this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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“Nanook” is a slur for northern indigenous people in the same way “Chan” is a slur for Chinese people. Sure, there might be some members of that demographic with that name, but using the term as a generalization for that demographic is derogatory in intent.
Using the term “Eskimo” in the instance name is problematic for at least two reasons.
The term itself is considered problematic and derogatory for reasons I don't have time to go into here, but feel free to research why it’s under fire.
I haven’t checked, but the admins are probably not part of the demographics that the term would refer to, so they’re not “reclaiming a slur” so to speak
The comparison between “Nanook” and “Chan” is misleading and not linguistically equivalent. “Nanook” originates from Inuit mythology and is not inherently a slur, while “Chan” has been used in explicitly mocking or derogatory ways. It’s important to recognize the context and history behind each term rather than assume they carry the same weight.
You're right, but also taking together their comment history, we can reasonably assume that they chose their username with the intent to slur rather than as a more benign meaning.
I actually think they are the owner of Eskimo.com, as that person uses seems to use that username. And so, I don’t think you’re right about the username being specific to hate… I don’t dare look at their comment history, and will take your word for that.
https://friendica.eskimo.com/friendica
edit: also, haha
https://www.eskimo.com/~nanook/