# Is the term "Indian" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565 "2010-03-15T18:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/41 "2010-03-15T22:28:20Z")
Just to add to the anecdotes, when I was living in Wisconsin I knew a few Menominee and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people and none seemed to care whether they were described as American Indian or Native American. I did know one guy who’d refer to himself and others as just “Native”, as in “He’s Native, but I don’t know what tribe.” And now I must share a funny experience I had. For the record, I am a very white looking white person. When I was in college the dining hall would occasionally serve vegetable curry, but it was pretty bland and disappointing. I was standing at the buffet once and said “This curry is pathetic. My MOM makes better curry than this.” The girl standing next to me said “Oh, are you part Native American?” :smack: I just said “Uh, no, I’m not.” I figured it wasn’t worth trying to explain that curry wasn’t _that_ kind of “Indian” food. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/42 "2010-03-15T22:34:05Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m complaining. That website SUCKS. > > They also have an exhibit about African-Americans. Right next to the blurb is a picture of Jimi Hendrix. I didn’t see any blurb/pic, but in any event, why is that a big deal? ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/43 "2010-03-15T22:42:10Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > You shouldn’t have done that “WOO-woo-woo-woo” thing with your hand over your mouth, that was your mistake. Next you’re going to tell me I can’t put two fingers in the shape of feathers behind my head. Bollocks! ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/44 "2010-03-16T00:25:17Z")
No it isn’t offensive and it shouldn’t be offensive unless you’re actually an Indian taking offense at it. Not some overly delicate person taking offense for someone else. Fuck that. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/45 "2010-03-16T00:46:24Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > Right, but I said that the merit of the nomenclature is to be ignored. It doesn’t do me much good if the AP Stylebook backs what I say if nobody else knows or agrees. For example, I have to say “Octopi” instead of the more correct “Octopuses” because people will think I’m a moron for the latter. > > So I’m just trying to assess the current…mood, I guess. NOT which is more authoritative. Ahem. The correct term is ‘octopodes’. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/46 "2010-03-16T00:48:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I didn’t see any blurb/pic, but in any event, why is that a big deal? Yeah, I don’t see the problem with one ethnic group showing respect for another either. And Hendrix was 1/4 Native American, so he’d be an appropriate figure to mention on the site either way. I’m looking at the website now and I don’t see a picture of Hendrix, but I do see a banner for an exhibit called “INDIVISIBLE: African-Native American Lives in the Americas”. So it looks like the exhibit isn’t about African-Americans in general but people of mixed African and Native American ancestry. I’m guessing Hendrix was being used as an example of such a person. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/47 "2010-03-16T01:01:07Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > Although they’ve changed recently, IIRC they used to allow people with **one** Cherokee great-great-great-great grandparent on the rolls. I can beat that! My nephews are on the Cherokee rolls and their last full-blood ancestor was their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother! That’s seven greats, stretching back to the late 18th century! However, their documentation was impeccable. Their great-grandmother (my grandmother) was Chief William P. Ross’s granddaughter, and well-known in Tahlequah historical circles when she was alive. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/48 "2010-03-16T01:14:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wow, if the Shawnee used the same standard, I’d be able to qualify. Hell, if every ethnicity used that standard, or even just to your great-great grandparents, [I’d](http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/theevilwriter/SD/?action=view¤t=justme.jpg) be black! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/49 "2010-03-16T01:17:43Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But I do wonder why they would WANT to be called that. It’s completely incorrect and put on them by the oppressor, as it were. Because we’ve been using it for 500 years already. And it’s not incorrect. I’m not a linguist, but I’m pretty sure that if a word is commonly understood to mean something by a large population and over a period of time, then that definition must be accepted as legitimate. I think five centuries is enough time. The name was based on an incorrept assumption, sure, but at this point that’s just a technicality. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/50 "2010-03-16T01:18:01Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > Yesterday, I was talking to my girlfriend and happened to mention that “old littering PSA with the Indian standing by the side of road,” and her mouth dropped open as if I’d just sprouted a third arm. She proceeded to inform me that “Indian” is horribly offensive and un-PC, and that they should be called “Native Americans.” > > Now, I was stunned, because it just never occurred to me; all my life, everyone has always called them Indians, with no pejorative intent. I’ve even met actual Indians/Native Americans who didn’t particularly care either way. I argued that the AP Stylebook recommends “American Indians” and even the 1995 Census indicated that a majority preferred it to “Native Americans,” but she was unswayed. The informal poll at her office was unanimous that it was very offensive (though it’s a small sample size, and one of them doesn’t believe in the moon landings, so the usable sample is probably even smaller still). > > I can understand that Indian is not desirable because it doesn’t distinguish them from the Subcontinent, but Native American doesn’t seem much better. I was born in the U.S., I’m a native American too. But let’s set the merits of each nomenclature aside for now–what’s your initial gut reaction? Horribly offensive? No big deal? I’m worried that my internal compass been desensitized by watching the “Redskins” play for 20 years (yes, horribly unacceptable, I agree). Have you tried [match.com](http://match.com) or okcupid? Oh wait, this thread _isn’t_ about how to find a new girlfriend? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/51 "2010-03-16T01:30:48Z")
