Inuit.

Most of the scary Santas have now disappeared leaving just these characters and a few Bambis; the price has dropped from 50% to 25% of that marked. This garden emporium just keeps on giving on the blip front, perhaps I should feel guilty about using them so often but they do see a lot of our money. I wasn't sure what these figures were meant to be but Mrs TD assured me that they are Inuit and, having had it pointed out to me, I have to agree though I'm not sure that such caricatures are politically correct.

Some years ago I was rather miffed to be taken to task, when discussing the injustices suffered by these peoples, for using the term Eskimo. As always, in such circumstances, I checked up. The term that I was told I should have used was Inuit and it was insulting to them to use any other word; however, as it turns out, "Inuit" only covers the people of the Canadian/Greenland portion of the Arctic; the Soviet tribes are the Yupik, and Eskimo is the only name that covers both populations though it is not favoured by the Inuit.

I really do have problems with political correctness and not only because it is an ugly and meaningless phrase. During my life-time, words that have been offensive have changed, offensive ones becoming acceptable and vice versa; it is quite beyond my ability to keep abreast of such matters, a fact brought home to me a few years ago by the discovery that the standard school playground taunt was "challenged."


I have just posted yesterday’s, “Flight on a Bird.”