It’s more complicated than that. Eskimo is racist if you call someone who isn’t Eskimo that. It’s like calling someone from Tennessee a Yankee but worse; they’re going to object. But calling someone who speaks Yupik an Inuit because that sounds less racist is just inaccurate, like confusing Dutch and Deutsch.
Yupik speakers generally don’t object to Eskimo, even though it isn’t a word in their language. But German isn’t what the Germans call themselves, either.
I’m part Cherokee, yet Cherokee isn’t a word in the Cherokee language. Cherokee is an English speaker’s attempt to write down what a Frenchman thought a Muskegee was saying.
And Yankee is some English speaker’s attempt to write down the Dutch nickname Janke (Johnny) which is what the Dutch called the English shopkeepers they dealt with. And that’s not even getting into explaining the connection to the Frisian pirates who called everybody Janke!
When you call the Netherlands “Holland” in front of a Dutchman, you got about fifty percent chance of seeing an actual flying fit. Confusing us with Germans about doubles those odds.
What I was going to say: Yankee, I’ve always been taught, is derived from the combined Dutch name “Jan-Kees”. But it seems shopkeepers might have been called “Jan Kaas” (John Cheese), which I find more plausible. The regular diminutive for Jan, also (today still) a nickname for a sailor, is “Janneke”, by the way, which is also the female form of the word, which doesn’t change the etymological path for Yankee but might suggest that all Americans, to us Dutch, are girlies. Tee-hee. But apparently, it’s unknown which explanation is true.
It is very true, however, that the English ‘dope’ is actually derived from a Dutch word for gravy. Which, to me, explains a lot.
In Finnish, we have a word “jenkki” (obviously derived from Yankee) which just means “American” with no other significance or implication attached. It’s also the name one of our most popular brands of chewing gum. I chew Yankees daily.
As a German I have called myself a German and did not feel offended by it.
I don’t think I could come up with another term for me being born in Germany, other than literal translations.
What happened to the regular Bug readers? Where did all these smart people come from? Sigh… another comic overrun by literate immigrants. Darn you… you people from some other population segment that I can point my finger at and feel superior!! Darn you!!
Exactly, I feel like this comic has been overrun by college linguists. I feel that this comic strip is too stupid to have people this smart debating over the joke. I also feel that debating over the punchline of a stupid joke ruins the joke.
I blame on-demand TV. Back in my day we had only a few networks so they all catered to the lowest common denominator so they wouldn’t alienate a large segment of their viewership. But now there are so many streaming networks, the viewership is fragmented. So a broadcaster can freely target a well-educated (and potentially highly paid) viewership with well crafted, thought-provoking shows.
Well not all. Shows like All in the Family, Barney Miller, Picket Fences, Frasier, M.A.S.H., Seinfeld, The Wonder Years, Northern Exposure, and others didn’t exactly appeal to the lowest common denominator.
It’s more complicated than that. Eskimo is racist if you call someone who isn’t Eskimo that. It’s like calling someone from Tennessee a Yankee but worse; they’re going to object. But calling someone who speaks Yupik an Inuit because that sounds less racist is just inaccurate, like confusing Dutch and Deutsch.
Yupik speakers generally don’t object to Eskimo, even though it isn’t a word in their language. But German isn’t what the Germans call themselves, either.
I’m part Cherokee, yet Cherokee isn’t a word in the Cherokee language. Cherokee is an English speaker’s attempt to write down what a Frenchman thought a Muskegee was saying.
Wait.
It’s more complicated than that.
The entire United States is Yankee to the other 96% of people.
Exactly!
And Yankee is some English speaker’s attempt to write down the Dutch nickname Janke (Johnny) which is what the Dutch called the English shopkeepers they dealt with. And that’s not even getting into explaining the connection to the Frisian pirates who called everybody Janke!
When you call the Netherlands “Holland” in front of a Dutchman, you got about fifty percent chance of seeing an actual flying fit. Confusing us with Germans about doubles those odds.
What I was going to say: Yankee, I’ve always been taught, is derived from the combined Dutch name “Jan-Kees”. But it seems shopkeepers might have been called “Jan Kaas” (John Cheese), which I find more plausible. The regular diminutive for Jan, also (today still) a nickname for a sailor, is “Janneke”, by the way, which is also the female form of the word, which doesn’t change the etymological path for Yankee but might suggest that all Americans, to us Dutch, are girlies. Tee-hee. But apparently, it’s unknown which explanation is true.
It is very true, however, that the English ‘dope’ is actually derived from a Dutch word for gravy. Which, to me, explains a lot.
In Finnish, we have a word “jenkki” (obviously derived from Yankee) which just means “American” with no other significance or implication attached. It’s also the name one of our most popular brands of chewing gum. I chew Yankees daily.
The Japanese use Yankee to refer to punkish gangmember like people. Not real gang members (Yakuza) but just impolite brats… like Americans.
So basically it’s Eskimo if they’re from Alaska or north-east Russia, and Inuit if they’re from Canada?
It’s more complicated than that. Some Alaskan Natives speak an Inuit dialect. And then there’s Greenland….
As a German I have called myself a German and did not feel offended by it.
I don’t think I could come up with another term for me being born in Germany, other than literal translations.
What happened to the regular Bug readers? Where did all these smart people come from? Sigh… another comic overrun by literate immigrants. Darn you… you people from some other population segment that I can point my finger at and feel superior!! Darn you!!
Exactly, I feel like this comic has been overrun by college linguists. I feel that this comic strip is too stupid to have people this smart debating over the joke. I also feel that debating over the punchline of a stupid joke ruins the joke.
I blame on-demand TV. Back in my day we had only a few networks so they all catered to the lowest common denominator so they wouldn’t alienate a large segment of their viewership. But now there are so many streaming networks, the viewership is fragmented. So a broadcaster can freely target a well-educated (and potentially highly paid) viewership with well crafted, thought-provoking shows.
Well not all. Shows like All in the Family, Barney Miller, Picket Fences, Frasier, M.A.S.H., Seinfeld, The Wonder Years, Northern Exposure, and others didn’t exactly appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Nothing is black and white.
Side note: I’m really gonna miss Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer impersonation.
Yeah, she was so much better at it than he was!
The comments remind me of new-age Steve Dallas trying to explain to his mother why “people of color” is better than “colored people.”
The eyebrows in the last panel really sell the joke. He’s seeing just how much he can get away with. Pure perfection Adam.
Nice continuation of this comic: https://www.bugmartini.com/comic/a-racist-against-time/
You’re getting closer to being a racist grandpa!
Are we still allowed to say scruffy looking nerf herder?
I only have two shelves full of Nerf blasters, stop judging!
I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU!!!