I know this subject has been discussed before. I myself started a previous thread about the subject shortly after Cecil’s column about it came out.
Well it appears Cecil is better at doing his homework than “The History Channel” is. This morning 5/7/2000 on a program called “HistoryCenter”, 3 commentators and a moderator started a discussion about the naming of places that may be made up in part by derogatory words. The example used was about a number of places in Maine with the word squaw in their names. The moderator went on to explain that the word “squaw” is believed to come from a native American word meaning genitalia and trappers and traders were calling native American woman prostitutes or whores when the called them squaws. There was no further etymology of the word and the rest of the discussion continued from that point with the statement assumed as true. Cecil gives a fairly exhaustive etymology or the word in his column Is “squaw” an obscene insult?. How is Cecil or anyone else going to fight ignorance when a platform as lofty as the History Channel gets the facts wrong or incomplete?
[[. How is Cecil or anyone else going to fight ignorance when a platform as lofty as the History Channel gets the facts wrong or incomplete?]]
Really. I’d say Cecil has job security.
I never really thought of the History Channel as like the Encyclopedia Britannica, you know? I always assumed it was “entertainment”, like the Discovery Channel. They’re there for the same reasons ABC, NBC, CNN, etc. is–to draw more viewers so they can charge more for advertising.
It would have slowed down the “dramatic flow” :rolleyes: for them to stop their carefully scripted show and spend a minute or two explaining about “squaw”, IF they even knew the difference, and IF they even cared about accuracy, which I don’t think they did. Faster, easier, cheaper, and more entertaining, too, to have it be “genitalia”. Oooh, how exciting! Conversation around the water cooler the next day: “Say, didja know that ‘squaw’ is really Indian for ‘c*nt’? Haw, haw, haw…”
That’s what they’re there for, to get more people to tune in the next time, hoping for more juicy dirty parts like that. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you–the American entertainment industry!
Sheesh.
Yet another reason why I’m glad I don’t have cable TV (as if one were needed). Look at all the aggravation I’m spared.
Yeah, I was going to mention that. An article about Squaw Creek was in the paper here in Joplin, Mo.–near the Oklahoma border.
Yeesh. Let’s ban “brave” from place names while we’re at it. Also “Dam” 'cos of what it sounds like. Replace with “courage” and “dike”–oops, no…