Sept. 4, 2017
The S-word: Just stop using it
This summer in Alberta, Ramona Big Head, a middle-school principal on the Kainai Nation, . In one , Ms. Big Head noted that though the S-word has an innocent etymology, 鈥渋t has become a derogatory term that is no longer acceptable when you鈥檙e referring to an Indigenous woman.鈥
I appreciated her point and it gave me pause as a non-Indigenous linguist in Alberta where the S-word persists and also appears in some of our local place names.
It could be argued this is a way of recognizing the historical presence and title of Indigenous peoples in these parts. For instance, Stoney Squ-w Mountain in Banff honours the bravery of a Nakoda woman who lived there. Some locals contend that only a humourless 鈥渟ocial justice warrior鈥 would call for a cease- and-desist on the nickname Squ-w鈥檚 T-t for a mountain near Canmore. As someone complained in an last October:
There is a coulee about a mile from my place. It鈥檚 been known as 鈥淪qu-w Coulee鈥 forever. But now, the politically correct crowd had it renamed 鈥淥ld Woman Coulee.鈥 Yeah right! To us locals it鈥檚 鈥淪qu-w Coulee鈥 and so it will remain, like it or not.
Clearly, many non-Indigenous Canadians feel defensive about the S-word. It鈥檚 difficult to reconcile the fact that our families have used a destructive slur for generations with the fact that they鈥檙e decent folk. So we reject the implication.
Racist from the start
The S-word entered the English language in early 1600s Massachusetts. Although its use in English was arguably racist from the start.
According to Jane Hill in , English colonial setters used it, rather than 鈥渨oman,鈥 because they considered Indigenous women to be biologically inferior to European women and thereby did not recognize Indigenous women as full humans.
By the 19th century, the S-word was openly recognized as dehumanizing, as in this chilling :
It was customary to speak of the Indian man as a buck; of the woman as a squ-w; until, at length, in the general acceptance of the terms, they ceased to recognize the rights of humanity in those to whom they were so applied. By a very natural and easy transition, from being spoken of as brutes, they came to be thought of as game to be shot, or as vermin to be destroyed.
The S-word acquired other pejorative connotations, too, as in from the 1826 best-seller, : 鈥渢he crafty 鈥榮qu-w鈥 鈥 the squalid and withered person of this hag.鈥
Jane. H. Hill explains that the use of the word squ-w in English was racist from the start.
Sexist and crude
The S-word also came to be associated with female genitalia, due to a widespread rumour that this was its original meaning, and because, as Hill remarks, 鈥渢he word has an unfortunate sound in English.鈥 We intuitively associate the beginning sequence 鈥渟qu鈥 with unpleasant 鈥渟quishiness,鈥 鈥渟quelching,鈥 鈥渟quatting,鈥 etc., and the 鈥渁w鈥 rhyme with hole-like 鈥渕aw,鈥 鈥渃raw鈥 and 鈥測awn.鈥
The individual speech sounds of 鈥渟qu-w鈥 are also (鈥渃-ck,鈥 鈥渜u鈥揻,鈥 鈥淲-g鈥). In short, 鈥渟qu-w鈥 sounds offensive in English.
Relatedly, the S-word acquired a connotation of prostitution, as fur traders allegedly came to use it for . Hill shows that the S-word means prostitute to many Native Americans. Moreover, (Squ-w Humper Dam, Squ-w T-ts, Squ-w Teat Butte).
Given all this, it鈥檚 remarkable that many of us European North Americans don鈥檛 give a second thought to 鈥渟qu-w dance,鈥 鈥渟qu-w skirt,鈥 and 鈥渟qu-w bread,鈥 among other Indian Country terms.
We鈥檇 brush off those who might inform us that these are offensive. We also tell ourselves that a name like 鈥渙ld squ-w鈥 is tongue-in-cheek at worst; it just refers to how chatty this type of duck is.
The S-word has an innocuous Indigenous provenance, so people who are offended by Squ-w Coulee or old squ-w must be overly sensitive, right? The alternative 鈥 that we are being terribly offensive 鈥 is unthinkable, so we don鈥檛 think it.
This line of defence only works in the abstract. In practice, it鈥檚 like calling your neighbour an 鈥渁wful hussy鈥 and insisting that it鈥檚 just fine because these words actually derive from 鈥渇ull of awe鈥 and 鈥渉ousewife,鈥 respectively.
More closely, it鈥檚 like using the N-word with a Black colleague and reassuring her that it simply meant 鈥淏lack鈥 in the 17th century.
Our defensiveness, then, only works if we think of Indigenous peoples as an abstract part of our history, not as part of our present lives.
If we accept the reality that Indigenous people are our neighbours, our colleagues and our friends, then we should put the S-word behind us for good, in the dustbin of our shared history.