this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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Huh? ...oh, as in Native American. Indian to me means "from India" lol, how is this not confusing for you Americans?
Im not american, but in my head theyre subtly differentiated by "Indian" and "injun"
Was raisied with everything - media, people, history teachers - calling them Indians and I automatically look for context each time lol. With no context, native americans are the default for me, with people of India being called simply peopple of India xD
Doesn't help my native language has another word for people of India than Indians. xD
Legit every time someone from the US says "indian" and it's not immediately obvious in context, I ask "do you mean people from India, or Native Americans?"
Dots, or feathers?
You're being voted down, but this is genuinely something a lot (sigh) of Americans heard to distinguish...
Is it right? No. Is it accurate? I mean, as accurate as minimalizing multiple entire nations of natives to a single identity is, yes...
But it works?
Genuinely, I don't know. I would not be surprised at all if one or more sects of actual indians were distinguished via feathers, as well.
I figured I'd take some flack, but c'mon, who wasn't thinking it. It's not something I think I have ever said aloud.
My Indian (dot) wife and all (most?) of her friends love when I ask this.
As part cherokee, this is the way.
it's as in yankistanis overtaking the word "American" exclusively to themselves? They think the universe revolves around USA.
It's not a bug, it's a feature of self aggrandizing exceptionalism.
In this case it's probably just for humor. 'Native American burial grounds' is just clunky, and the American context makes it pretty clear which Indians.
Also, I think a lot of people fail to realize that Indian is the correct term legally for native people in the US, regardless of the fact that its based on Columbus’s stupidity passed on for generations.
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Services, Indian Law, etc. There is no “Bureau of Native American Affairs”.
Beyond that, the vast majority of native people dont have much of an issue with the term and often call themselves Indian or NDN, not only because its technically legally appropriate but also because it pokes fun at the stupidity of generations of people that took over this continent in a gallows humor type fashion. Obviously people see themselves as Ojibwe, Wahzhazhe, Tsalagi, Nuuchu, etc. first, the same way that a French person thinks themselves a Frenchmen first and not as simply a European. But as an overarching term Indian is very commonly used by native people from many different nations/tribes
American here, it is confusing and stupid
I mean, there are no Indian Indian tribes native to America.
I mean, the very first word is America. Seems pretty obvious right from the jump.
It is confusing!
If it's "ancient" it's probably about Native Americans. "American Indian" generally means Native American while "Indian-American" would refer to someone who's part of the Indian diaspora. If it's mystical and from India, I think Hindu and Vedic tend to get used more even if it's not actually Hindu or Vedic.
I do like how Canadians differentiate by saying first nations now though it makes things so much simpler. Do recall native vs Indian days for sure, older myself. ~~~~
My dad was native but I never got the card, band was disolved or something and my dad kept trying but no luck. In the end I'd rather all people have the best rights, we should all have the same rights and then being the best (dental medical education etc). We all live here and want this country to prosper. But evidently the government says that's not cool. Mean I'd still take our government over the fucking tangerine down south. Fuck that shit but it's be awesome if we offered everyone advanced schooling and good social net regardless, it only helps build our country.
To be fair I'm not saying anyone should have less we just need to all get the best from our government. I do understand that first nations have been given the shaft but I'd hope the best for everyone gives everyone a boost. Or at least those that need it, cause we're a decently well off country.
I was told by a native American at school in Montana that there is internal debate about what they ought to be called. In some opinions, "Native American" is just as much a name they didn't give themselves as "Indian" was. But that was one guy I was friends with so I don't know how widespread that opinion is.
It's an opinion that's not completely unique. I've heard the same a few times.
There's also a group who will not let the Bureau of Indian Affairs change its name, not because they like it, but because... well, complex reasons but one of them was a sort of "fuck you".
Partial blame is on the Europeans. That's what they called them for a couple hundred years before America existed, but for some reason we still haven't changed the terminology across the board.
There was an attempt to make "native Americans" stick but then the more polite colonizers ran into three main problems:
1: Most Hispanic people are also "native Americans" and trying to split it into just meaning the tribes from what is now the US gets immediately dismantled by fact that the very racial views that prompted the term in the first place can't logically account for creating that artificial divide.
2: Most tribes as a whole don't really care what particular racial term white people are trying to level at them as long as it's not a slur.
3: The US federal agency that concerns them is literally still called the Bureau of Indian Affairs
There was an attempt at making "Amerind" a thing as well to flow more naturally in conversation but it still runs into problem #2, and that won't be resolved because the tribes as a general rule prefer being addressed by tribal name.