Re: Amerind an offensive term (was: Early Amerind assimilation
Matt Silberstein (matts2@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 16 Aug 1996 05:21:18 GMT
In sci.archaeology Stephen Barnard <steve@megafauna.com> wrote:
>Matt Silberstein wrote:
>>
>> Stephen Barnard <barnard@nas.nasa.gov> wrote:
>>
>> >-Mayo,H.H. wrote:
>> >>
>> >> According to the most recent Federal survey, that term is "Indian"
>> >> by a large majority.
>> >>
>> >> Larry Mayo
>>
>> >Does that survey include the 930 million people who live in India, some
>> >of whom I'm sure are reading this newsgroup?
>>
>> The vast majority who don't read or speak English. I have a question
>> though. Do they call themselves Indians? And did they before the
>> English/French came?
>English is very common in India. I believe that it's the "official"
>language, in the sense that official government business is conducted in
>English. I wouldn't be at all surpised if there were more English
>speakers in India than in England.
>I'm pretty sure that they (Indian Indians, that is) do call themselves
>Indians, at least when they're speaking English.
I am sure that there are more English speakers in India than England.
There could be as many as in the U.S. and it would still be a minority
language (though a sizeable one). I am asking if
1) Does the word they use sound like "India" (I assume not Indian,
which is an English contruct).
2) Did they use the same word before conquest?
I ask question 1 for a specific reason. Several years ago the junta in
Burma changed the name (to something begining with an 'M'). Well it
turns out that they did not change the name, they just changed the
spelling. Both names have the same sound.
--------------------
What is the scariest line you know? How about:
"My name is Number 6, what's yours?"
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