Nobody I knew objected to Indian unless it was said in a derogatory way, and I met quite a few mixed and full-blooded Indians. Granted, I lost contact with most of them when I moved to a city, and that was around the time the politically correct movement started up. But most of them probably would have thought it was stupid white-people crap. I call myself an Anglo-American mutt, since I’m a blend of half of western and northern Europe, with a couple tribes of Indian mixed in. The Cherokee on my paternal grandmother’s side is well documented with pictures, genealogy, and geography (she’s from Tennessee). I was told that my paternal grandfather was part Iroquois. He always downplayed it, but he’s also the one who introduced me to one of the few full Miwok left around in the Mokelumne area. The ancestry basically doesn’t show in me at this point, being greatly diluted. I tan a weird tone when I do manage to get some color, and I’ve got a touch of oddness around the cheekbones and eyes, but that’s about it. My father shows it a lot more. Another reason so many people claim Cherokee ancestry is that the Cherokee managed to survive. Most of the smaller and weaker tribes were wiped out, bred out, or lost their heritage. The few people who made it often didn’t intermarry, and so there aren’t as many side-branches into the main population. It’s not really that the Cherokee are the “cool” tribe as it is that they were one of the more successful. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/52 "2010-03-16T04:42:47Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > [QUOTE=tdn] > I’m complaining. That website SUCKS. > > They also have an exhibit about African-Americans. Right next to the blurb is a picture of Jimi Hendrix. I didn’t see any blurb/pic, but in any event, why is that a big deal? [/QUOTE] He’s British. Well, not really. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/53 "2010-03-16T04:46:04Z")
I actually liked what the early 17th century English explorers called them: “The Naturals”. (Well, that and ‘savages’, ‘heathens’, and ‘devils’, but Naturals has more of a ring to it.) ---
**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:** [March 16, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/54 "2010-03-16T04:59:50Z")
I know a few Indians, and not one objects to the term. Oh, wait a minute! They’re FROM India. D’oh! :smack: However, when I lived in Albuquerque, I did work in a certain capacity with a number of Navajo and Pueblo peoples, and I cannot recall any of them objecting to the term. Can’t say for certain whether it ever came up, now that I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/55 "2010-03-16T14:02:00Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > Yesterday, I was talking to my girlfriend and happened to mention that “old littering PSA with the Indian standing by the side of road,” and her mouth dropped open as if I’d just sprouted a third arm. She proceeded to inform me that “Indian” is horribly offensive and un-PC, and that they should be called “Native Americans.” The correct response to that is “Political correctness isn’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/56 "2010-03-16T14:21:33Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > This museum opened in 2004 and nobody complained. > > [http://www.nmai.si.edu/](http://www.nmai.si.edu/) I was going to comment on that. My wife worked as a liaison with some indigenous groups (not just NA Indians but also Central American and Caribbean peoples) for the opening of that museum. When I took a “History of Native Americans” course in college a few years back, the instructor started the semester by saying that you’ll get some people offended by Indian, some offended by the overly PC “Native American” and some offended by anything else. But on balance most were okay with or preferred Indian so don’t be surprised when he casually switched between them while lecturing. He wasn’t of native blood himself but was deeply involved with local Indian groups and arranging events for them. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/57 "2010-03-16T14:35:02Z")
Well, if it’s offensive, the Federal Government just offended the entire nation. One of the check boxes on the US Census form is “American Indian.” ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/58 "2010-03-16T14:59:55Z")
Doesn’t offend me. I know some but very few Indians who are offended by the “label”. Native American is fine, Indian is fine, First Nations and Indigenous are fine…just don’t use Redskin. That ain’t fine. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/59 "2010-03-16T15:48:29Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > It’ll blow her mind when she finds out about the [American Indian Movement.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Movement) I’ve got a friend who’s part of that particular movement. He refers to himself either as “native” or by the indigenous group of which he is a member. > [@Sampiro](#): > > I actually liked what the early 17th century English explorers called them: “The Naturals”. > > (Well, that and ‘savages’, ‘heathens’, and ‘devils’, but Naturals has more of a ring to it.) In Guatemala, the modern Maya refer to themselves as “Naturales”, which makes sense. “Indios” is considered offensive or at least not very polite; in contrast, “indios” is commonly used in other parts of Latin America as an inoffensive term. There’s a lot of variance; if/when you come across someone of indigenous North/South/Central American Pre-Columbian heritage, ask them what they like to be called if they don’t mention it. I have yet to meet someone who takes offense to you using their self-identifying terminology. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/60 "2010-03-16T17:07:00Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Have you tried [match.com](http://match.com) or okcupid? > > Oh wait, this thread _isn’t_ about how to find a new girlfriend? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. Okay, normally, I would jump all over you for this kind of drive-by, but damn if I didn’t laugh out loud at it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565.md?page=4)