"Thumbs up" gesture is obscene to Australians?

[Gest]

So is Australia the only country without aboriginal people?

@Giles

(I once wrote a whole paper on the subject of how to refer to the Aboriginal people of Australia: believe me, I know n awful lot on this subject).

I’ve got a whole degree in linguistics so I think we’re talking about our separate areas of study. I wasn’t commenting on the currently preferred ethnic terminology but rather how English spelling works. There are far more offensive terms for indigenous (Indigenous?) people than the ones we have here but they’re part of the language no matter what we think of them.

Personally, I’ve never given it that much thought when talking to black people I’ve met here and some have been the kinds of blokes who’d let me know if there was. Just to be on the safe side though, what were your conclusions as to terminology preferred by Australian indigenes?

[Giles]

The best way, to be really safe, of referring to indigenous people of Australia, is to refer to them as “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”. Now that’s a mouthful, and youy won’t get faulted for shortening it to “Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders”. (It’s often abbreviated as “ATSI”, but use that in the wrong context, and you’ll be accused of being disrespectful).

Yes – part of the problem is that there are two main groups of aboriginal or indigenous people in Australia: the Aboriginal people, and the Torres Strait Islanders.