From: "Curt Fischer" Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan,soc.culture.japan,sci.lang.japan Subject: Re: gifts for Japanese Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 22:54:39 -0400 Lines: 40 Message-ID: <2qcjbiFst5tkU1@uni-berlin.de> References: <1v00d.14214$FV3.14160@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com> <%610d.14217$FV3.7873@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-2022-jp" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de QeJ3iYAYVFNYNuA4RrJ0GQt7uyrfZOEQTu342dHrNxnwIyATog X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!news.heimat.gr.jp!news.tutrp.tut.ac.jp!news.cc.tut.ac.jp!nfeed.gw.nagoya-u.ac.jp!news-sv.sinet!newsfeed.mesh.ad.jp!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!oleane.net!oleane!feed.ac-versailles.fr!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:18046 necoandjeff wrote: > "Musashi" wrote in message > news:%610d.14217$FV3.7873@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com... >> >> "Marc Adler" wrote in message >> news:WK00d.181$XW.36@twister.socal.rr.com... >>> Musashi wrote: >>> >>>> You know, I don't think people in Japan are aware that the word >>>> "eskimo" (which is the same in Japanese) is derogatory. >>>> At least I didn't. >>> >>> What?! How can it be derogatory? That's where we get our word for >>> 'skiing,' for chrissake. >>> >> >> As I said, I had no idea but the site given ( >> http://www.freespiritgallery.ca/ ) >> states; >> >> "Just for your information, the term Eskimo is now considered >> derogatory and has been >> replaced by the more acceptable term Inuit. Eskimo is used in this >> website only as a reference >> term for our international customers who may not be aware of the term >> Inuit." > > On the scale of racially derogatory terms, where the "N" word is at > the high end (i.e. the most widely understood to be derogatory), I > think the word Eskimo would be at the low end, below even the words > Oriental and Black (both of which are still widely used) but probably > a little bit higher than the word White. > > Jeff What's so offensive about "Black"? Is it the unneeded capital letter? -- Curt Fischer