Sunday Rest: Eskimoan. Word Not To Use Today.

What sort of a moan?

An Eskimoan.

Despite appearances, an Eskimoan is not the sound made by a native of the frozen North after eating a whole walrus, but rather a name for one of the beautiful languages an Eskimo person might speak.

Eskimo-an. Geddit?

Though what idiot failed to see the moan in that word I cannot imagine.

Eskimoan is a new word. Before it came along we managed perfectly well with using the word Eskimo as an adjective: an Eskimo language, an Eskimo dwelling.

And there's no reason I can see why we shouldn't carry on like that.

Sunday Rest: Eskimoan. The word Eskimo comes from the Innu-aimun ayaškimew, which means a person who laces a snowshoe. 

There are various official sensitivities about the word, but there's nothing at all insulting about it and the use of Inuit as a substitute is sometimes wrong, Inuit being only one of the languages spoken by the people of the far North.