Who are Native Americans?

I prefer to be called “wagon burner” myself, but that’s just me.

From now on, anytime you quote me, my response will be this: blah, blah, blah.

Perhaps you’d care to look up the words ‘juvenile’ and ‘petulant’ in the dictionary? :smiley:

Blah, blah, blah.

Anybody born on American soil is a “native American.”

The people who were here before the pilgrims arrived are “American Indians.”

You are both through with this exchange and you will not resume it in any other Great Debates thread.

[ /Moderating ]

Don’t forget that people make assumptions about words sometimes regardless of their context.

Sometime ago on these boards I posted about us Brits; describing ourselves quite accurately as the “natives of these isles”, do such and such.

Another Doper who is a Brit from an ethnic minority got quite huffy about my post believing me to be making a dig about non white people.

But back to the O.P., its common understanding that anyone who talks about “Native Americans” is talking by common accepted usage about Amerindians; not people who happened to be born in the U.S.

Quite often when people talk about “Masons” they are referring to men who are members of a fraternal organisation not people who work stone for a living.
And I’ve yet to meet someone who DOES work stone for a living getting upset about the lodge members being described as such.
(And yes I actually do know some stone masons)

Personally I can’t see why the debate has got so heated.