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AgentElman t1_iu5dutp wrote

Reply to comment by remarkablyoblivious in TIL that when the French first arrived in North America they met the Ojibwe Indians who introduced them to other tribes but used nasty names. The Lakota/Dakota people were called "Nadowessiwag," which became Nadouessioux in French, then Sioux in English. It means "little snake." by marmorset

Right. Explorers would meet a tribe and ask who lived nearby. That tribe would then name the neighboring tribes. But they used their name for them. And explorers would use the name they first heard for a tribe.

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ChuckChuckelson t1_iu5ecaq wrote

Kinda like what assholes do when they hear a nasty nickname for someone.

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LOAARR t1_iu6mlz2 wrote

I wonder how often they understood the meaning of what they were being told or how long it took them to get the real name.

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Gothsalts t1_iu6ol4f wrote

Sometimes they don't. The conquistadors asked a Mayan what the land was called heard "Yucatan" ('I don't understand') and named the peninsula after it.

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LOAARR t1_iu7aohu wrote

I was moreso proposing the idea of that shitty razor reddit likes to reference all the time. Something like, "never attribute to malice that which can easily be attributed to incompetence."

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Paynomind t1_iu7sz84 wrote

Occram's?

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LOAARR t1_iu80jsi wrote

Occam's is about simple explanations, which is very similar to the one I'm referencing.

I think it's Hanlon's.

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Some_Inspector3638 t1_iu8xdb5 wrote

My family's name was changed that way. The census guy came around and my great-great-etc. wasn't home. "Who lives there?", "Oh, Lame Nicolas lives there". And from then on, that was our name. Kootzinicole.

Luckily my great grandfather stole another family's name when he snuck into the U.S.

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gwaydms t1_iu765ka wrote

Neighbors are sometimes allies, and sometimes enemies. A lot of uncomplimentary names for tribes were passed down in this way.

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