Dear HCN,
Idaho Indian tribes won a
long culture war when a legislative committee recently agreed to
strike the word “squaw” from the map. But the tribes’ victory
doesn’t let anglers off the hook. What are we to call the fish
formerly known as squaw?
A while back, state and
federal agencies agreed to call them “northern pikeminnows.” Ask
anyone who fishes the Snake River if they call squawfish “northern
pikeminnows.”
The tribes should complete their
cultural quest and come up with a name that is user-friendly to
fishermen. If they can’t, let’s give the honor to one of the
pro-squawfish, anti-salmon Idaho senators.
Heads,
we call them “Craigfish”; tails, we call them
“Crapos.”
Wayne de la
Motte
Boise,
Idaho
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Name that fish!.
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