# When and how did "Inuit" come to supplant "Eskimo?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310 "2005-05-04T01:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/1 "2005-05-04T01:13:56Z")
I have recently been reading about the history of Arctic exploration, and have noticed that many authors on this topic, when discussing the native peoples, go out of their way to emphasize that the term “Eskimo” is no longer considered proper; the correct term, rather, is “Inuit.” I had no real reason to doubt this claim, until I made the mistake of using the term in a conversation with a pal of mine who is of Inupiaq extraction. After thoroughly reaming me out for my error, he went on to passionately decry the high-handed efforts of the Canadian Inuit to unjustly impose the name of their own people on other native populations who never used the term to describe themselves. (Actually he used somewhat more expressive language than “high-handed” and “unjust,” which is why I’m leery of raising the subject with him again.) As far as I have been able to discern so far from my reading, the term “Inuit” is intended to denote a group of neighboring cultures with shared linguistic roots, presumably analagous to “Indo-European.” I guess I can understand my friend’s annoyance at being saddled with a term that he doesn’t identify with; nobody goes around telling people of Scotch-Irish descent that they have to call themselves Indo-Europeans instead. But I am curious: was there ever, as he claims, a concerted effort by Canadian native political groups to enshrine “Inuit” as the proper anthropological blanket term for Arctic peoples? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/2 "2005-05-04T01:35:24Z")
Note this from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) on Eskimo: > [@](#): > > Usage Note: Eskimo has come under strong attack in recent years for its supposed offensiveness, and many Americans today either avoid this term or feel uneasy using it. It is widely known that Inuit, a term of ethnic pride, offers an acceptable alternative, but it is less well understood that Inuit cannot substitute for Eskimo in all cases, being restricted in usage to the Inuit-speaking peoples of Arctic Canada and parts of Greenland. In Alaska and Arctic Siberia, where Inuit is not spoken, the comparable terms are Inupiaq and Yupik, neither of which has gained as wide a currency in English as Inuit. While use of these terms is often preferable when speaking of the appropriate linguistic group, none of them can be used of the Eskimoan peoples as a whole; the only inclusive term remains Eskimo. ·The claim that Eskimo is offensive is based primarily on a popular but disputed etymology tracing its origin to an Abenaki word meaning “eaters of raw meat.” Though modern linguists speculate that the term actually derives from a Montagnais word referring to the manner of lacing a snowshoe, the matter remains undecided, and meanwhile many English speakers have learned to perceive Eskimo as a derogatory term invented by unfriendly outsiders in scornful reference to their neighbors’ unsophisticated eating habits. See Usage Note at Inuit. and Inuit: > [@](#): > > Usage Note: The preferred term for the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is now Inuit, and the use of Eskimo in referring to these peoples is often considered offensive, especially in Canada. Inuit, the plural of the Inuit word inuk, “human being,” is less exact in referring to the peoples of northern Alaska, who speak dialects of the closely related Inupiaq language, and it is inappropriate when used in reference to speakers of Yupik, the Eskimoan language branch of western Alaska and the Siberian Arctic. See Usage Note at Eskimo. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/3 "2005-05-04T03:20:35Z")
As a recent resident, I can assure that Inuit has not supplanted Eskimo in Alaska. I have many Eskimo friends who use that term for themselves and their families without any pejorative connotation. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/4 "2005-05-04T03:44:15Z")
So it’s another one of those Canadanian things to add to the list? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kezami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eb8c5e/32.png) [@kezami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kezami)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/5 "2005-05-04T05:25:17Z")
My city’s CFL football team is called the ‘Edmonton Eskimos’ and I haven’t heard an uproar yet about changing the name. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/6 "2005-05-04T06:50:15Z")
I fail to see how “Eaters of Raw Meat” should be considered as wicked enough a thing to toss a word. Course I live in Sushi-central (Japan.) … Going to have to start calling the peeps around here Eskimo just to confuse them! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/7 "2005-05-04T07:22:18Z")
This is like the white people who are so mindful to say “Native Americans”, only to hear the very same refer to themselves as “Indians”! ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/8 "2005-05-04T08:18:56Z")
I tried to give my girlfriend Eskimo kisses, but she wasn’t in 'u it. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/9 "2005-05-04T10:55:55Z")
> [@dictionary.com](#): > > The preferred term for the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is now Inuit Greenlanders can properly be called Inuit based on linguistic affinity, but I believe that in general they prefer the term “Kalaallit.” It means “Greenlanders” though not of course in the literal sense of “people from a green land.” The ultimate origin of the word “Kalaallit” is disputed. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/10 "2005-05-04T16:12:21Z")
