# More PC (or more accurate) phrase for 'Indian Giver'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725 "2007-05-04T07:58:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/1 "2007-05-04T07:58:36Z")
Yesterday, my kids and I took a pack of a specific kind of cookie to their therapy clinic. On the way to our appointment today, the kids wanted to know if they could have any of those cookies. I explained that if you give something as a present, you don’t ask for it back. I used the phrase ‘Indian Giver’ because it’s the only phrase I know for that kind of behavior, but is there a different phrase? How about: gift revocation? gift repossession? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/2 "2007-05-04T08:14:09Z")
A renegger. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/3 "2007-05-04T09:19:25Z")
Spelled “reneger”, but pronounced either /rInEg@r/ (“rinnegger”), or, well, /rInIg@r/ (“rinnigger”). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/4 "2007-05-04T09:47:37Z")
Niggardly welsher who jews you. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/5 "2007-05-04T09:49:26Z")
You forgot to toss in “gyp”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/6 "2007-05-04T10:28:46Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] A renegger. [/QUOTE] I toast you. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/7 "2007-05-04T17:01:24Z")
Maybe “Boomerang giver” (Unless this is somehow offensive to indigenous Australians). ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/8 "2007-05-04T17:20:54Z")
I’ve looked at the definition of ‘renege’ (including its Latin root ‘renegare’) and I just don’t think this is quite…right. ‘Renege’ seems to refer specifically to the going-back on one’s word, or breaking a promise; at any rate, it is specifically not _post facto_ to an act of giving, unless I suppose one can take back a promise. Whereas…what I’m needing is more like…revocation, or retraction. Repossession, maybe? Status change, from gift to non-gift; from giver to non-giver. Yet none of the re- words I’ve seen or heard or come up with yet, seems quite right. We’ve heard of re-gifting. How about…de-gifting? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/9 "2007-05-04T17:24:44Z")
The term Indian Giver never made any sense to me. Shouldn’t the term have been European Giver? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/10 "2007-05-04T17:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=Chotii] We’ve heard of re-gifting. How about…de-gifting? [/QUOTE] Degifting is perfect! A variation of Seinfeld’s regifting. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/11 "2007-05-04T17:30:09Z")
I won’t argue there: as I was telling my kids yesterday when they watched ‘Barter’ on the ‘America Rock’ DVD…the natives got the raw end of that particular barter deal (beads and such). I didn’t even attempt to go into the broken treaties right then, they were busy watching the video. I can’t justify certain bits of history, and can only say ‘Y’know, people can really suck sometimes.’ But it doesn’t bring us much closer to a word to use _instead_ of ‘denigrate one particular group of people or another’. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/12 "2007-05-04T17:38:06Z")
Let’s try ‘degifting’ in a few sentences to get a feel for it: John gave Mary an excellent power drill for her birthday. When she never used it, he began using it, saying it was going to waste otherwise. She felt he had given it with the express purpose of degifting it later. Mary gave her children her old computer, but degifted it a few months later when she needed it again. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/13 "2007-05-04T17:41:02Z")
How about: Jerk-ass jerk who’s gives you something then takes it back like the jerk-ass jerk that they are. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/14 "2007-05-04T17:41:10Z")
reposessor? ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/15 "2007-05-04T17:45:12Z")
John was a confirmed degifter, so much so that whenever he gave a present, the recipient never quite felt it was theirs, but rather that they were holding it for him, and he’d be along sooner or later to take it back. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/16 "2007-05-04T17:58:19Z")
I always thought the term “Indian giver” had to do with the custom of potlatch, which was explained to me as the custom of giving away excess possessions or food, with the expectation that if you ever needed them again, whoever had them would give them back to you (or would feed you.) A nice way to live, provided everyone has the same expectations. In my understanding, it was not in any way connected with the concept of cheating or bilking. I like degifting, though, as a word to use instead. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/17 "2007-05-04T19:19:59Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Degifting is perfect! A variation of Seinfeld’s regifting. [/QUOTE] Google tells me Seinfeld already did “degifting” (or at least “degifter”) too. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/18 "2007-05-04T21:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] I always thought the term “Indian giver” had to do with the custom of potlatch, which was explained to me as the custom of giving away excess possessions or food, with the expectation that if you ever needed them again, whoever had them would give them back to you (or would feed you.) A nice way to live, provided everyone has the same expectations. In my understanding, it was not in any way connected with the concept of cheating or bilking. [/QUOTE] I thought it was. Indian summer is a false summer not as good as the real thing. Indian givers don’t give at all. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/19 "2007-05-04T21:56:39Z")
As a child, poor zelie was given a small TV for Christmas but was immediately degifted because her brother had received a computer with no monitor which he played all day and her parents liked to watch the TV at night… ☹ Yup, that term works perfectly to sum up how the degifted feel. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725/20 "2007-05-04T22:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] I always thought the term “Indian giver” had to do with the custom of potlatch, which was explained to me as the custom of giving away excess possessions or food, with the expectation that if you ever needed them again, whoever had them would give them back to you (or would feed you.) A nice way to live, provided everyone has the same expectations. In my understanding, it was not in any way connected with the concept of cheating or bilking. I like degifting, though, as a word to use instead. [/QUOTE] [The Master speaks on the origin of “Indian giver.”](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_253.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-pc-or-more-accurate-phrase-for-indian-giver/402725.md?page=2)