Dear HCN,
Ah! Political
correctness … and all its ironies. When I was younger, I’d get
outraged at some of this nonsense. In my grandmother’s day, to have
an outlaw or American Indian blood in the family was a shame and
kept secret. But attitudes change, as well as word usage.
Gay. Totally different word, and sadly I can’t
think of a good replacement for the former. As for “Mindy Kay” and
her attempt to change the meaning of the word squaw – get a grip
(HCN, 4/23/01: Heard around the West)!
We have
squaw peaks all over the West. They are “breast” shaped as named by
lonely men who, in those days, were turned on by the display of a
feminine ankle. As crude as the men (mountain and military) were,
they were much more respectful of all women than the typical rapper
or stand-up comedian of today.
Squaw was a
female Indian, period, or else we have a problem with basic
anatomy. As for Mindy Kay, well, I once met a lady who saw
airplanes as phallic symbols. But that’s another story.
T.C. Johnson
Evanston, Wyoming
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Anatomy of the West.
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