nellebelle

When I came across the word squaw in a book, I thought it meant woman or
wife. I just looked it up in my compact dictionary and it is said to mean
woman or wife. It also says that it can be offensive.

I was not aware of an offensive usage. Honestly. I have never heard anyone
use it offensively in my presence or in any of the literature that I have
read. I am ignorant of squaw being a derogatory term. At least I was. Now
it has been pointed out to me.

Language usage is another thing I discuss with my kids. Lisa recently asked
me if I knew there were two "dams". We looked both up in my dictionary and
in her children's dictionary. Only one of them was listed in the children's
dictionary - the one that refers to something blocking water, of course. We
talk about how some words used to mean one thing and have come to be "swear"
words or derogatory terms. We talk about why certain words are best avoided
in certain situations. We talk about the impression others get when you use
certain words liberally.

Mary Ellen