend who is native American (or native indian, or whatever has been decided on by this thread) will describe herself as being 1/4 Rosebud Sioux. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injun-is-derogatory/612827.md?page=3)