In one of my Anthropology courses, we were told something about Inuit is preferable to Eskimo. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/11 "2005-05-04T16:35:08Z")
I grew up in Alaska, and I never heard an eskimo refer to themselves as Inuit. They always called themselves eskimos. Most I knew were Yupik though. But not all native americans in Alaska are eskimos, lots of them are indians or aleuts. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/12 "2005-05-04T17:14:08Z")
Wow, these new Native Peoples labeling guidelines are certainly counter Inuit-ive. –SLK ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/13 "2005-05-04T17:47:11Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I tried to give my girlfriend Eskimo kisses, but she wasn’t in 'u it. Maybe she wanted to let you pick? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/14 "2005-05-04T18:29:06Z")
“Where’s our fish? We’ve finished our fish.” ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/15 "2005-05-04T18:59:47Z")
Unless you’re talking to good buddy of yours, calling someone ‘eskimo’ here is likely to get your ass whooped. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/16 "2005-05-04T21:07:19Z")
> [@Nunavut Boy](#): > > Unless you’re talking to good buddy of yours, calling someone ‘eskimo’ here is likely to get your ass whooped. Yeah, but I’ve heard Inuit use the term pretty cheerfully among themselves, and I imagine you have, too. It’s a bit like “nigger” that way, in my experience. What’s it like in Iqaluit these days, **Nunavut Boy**? It’s not like I miss it there, but when the days start getting longer, I sometimes think about the Arctic. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/17 "2005-05-04T22:18:40Z")
> [@Nunavut Boy](#): > > Unless you’re talking to good buddy of yours, calling someone ‘eskimo’ here is likely to get your ass whooped. Well, its hard to think of a context where \*\*calling \*\*someone an Eskimo (or any appellation) wouldn’t be an insult. Hey, you, Eskimo fellow, come over here… What do you Eskimo folk like to eat? Did that Eskimo do something? Go ask that Eskimo over there… Pretty much true of any label you thrown at anyone, no? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/18 "2005-05-05T00:28:21Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > I had no real reason to doubt this claim, until I made the mistake of using the term in a conversation with a pal of mine who is of Inupiaq extraction. After thoroughly reaming me out for my error, he went on to passionately decry the high-handed efforts of the Canadian Inuit to unjustly impose the name of their own people on other native populations who never used the term to describe themselves. (Actually he used somewhat more expressive language than “high-handed” and “unjust,” which is why I’m leery of raising the subject with him again.) Frankly I’d be leery of raising any subject with him, for it sounds like this friend of yours was using you to vent all his frustrations on the subject. IMHO there’s no excuse for that. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/19 "2005-05-05T01:41:10Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Frankly I’d be leery of raising any subject with him, for it sounds like this friend of yours was using you to vent all his frustrations on the subject. IMHO there’s no excuse for that. The thing is, ordinarily he’s exceedingly laid back, so learning that this topic is a sensitive one with him is doubly surprising…which is another reason why I am trying to find out more about the subject. The local Inupiaq community here in Florida is relatively inconspicuous; he’s the only one I know. I have no idea whether this is a widespread concern among his folks at home, or if it’s just a personal hobgoblin of his, but I do know that matters of ethnic identity can carry a lot of emotional weight (as **Nunavut Boy** pointed out above). As someone who as yet has never been north of Minneapolis,\* I have no real sense of how the various Arctic native communities interact; they could be fighting it out like the Hatfields and McCoys for all I know. I certainly don’t blame my pal for having pride in his heritage; the more I read about the history of the Arctic, the more respect I have for the people who managed to survive and even thrive there. And I can certainly understand how cultural validation could be a highly important issue for such people, whose incredibly fine-tuned and well-adapted society was pretty much bulldozed over during the last few centuries. There’s one darkly comic anecdote in one of the histories I’m reading, where a team of British explorers tries to translate the Bible for the benefit of their guides, with less than satisfactory results. Rendered into the local dialect, The 23rd Psalm ran: _“The Lord is my great keeper; he does not want me. He shoots me down on the beach, and pushes me into the water.”_ \*although I really hope to visit Algonquin Provincial Park one of these days… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310/20 "2005-05-05T05:36:53Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Pretty much true of any label you thrown at anyone, no? _Hey, you Walloon fellow, come over here._ Ok, here I am. _What do you Walloon folk like to eat?_ Beer, chocolate, and mussels. _Did that Walloon do something?_ He just posted. _Go ask that Walloon over there._ Yep. I just posted. Sounds fine to me! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-did-inuit-come-to-supplant-eskimo/302310.md?page=2)