According to Cecil’s article at http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000317.html,
However, a friend of mine reports that her Native American (I believe Cherokee or Creek) grandmother was insulted to be called a squaw, and in fact knew that the word meant “vagina” in the language of her tribe, as far back as the 1930s.
<annoying credentials>As someone who wrote his thesis on the Shawnee language–part of the Algonquian family to which Cecil refers</annoying_creds>, I can attest that “squaw” was in fact brorrowed from one or more Algonquian languages. The root “-skwe-” in Shawnee just means “woman”, and other related languages such as Cree and Ojibwa all have some variant of this, usually something like “iskweewa”.
The fact that a similar sequence of sounds in an unrelated language–neither Cherokee nor Creek is an Algonquian language
–happens to mean “vagina” is irrelevant to the historical meaning of the word. It’s like saying the English word “beet” is offensive because it sounds a lot like the French word “bite”, which means “dick”. (Okay, that’s not the best example, as French and English are closely related, but I think the point is clear.)
As to whether “squaw” is now widely considered offensive among Native Americans (due to a misunderstanding of the source of the word), well, that’s a separate matter. I don’t have enough data to comment on that. But it does remind me of the flap over the word “niggardly” in DC. (A Washington Post editorial: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-01/29/214l-012999-idx.html)
You went to the Washington Post for that story? The Post is not a bad little rag in its own way, but when you want the real story, you know where to go. Here’s Ian’s Staff Report on niggardly
D’oh! Shoulda done my homework on sources. :o
Hi everybody. I’m older than most people on here - I read the Straight Dope Trilogy back in the 80’s. Anyway, someone close to me recently got a job with the Canadian Federal gvmt, working with mostly natives, to service Natives. I’m going to try and stay on topic, and leave my personal feelings out of this. I live part time in the USA, but mostly live in Canada. The way American Natives are treated is completely different from Canadian Natives. I never see Natives when I’m in Detroit - except when I go to the casino - because (I hear) they got driven into Arizona (and other SW, mostly desert States).
Without editorializing, Natives that I know (and have grown up with and worked with all of my life) in NW Canada are completely different tribes - and live completely different lives - than US Natives. So what I know about the word “Squaw” (from my life and, especially, the close acquaintance who works for the Feds), may be different from some of the places in the USA (like, the 10 “poorest” towns in the US - all 70+% Native).
Here, “squaw” is commonly used, especially when Natives talk to each other. The Natives who are Feds use it quite commonly. The person with the Fed job said, after 3 months of hearing it used so often, he had to ask the Manager (who is native) if the word was verboten. Manager said it may have been at one time, in certain places, but he heard it so often, not only on the Reservation he lived on but with other Feds, that (in this time, at this geographical location), calling a female native a squaw is OK.
Which, while interesting, does nothing to answer the OP.
Words change over time … usage, spelting and even meanings … so it doesn’t matter how innocent the word squaw was in the 17th Century … today it’s obscene in some places and it’s just not used in polite company …
As The Master said, anytime we have a “special” word of the female of a minority, it will devolve into an offensive word … white men who moved across the continent did think the native women were nothing but vaginas, as that’s how white men treated white women at the time … you men out there, go ahead and call your mother/sister/wife a squaw today … come back and tell us whether she slapped you, punched you or pulled a knife and stabbed you … I’m curious is all …
Take the word “cooter”. It’s a type of turtle. Inverness, Florida has a cooter turtle festival. Also a name for various TV characters and whatnot.
But it’s also a naughty word. (But not so obscene it is banned from late night network TV.)
Should the latter usage mean that all the other usages get borked?
Should all images of eggplants get censored now?
Are great fun to luxuriate in! I’ve done it many times, but I still end up being me. 