Hi all; my son just finished college last week, and started a new job at a huge, beautiful new casino on a First Nations reserve near here. Yesterday was his orientation, which included a 4-hour lecture/presentation on aboriginal history, culture and issues. Seems that certain behaviours are simply not tolerated, including the use of certain words.   My son says that closed-circuit tv's are set up throughout the workspace to watch employees round the clock, and there are two words which, if uttered, will result in immediate dismissal --- "chief" and "squaw".

It's a bit surprising that a native person (or anyone else) would take offence to the word "chief" but hey, if they don't like it, then don't use it. Not too much to ask!   But what about the word "squaw"? We hardly ever hear that word, and my son never uses it anyway, but he was a bit puzzled. He always thought it meant "Native woman", in one of the local native languages. He asked me last night where the word came from, and why the natives see it as a slur. I've heard a few different theories, but I couldn't answer that. All I know is that especially up north here in Ontario, the word "squaw" is commonly used as a place name ie "Old Squaw Road" etc. And I'm wondering -- if it's so derogatory, why haven't they changed those road signs etc by now?

Does anyone here know the origins of the word "squaw"?