# Is it dergatory to call the natives - Indians ?? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315 "2002-06-16T05:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/41 "2012-10-20T17:09:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Which part? > > BTW: If you get confused about the two types of Indians, the ones from Asia are 7-11 Indians, the ones from North America are Casino Indians. I’m Indian. Dot or feather? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/42 "2012-10-20T19:00:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Dot or feather? Too confusing for Americans, especially Row Dilanders. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/43 "2012-10-22T07:21:27Z")
What’s the current thinking on “Injun”? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/44 "2012-10-22T11:09:39Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > What’s the current thinking on “Injun”? I’d call it offensive because in modern times it’s generally used as a deliberate mispronunciation. The term ‘Honest Injun’ was used in last night’s episode of Boardwalk Empire describing an honorable man, but the context was part of a condescending fictional story about Indians. I guess the way to find out is to ask some Indians how they feel about it. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/45 "2012-10-22T14:15:57Z")
I had to write a speech earlier this year to present at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission National Event. As you can imagine, I needed to make sure my language was correct. Here’s the breakdown in Canada Aboriginal - all inclusive, including Inuit, Metis and Dene First Nations - does not include Metis and I believe Inuit Canada’s Indigenous People - also leaves out Metis ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/46 "2012-10-22T15:35:40Z")
> [@andy\_fl](#): > > 4\> And what about the real Indians - the guys from India. Do they find it derogatory that their name has been wrongly used over centuries ? Or are they pleased that even natives of other places don’t mind being called Indians ? E. Indian here. Not derogatory but less than thrilled. But I’ve pretty much been told, here and other places, to shut up and not complain because it’s stupid and trivial. It is trivial…but I’m sure it would be corrected if it was someone else. Plus, it’s not really right. I mean, Native Americans are not really a monolith group, and even if we don’t call them by the individual tribe, shouldn’t we at least try not to call them some name a white stranger gave them? However, the NA I’ve met generally don’t seem to care. E. Indians don’t care that much, but like me, they are less than thrilled about it. Still, it’s not right. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/47 "2012-10-22T15:49:48Z")
But many people are called by the name strangers gave them. Spaniards, for example; the name derives from colonizer’s names for the Iberian Peninsula. Most Amerindian tribes (at least in NA) are known by the name their enemies gave them, as pointed out before. And it’s not as if any of the aboriginal Americans had a name meaning “all of us, the peoples in this continent”. We could say “aboriginal Americans”, I guess, or “American aborigines”. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/48 "2012-10-22T16:00:04Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > What’s the current thinking on “Injun”? Mostly it would be understood as what powers a pickup truck if it were coming from someone who otherwise didn’t speak like Festus from “Gunsmoke”. I guess it is a pejorative, but the sort of person who would use it would be giving off far more clues than just that. The Dineh and Tiwa people I know do, though, pronounce indian, as just two syllables, but it is closer to end-yun than engine…but with the d and y run together almost as one sound. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/49 "2012-10-22T18:42:39Z")
Russell Means passed away today, so it seems appropriate to post this quote from him. > [@](#): > > "I abhor the term Native American. It is a generic government term used to describe all the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the American Samoans, the Micronesians, the Aleutes, the original Hawaiians and the erroneously termed Eskimos, who are actually Upiks and Inupiats. And, of course, the American Indian. > > I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins. The word Indian is an English bastardization of two Spanish words, En Dio, which correctly translated means in with God. As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity. > > At an international conference of Indians from the Americas held in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations in 1977 we unanimously decided we would go under the term American Indian. We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians and we will gain our freedom as American Indians and then we will call ourselves any damn thing we choose. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315/50 "2012-10-23T12:19:47Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > E. Indian here. Not derogatory but less than thrilled. But I’ve pretty much been told, here and other places, to shut up and not complain because it’s stupid and trivial. > > It is trivial…but I’m sure it would be corrected if it was someone else. Plus, it’s not really right. I mean, Native Americans are not really a monolith group, and even if we don’t call them by the individual tribe, shouldn’t we at least try not to call them some name a white stranger gave them? > > However, the NA I’ve met generally don’t seem to care. E. Indians don’t care that much, but like me, they are less than thrilled about it. > > Still, it’s not right. The point is, though, that they call themselves Indians. Why should you get to tell them what to call themselves? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dergatory-to-call-the-natives-indians/114315.md?page=2)