# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/61 "2010-03-16T17:34:08Z")
I live in a town which has the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, the Museum of the American Indian, and an annual Indian Market, and I’ve never heard a single complaint about it. In my experience, using an actual tribe or nation is _preferred_: if nothing else it’s more accurate to say that someone is Zuni or Navajo or whatnot, but when that’s not practical, Indian seems to be fine. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/62 "2010-03-16T18:23:11Z")
Meh, _I_ don’t care how the Cherokee decide their tribal members. But I have heard members of other tribes making snide comments. **The Hamster King** , yup - for some tribes, all descendants of the original enrollees are considered members. The flip side of that is that it can be very difficult to impossible to join if your ancestors declined to be listed on the rolls, even if you have incontrovertible documentation. **elfkin477** , by some folks’ reckoning, you _are_! 😉 As the sole red-haired, green-eyed, pasty-white child in a dark-tanned, brown-haired family, I was often suspected of being (a) adopted, (b) a neighbor/friend of the family, or (c) the product of cuckoldry. But you and I could be sibs! 😛 With something like 70-odd tribes in the state, not to mention all the multi-tribal families, people here usually just use ‘Indian’. Someone I actually _know_, I’ll probably know their tribe, but the other umpteen I deal with a day, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/63 "2010-03-16T18:58:08Z")
I work in a town that calls itself “The Indian Capital of the Nation”. It maintains an Indian Museum and an Indian Hall of Fame. Half of the residents are Indians. I never hear them use “Native American”. They even use Indian as an insult as in “On Indian time” to denote someone that is always late. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/64 "2010-03-16T19:35:43Z")
> [@](#): > > You notice I use the term American Indian rather than Native American or Native indigenous people or Amerindian when referring to my people. There has been some controversy about such terms, and frankly, at this point. I find it absurd. Primarily it seems that American Indian is being rejected as European in origin-which is true. But all the above terms are European in origin; the only non-European way is to speak of Lakota-or, more precisely, of Oglala, Brule, etc.-and of the Dineh, the Miccousukee, and all the rest of the several hundred correct tribal names. > > There is also some confusion about the word Indian, a mistaken belief that it refers somehow to the country, India. When Columbus washed up on the beach in the Caribbean, he was not looking for a country called India. Europeans were calling that country Hindustan in 1492. Look it up on the old maps. Columbus called the tribal people he met “Indio,” from the Italian in dio, meaning “in God.” [Russell Means](http://www.russellmeans.com/), 1980 speech in the Black Hills ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/65 "2010-03-16T19:39:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Easily prevented with a “dots, not feathers” pre-clarification. I refuse to use this, honestly. “From India” works just as well. Dots and feathers are both correct and incorrect characterizations of both cultures I feel. Either way, much too simplistic. I am not offended by the usage, btw. 🙂 Just don’t use it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/66 "2010-03-16T19:41:39Z")
One more thing I would like to add - I’d certainly like it if more NA were to use their tribe names. Give me a chance to learn more! ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/67 "2010-03-16T19:47:51Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > 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! Don’t even, yo. My friend has the same complexion, but brown hair and freckles and identifies strongly with her Irish ancestry. But damn, when she could prove she had Native ancestry (some great-grandmother or something) she was all over that because then she gets a crapload of funding from the government for school. Whitiest white girl ever, but I can’t blame her, really. If I could get my degree mostly paid for I’d do it too. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/68 "2010-03-16T19:55:30Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > There is also some confusion about the word Indian, a mistaken belief that it refers somehow to the country, India. When Columbus washed up on the beach in the Caribbean, he was not looking for a country called India. Europeans were calling that country Hindustan in 1492. Look it up on the old maps. Columbus called the tribal people he met “Indio,” from the Italian in dio, meaning “in God.” > > [Russell Means](http://www.russellmeans.com/), 1980 speech in the Black Hills [Russell Means was mistaken](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1966/does-indian-derive-from-columbuss-description-of-native-americans-as-una-gente-in-dios). ---
**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, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/69 "2010-03-16T20:00:54Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > Meh, _I_ don’t care how the Cherokee decide their tribal members. But I have heard members of other tribes making snide comments. My wife also used to spend some time on Capitol Hill helping to hit up Congresscritters for scholarship funding for American Indians. My impression is that other tribes eye-roll at the 1/16th-bloodline Cherokee thing because of (A) a notion of tribal “purity” but also (B) because the large size of the Cherokee “tribe” soaks a disproportionate amount of government funding/scholarships/grants from tribes with stricter requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/70 "2010-03-16T20:05:52Z")
I’ve known a fair number of Native people. My wife once spent a couple of years working at a reservation school, I had a roomate for a year who was half Sioux and I’ve just randomly met a great number of others throughout the years. North Dakota has a pretty large Native population. I believe every Indian I ever met said “Indian.” I don’t remember any of them ever objecting to it. I think that “American Indian” works pretty well to avoid the confusion with Asian Indians (if you don’t know the tribe), and the only people I’ve ever encountered who thought that term was offensive were white people who’d never met any American Indians. White people are the only people I’ve ever seen get offended by the word “black” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/71 "2010-03-16T20:48:30Z")
> [@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.” $5 says your girlfriend is white and was taught to say Native American by other white people. Anybody I’ve ever heard insist on “Native American” is white; anybody I’ve known who’s actually feather-versus-dot prefers, if you need a generic catch-all term, (American) Indian. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/72 "2010-03-16T21:02:19Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > …“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: A) This is funny! B) My husband is a card carrying member of the Mohawk nation. His favorite kind of food to cook? …from-India-Indian C)I suppose it demonstrates how completely we can contextualize a word that this never even struck me before. For the record, he and his family almost always use “Indian” and are not offended by it. and thank you for the “Generokee” ad **redtail**. Can’t wait to play it for him! ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/73 "2010-03-17T03:52:59Z")
So what’s the current thinking on “Injun”? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/74 "2010-03-17T03:55:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > So what’s the current thinking on “Injun”? I guess we’d have to find some redskins and ask them. ---
**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 17, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/75 "2010-03-17T04:02:01Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I guess we’d have to find some redskins and ask them. I don’t follow baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/76 "2010-03-17T10:29:49Z")
FWIW, I will mention that there is a cable channel up here in the frozen north whose official name is APTV, Aboriginal People’s TV. In the Olympics, I watched some curling on it and I saw a game broadcast in English, one in French, and one in Cree (I think) on this station. I think they use some other Indian (or aboriginal) languages as well, but not Inuktituk. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/77 "2010-03-17T12:54:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I guess we’d have to find some redskins and ask them. This made me chortle. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/78 "2010-03-17T14:13:09Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > For what it’s worth, and this is anecdotal, I was given to understand that the preferred usage (by the Persons of Pre-Columbian-American Ancestry concerned) is, by and large, “Native American” east of the Mississippi, and “[American] Indian” west of it, the “American” being used when there is a danger of confusion with persons of Dravidian/Indo-Aryan descent. I personally use “Native American Indian” whenever I need to refer to the ethnic group or persons from it. This may be true. I spent a good deal of time on one of the country’s larger reservations, west of the Mississippi (although I am not of Indian descent myself), and I never heard anyone there refer to him or herself as anything other than “Indian” (although sometimes more specific tribe names were used). I haven’t had enough encounters with Indians or Native Americans east of the Mississipi to know what they call themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/79 "2010-03-17T14:37:50Z")
Wisconsin is east of the Mississippi, and AFAIK (American) Indian is preferred here. ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565/80 "2010-03-17T15:00:55Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I guess we’d have to find some redskins and ask them. deleted [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-indian-offensive/532565.md?page=5)