to not know why you can't call people eskimo's now

[2shoes]

only found out on antiques road show......

blimey, 2shoes, where ya been?

Because inuits don't like it. It's a bit like 'coloureds' or 'red indians' - a name given by the majority ethnic group to describe a minority and that minority have decided they have had enough.

I did not know that either. What are we to call them now?

Isn´t it considered derogatory?

Ok, now I read that, I remember that I read it somewhere.

It's definitely derogatory, must call them Inuits.

I thought that officially inuit is actually inaccurate - as it refers to one tribe (rather like calling native americans cherokees). But that said, I'm not sure what the more appropriate alternative is.

(But I know I knew the inuit terminology by 18 - ie 20 years ago- so catch up 2shoes )

I had heard something about it, but as it is not a word that comes up often, I hadn't given it much thought tbh.
y kat2907 your post has confused me more...

well, wiki says there is no officially accepted term, so I feel better now en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit

although to be fair I just googled it and it seems there are certain native northern american tribes who prefer eskimo. So who knows. I think inuit is the 'correct' generic term for native northern americans.

I learn inuit rather than eskimo about 20rs ago as well

why is it confusing? Basically throughout history minority groups have been given names by the majority groups that they have decided they don't like (as they have the right to) and these names have fallen out of favour. Bit like 'coloured' - 40 years ago that was the accepted word for a black person but now we know that most black people find it offensive so it shouldn't be used.

Eskimo is teh name thought up by non-inuits.
I don't think they have ever liked it.

Or basically what kat2907 said.

But even Inuit isn't strictly correct, as the Yupik people (in Alaska and Siberia I think) are not Inuits.
There isn't anything to replace Eskimo as it was a 'catch-all' phrase for a few different cultures AFAIK

kat - that's very true - unless they're from Southern Africa where "coloured" is an official term for mixed race people.

Eskimo means "eater of raw flesh" which is offensive to some Inuits.

Wasn't it on QI that 'all Inuit are eskimos but not all eskimos are Inuit' ?
How can using the word be offensive anyway? How does it have implicit derogatory connotations? I can't think of any apart from it being a slightly lazy blanket term but that happens to most people in one scenario or another.

Cross post with gerontius.

how strange, i was going to start exactly the same thread. I knew it was no longer acceptable to use eskimo but didn't know why.

I thought what Deepdarkwood says is accurate. It's tricky to group all cold-dwelling people together, as a North American tribe is going to be quite different to a Chinese or Finish one.

I think some eskimos would be insulted at inuit.

Tis a minefield!

Eskimo means "eater of raw flesh" which is offensive to some Inuits.

no wonder they don't like it.
thanks I understand now, will make sure I use the right terms if I ever mees an inuit person

Seems it's used without problem in Alaska but not in Canada.

ok If I meet a person from a cold dwelling country I will just call them by their name

Sounds like a plan, 2shoes!

because they're just not that inuit

i'm here all week

Northern dwelling indigenous peoples?