Good riddance to "squaw"

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Homerboy

Homerboy

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Mar 1, 2000
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Honestly, this is one of the best cabinet assignments I can recall

www.npr.org

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland moves to ban the word 'squaw' from federal lands

"Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said as she formally declared "squaw" to be a derogatory term.
www.npr.org www.npr.org

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland formally declared "squaw" to be a derogatory term Friday and ordered a task force to find replacement names for valleys, lakes, creeks and other sites on federal lands that use the word.

The order, which takes effect immediately, stands to affect more than 650 place names that use the term, according to figures from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

"Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation's lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage — not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression," Haaland said in a news release about the change.

The origin of the word "squaw" has been traced to the Algonquian language, in which it meant simply "woman." But its meaning was skewed by centuries of use by white people, including colonists in the 1600s.

"The term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women," the Interior Department said.
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kage69

kage69

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
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Totally agree and this move sounds good to me.

The more polite translation of "woman" is the one you always hear. The Mohawk used the word for vagina, but for more than a century it was more analogous to the C bomb in English. Various states have been getting rid of it, too slowly, since the late 90s.
 
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Jaskalas

Jaskalas

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Jun 23, 2004
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"The term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women," the Interior Department said."

Not just the name of a tribe?
Feels like the rewriting of a name, of a meaning. Of imposing yourself on something that is supposed to be innocent.
But maybe the survivors themselves feel differently. I will defer to the actual Indigenous people's views of the word. And I will assume the Interior Department is doing the same.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

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Jul 12, 2006
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Jaskalas said:
"The term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women," the Interior Department said."

Not just the name of a tribe?
Feels like the rewriting of a name, of a meaning. Of imposing yourself on something that is supposed to be innocent.
But maybe the survivors themselves feel differently. I will defer to the actual Indigenous people's views of the word. And I will assume the Interior Department is doing the same.
Click to expand...

Gee, when has that ever happened? :D

Maybe ask the creator of Pepe the Frog or, you know, whatever sects there are/were that, for centuries, used the swastika as their symbol of purity, vitality, and life.
 
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shortylickens

shortylickens

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Jul 15, 2003
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Greenman is a republican bigot but thats not the issue here. He just never heard the term was considered bad.
Not everything is a conservative agenda.
 
B

brycejones

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Oct 18, 2005
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Greenman said:
I had no idea squaw was a derogatory term.
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Yes many terms white people have used in the past are not appreciated. Why wouldn't you call a Native American woman just a woman? Calling her by a different name (especially one that most likely is not correct in the language of her people) is derogatory. Change your mindset, be a bit curious about the world, and THINK and you'll find out all sorts of things you need to change so you don't ignorantly offend people.

Casual racism is still racism, don't be that guy.
 
uallas5

uallas5

Golden Member
Jun 3, 2005
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I didn't realize it was an insult until recently, now I know know. Like a shit ton of other stuff, you learn as you go through life. Unfortunately many people seem to think that learning something new about the past somehow "alters", "changes" and "erases" history.

I thought it just meant woman, as I'm sure the first white people who used it. They were probably corrected, but being the "superior God worshiping folk", they also probably went "yeah whatever heathen, I'm not going to admit I was wrong" and kept using it.
 
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G

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
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brycejones said:
Yes many terms white people have used in the past are not appreciated. Why wouldn't you call a Native American woman just a woman? Calling her by a different name (especially one that most likely is not correct in the language of her people) is derogatory. Change your mindset, be a bit curious about the world, and THINK and you'll find out all sorts of things you need to change so you don't ignorantly offend people.

Casual racism is still racism, don't be that guy.
Click to expand...
The only situation I've ever found my self in where the word would come up is if I'm heading to the nearest ski resort.
It odd to me that this has suddenly become an issue.
 
M

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
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shortylickens said:
Greenman is a republican bigot but thats not the issue here. He just never heard the term was considered bad.
Not everything is a conservative agenda.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that. First blush on the Squaw thingi and I want to kill somebody. How dare anybody bring attention to some issue irrelevant to me. Fuck anybody who isn't attending to the big fat sore toe I have here stuck out to be stepped on. That's what's impoortant.
 
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Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
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Greenman said:
The only situation I've ever found my self in where the word would come up is if I'm heading to the nearest ski resort.
It odd to me that this has suddenly become an issue.
Click to expand...
Me too and it seems odder than fuck, but I ask myself why that is. It is possible, perhaps on a cold day in hell, that I may be short on understanding and this really is an issue for some people. If so, and because I know what the pain of being put down feels like, I am going to take a back seat on this issue and presume I am too ignorant to have a sensible opinion. I am doing so because it hurts me when other people are unjustly hurt, even if only by words. Not everyone has had the advantages I have had to see that people who put others down are deeply sad inside.
 
imported_tajmahal

imported_tajmahal

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Jul 9, 2009
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www.merriam-webster.com

Thesaurus results for SQUAWKING

Synonyms for SQUAWKING: vocal, outspoken, blatant, vociferous, noisy, caterwauling, yowling, yawping; Antonyms of SQUAWKING: silent, quiet, still, noiseless, calm, soundless, hushed, subdued
www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com

Is it related? Is squawking also banned?
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

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Jul 12, 2006
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Greenman said:
The only situation I've ever found my self in where the word would come up is if I'm heading to the nearest ski resort.
It odd to me that this has suddenly become an issue.
Click to expand...

uh, surely you don't mean squall do you? :D
 
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