[Vision2020] Rick Perry's Newest Problem

[Tom Hansen]

> Courtesy of Dr. John E. Koontz, Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado at:
> 
> http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz/faq/etymology.htm
> 
> ------------------------------
> Is squaw a bad word?
> 
> The etymology is perfectly innocent.  The problem with squaw has nothing to do with its etymology.  Nigger has a perfectly unobjectionable etymology in Spanish negro 'black', for example.  The difficulty with nigger is that it came to embody and represent a discriminatory attitude toward blacks.  Similarly, the difficulty with squaw is that it is associated with a discriminatory attitude toward Indian people and sometimes by extension toward women generally.  
> 
> The pattern of racism associated with squaw is not readily perceived by many people today, especially by non-Indians, perhaps because the word squaw is obsolescent, found mainly  in historical literature and movies, or as a fossil in placenames and expressions like squawfish,  squaw dance or squaw corn (a term I actually first heard used quite innocently by an Omaha man).  It seems inoffensive to many people in these contexts, and they don't see any point in avoiding it, even though the same people would never use a form like nigger, and may instinctively avoid placenames based on such forms, as well as fossil expressions like niggertoes and perhaps even the wholly unconnected word niggardly.   
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Another thing concerning offensive language . . .
> 
> As many schools have reestablished school mascots, so as not to seem offensive (i.e. Stanford University Indians reestablished as Stanford University Cardinal) . . .
> 
> WHY haven't the Washington REDSKINS, an NFL team in our nation's capitol (for God's sake!), been required to establish a more appropriate mascot???
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
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