Indian giver

This article is about the expression. For the music by 1910 Fruitgum Company, see Indian Giver (song) and Indian Giver (album). For the book, see Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World.
Look up Indian giving in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Indian giver" is an American pejorative expression, used to describe a person who gives a "gift" and later wants it back, or who expects something of equivalent worth in return for the item.[1] It is based on cultural misunderstandings that took place between early European explorers (like Lewis and Clark)[2] and the Indigenous people with whom they traded. Often the Europeans would view an exchange of items as gifting, believing they owed nothing in return to the Natives who were generous with them, while the Indigenous people saw the exchange as a form of trade or equal exchange, so had differing expectations of their guests.[2]

The phrase is still in colloquial use to describe a negative act or shady business dealings, but the racial implications are seen as not only inaccurate but offensive,[3][4] especially by Native Americans, whose cultural traditions are based on hospitality and generosity, not deception.[1]

Etymology

The phrase originated, according to researcher David Wilton, in a cultural misunderstanding that arose when Europeans first encountered Native Americans on arriving in North America in the 15th century. Europeans thought they were receiving gifts from Native Americans, while the Native Americans believed they were engaged in what was known to Europeans as bartering; this resulted in the Native Americans finding European behaviour ungenerous and insulting.[5] The phrase was first used in print in 1765.[6][7]

Usage

The phrase was first noted in 1765 by Thomas Hutchinson, who characterized an Indian gift as "a present for which an equivalent return is expected,"[6][7] which suggests that the phrase originally referred to a simple exchange of gifts. In 1860, however, in John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, Bartlett said the phrase was being used by children in New York to mean "one who gives a present and then takes it back."[8]

As recently as 1979, the phrase was used in mainstream media publications,[9] but in the 1997 book The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States, writer and editor Philip H. Herbst says that although the phrase is often used innocently by children, it may be interpreted as offensive,[3] and The Copyeditor's Handbook (1999) describes it as objectionable.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Keene, Adrienne. "Kris Jenner uses the term "Indian Giver"". Native Appropriations. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 Gandhi, Lakshmi (September 2, 2013). "The History Behind The Phrase 'Don't Be An Indian Giver'". Code Switch. npr. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Herbst, Philip H. (1997). The Color of Words: an encyclopaedic dictionary of ethnic bias in the United States. Yarmouth Me: Intercultural Press. pp. 119–20. ISBN 1877864978.
  4. 1 2 Einsohn, Amy (1999). The Copyeditor's Handbook: a guide for book publishing and corporate communications, with exercises and answer keys. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 450. ISBN 0520218345.
  5. ↑ Brunetti, David Wilton; illustrated by Ivan (2009). Word Myths: debunking linguistic urban legends. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195375572.
  6. 1 2 Gandhi, Lakshmi. "The History Behind The Phrase 'Don't Be An Indian Giver'". Codeswitch. NPR. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  7. 1 2 "An Indian gift is a proverbial expression, signifying a present for which an equivalent return is expected." (Thomas Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, from the first settlement thereof in 1628, until the year 1750, in two volumes, 1795).
  8. ↑ The OED's earliest citation for "Indian giver" is John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1860).
  9. ↑ Rosenberg, Marcy (11 June 1979). "IBM President Warns: Despite Growth, Trouble Looms for Computer Industry". Computerworld. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
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