Being in the New York City area, (and also working with programmers), whenever my friends (co-workers, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, etc.) and I hear Indian, we first think of the ‘Sub-continent’ origin, as Asian Indians seem far more common around here than Amerinds (for example, the large Indian community in Jackson Heights).
And do British folk still use the phrase ‘Red-Indian’ (I swear I heard this on Brit-coms much, much more often than IRL here in New York)
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I heard that “Cheyenne” is derived from the French “chien” – “dog” – and was used by the voyageurs as a derogatory term. Is this true; or is it just an Urban Legend?
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Legend, according to Ives Goddard, Algonquianist and a curator at the Smithsonian Institution. In May, 1997, he wrote:
You’ll find much more detail on the etymology, showing precisely how the term came into being as a French orthographical representation of the Sioux term for “little Cree” at The Cheyenne Language Pages.
Many First People are not offended by being referred to as “Indian” or “Sioux”. generally the Natives that aren’t offended, are in no way attempting to walk as a traditional Native, doesn’t care or completely ignorant. On my reservation, (which i was not raised on) some people may become violent…although this behavior is not in accordance with that of a traditional Native…nevertheless, many of my People are informed, and do not appreciate this. Most especially “Sioux” is considered the “white man’s” word for us, which is snake, devil, adder…and this word can cause a big conflict. its sad to me that many of my own People have no idea that they are being disrespect :)when called this term…and in calling themselves “Sioux”…“Indian” is less offensive, because its basically a mistaken identity…
I agree that American Indian and Native American are actually not synonyms. There are some distinctions. But I am not an expert.
But, anyhow, American Indian, or just Indian, is perfectly Politically Correct, for the sakes of the offenderati.
ETA: You can also call them Zombie Indians when the moment is right.
Moved from General Questions to IMHO.
Please note that this thread is more than 10 years old.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’m kind of confused by your post. You are deeply offended and any First Nation people that aren’t offended aren’t living a fully traditional lifestyle?
I know you didn’t grow up on the reservation. Is English not your first language, though? I’m having a hard time parsing your post.
Oh, and what offends you about “Indian”. I’m curious to hear more and welcome to the Dope.
Mighta taken OLW a while to get offended…
In any case, if you want any federal perks you are American Indian.
See here, for example.
There are finer point divisions and codes, but for general race and ethnicity, the feds have kept it simple.
One good thing is that since these are self-described categories, you can have as many as you want, and in general, those folks assigned to collect this data (your hospital, say) have to record them all.
It’s totally fine to be “Black and White and Asian and American Indian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,” and they gotta record 'em all.
nm
I’m not at all sure why you’d consider “Sioux” the “white man’s” word for you since if it means “snake,” it was originally given to your tribe by the Ojibway not Europeans. In addition there is another completing hypotheses for this name that it is from an Ottawa (tribe not city) word meaning something like “speaks a foreign language.”
Given that a well-known Native American civil rights organization calls itself the American Indian Movement, I would say that the term isn’t generally considered offensive.
Can the same be said for “colored people”?
I get your point - some people do consider the term “colored people” to be offensive, even though it’s part of the name of the NAACP. But I think some people would see it as terribly old-fashioned rather than offensive.
The Indians I’ve asked said they had no problem with the word. It’s the word they use to refer to themselves. I also asked about the term ‘Redskin’ when applied to the football team (my team since I’m Columbian), they were unoffended and a couple said they were proud of the usage. I can see the problems related to the mascot for the Cleveland Indians though. It is offensive to me.
Look at the trouble caused by a geographically-challenged Italian named Chris Columbus!
I usually go with the term Amerindian, since Indian and Native American can both mean something else.
I just say “I’m part Native American.”
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. Don’t bother trying to explain South American Indians to people, if the subject has even come up they expect them to speak Latin.
In the end I’ll defer to anyone’s request of what to call them. If they prefer Indian, fine. Native American, fine too. Except Canadians. Any Canadians. I’ll call them anything I feel like and challenge them to do something aboot it.
If a few of my acquaintances and I decide the color blue is offensive to us, it doesn’t mean the color blue is offensive. If just means I have unresolved issues.
I think you shouldn’t completely deprive yourself of the right to call something or someone what your used to to. The fact that you grew up with that term means it was acceptable at the time. Indian is hardly derogatory. Its just an imprecision.