However the term "paleface" confuses me. I am not sure Caucasians are offended by the term and know of no term that really rises to the offensive nature of some Caucasians. I don't think white folk are easily offended due to their inflated self esteem.

Here: http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/squaw.html

I'm not surprised that some seem to want to reclaim the word in it's original context and not let the people who came here tell them what is and is not acceptable when speaking amongst themselves.

But I'm not certain of any of this.

Thanks.

a quick goggle shows it's undeniably an Algonquin word that the first settlers heard and used, but has been misinterpreted by many, including some of us palefaces using it disparagingly. Needless to say, its use amongst Native Americans is controversial, simply because any terms with hint of race tend to become insulting and/or controversial in this country. I have no idea if the complainers represent the mainstream or just the complainers themselves. Apparently some Western tribes oppose its use primarily because it is not in their languages.

"Squaw" means "woman", or some variant of it, like "girl", in some dialects, but there are many who mistakenly think it means "Vagina" because it's similar to another word in another linguistic group. They are wrong, but it's the kind of mistake that takes hold in some quarters, and certainly adds to the disparagement of the term.

Personally, I object to the racist use of words, but opposing "almost-racist" terms often seems to trivialize the underlying problem.

and the word "squaw" sounds racist and derogatory to me.

I work with a full-blooded Ute Indian. I'll have to ask her opinion when I next see her.

...if it's a native term the had absolutely no negative connotation.

And then Europeans came, took over, misused that word and others in ways that changed it's common usage and tone (no thanks to the originators of the word).

And then, to add insult to injury, the same culture that displaced these people decide that it's not an acceptable term.

That act, or series of acts, if accurate, would be the most offensive thing.

How about "Haole?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haole

I go to Hawaii for work every year, Molokai this past May and Oahu in November, and have several friends including native Hawaiians.

My personal experience agrees with the Wikipedia entry, that it can be used as a racial eptithet but also finds usage in casual and friendly ways.

In some searching of the word "squaw" I learned that there have been efforts, some successful, to rename places in response to complaints about the word.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/2003/05/07/125330-napolitano-won-t-rush-to-rename-sites-with-squaw-names/

I think that's probably a sad thing, but I'm still not sure.

Thanks for the reply!

And I am still a haole. I have never taken offense nor have I felt one was offered. I have always said that I will become PC when people quit taking their dick to the john. Perhaps you build up a little thicker skin as Johnny Cash said with "A Boy named Sue."

neutral or only slightly insulting.

I visited Hawaii a number of times in the mid-70's, and back then it seemed to be a totally neutral term to distinguish white people like me from everyone else: the native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipinos, and all the many mixtures of those people.

What a shame.

I suspect that while the word might have been the spark, that there was lots of fuel, tinder, oxygen, heat, and all the rest of what is needed.

Sad to hear about that happening.

Had drinking and drugs not been involved, maybe nothing would have happened.

I've been through some rough looking neighborhoods, not as rough as I've seen in mainland cities, so I'm not surprised that this could happen.

Thanks for the story and link.

You hit the nail on the head.that is what happened.

Since it came from that other thread.

I am saddened that people don't think things through with more sensitivity and reason.

I feel that way myself,but all my life I have seen shortsightedness and imagined high morals inflict this kind of pain no matter if it is justyfied or just plain ignorance.

the native language. It's how words are used that give them connotation.

I certainly will defer to Native Americans on this.

i personally don't use the term "squaw". it does seem derogatory. and i only rarely use "paleface" with close friends who i can joke around with. Insteads of "paleface" i call them "boat people". again, just between friends...

And "boat people" is hilarious!

We need to lighten up when we can, IMO.

A long time ago in the early 1900s after the Cherokee and the Choctaw had been removed from Arkansas to Oklahoma (yes, another removal), there were two young Indian women on the reservation in Oklahoma. They were on their own; ages 12 and 15.

Along came two brothers, two white men looking for some "action" so to speak.

So, they spied the two young Indian women and one brother said to the other, "Ah look, two squaws, one for me and one for you!".

So they took these two "squaws" and took them into what is known as concubine. They lived with these men bearing no children ( as to why ...) and eventually managed to escape these horrible men that raped and beat them for many years until they manged to finally escape. One ended up in Texas; the other in Nevada .

This is a true story, I'm sad to say this really; relatives in fact. Now how sad is this? It sets the stage for a myriad of horrible dysfunctionalism ranging from violence and physical abuse to severe and deadly drug/alcohol problems.

As for the term squaw, where I live, the local indigenous people had an area where they live that was named "Squaw Valley" by the white man that came here.

Squaw = to the word vagina in these parts or in other words that aren't so blunt, a slave-girl for sexual service.

Because this horrific offense was brought to light and made an issue by the tribal chairwoman for the region where the tribe originally lived, she was able to get that name changed to something else. This happened about 10+ years ago I'd say.

Thank you for sharing your insight and the sad story related to the word.

However, I never knew it had actually been "changed" until one day about 10+ years ago I received a letter from my mother.

In that letter contained the newspaper article about the change of the name from Squaw Valley to what it is now.

My mother was at this time about 75 years old and sent this to me immediately for the woman I mention above, the older of the two sisters was indeed her foster mother.

She was really glad to know the name had been changed needless to say for it was she that witnessed this whole tragic thing at a different time in different places.

As for my late father, it was he who knew the old story of the abduction from the reservation in Oklahoma. Seems he was quite drunk one night with the old codger that did this and he bragged to my father about it and my father was disgusted as well. He was the one that told me about it, not my mother (who I'm sure knew).

It is so very sad the way Indian women have been treated in America -- an absolute disgrace.

Renamed a mountain and freeway.

She knew about this too and I was telling her about the way they got the name changed. I did not know that they had this same name being used within the Navajo Nation, I thought she had perhaps heard something about it.

I was telling her about the situation here where we live and about the tribal chairwoman here taking the responsibility to have this changed.

It is a different place, not located in Arizona.

I suppose this gives credence to the fact that using the term "squaw" is indeed an inflammatory term.

What goes on with the Navajo Nation holds true for the part of California where this former "Squaw Valley" is located.

Thanks for letting me know about this. I'll mention it to my friend the next time I talk to her. She is an elder (78 years old and was born and raised on the reservation in Arizona and her mother and family were relocated to San Francisco in the 1950s when they were moving Indian people around as to properly "assimilate" them into Western culture .... ).

Sad at best.