I'm really curious what could be the offensive in Eskimo.The problem boils down to it be a term that was applied by another language group to the Inuit et al. (see
link). Whether the term is (or was) in fact a pejorative one or not is besides the point. Compare a similar situation with the people formerly known as Winnebago (which meant something like 'stinking water people' in a neighboring language) who are now known as the Ho-Chunk. This phenomenon has to do with explorers asking neighboring (sometimes hostile) people what the folks next over were called. People are touchy about what they're called. Unfortunately, people are also touchy about being told what to call other people. I try to accommodate people by using a term for them that they prefer. Otherwise, communication tends to break down and we end up squabbling about matters unimportant to the original subject. I also try not to make fun of their accent, word choice, syntax, etc.
