"HOW!"

[GoddessOfGuinness]

That's how the Native American character in my son's book addressed the pioneer children.

"Smiling Hill Farm", by Miriam Mason, was written in the 1930s. So I suppose given the ignorance du jour, one couldn't expect the character to recite Shakespeare. At least he didn't say "Ugh!" Still, it bothered me.

Other than this, the book seems pretty good; and describes life for a family of Indiana pioneers. Overall, it's an interesting chronicle of what was and wasn't available to settlers; and how they made do with what they had.

Does anyone know where the "How!" greeting came from? Was there a tribe which used a similar greeting? Or is this simply a Hollywood invention?

[Critters2]

1. I looked it up. It turns out it does come from a Lakota greeting

But wasn't used by other Nations.

Here...

http://www.native-languages.org/iaq16.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Thanks for the info!

As I understand it, by the time the 1800s rolled around, the Lakota were pretty much settled to the west of Indiana.

Of course, I suppose it's possible that there were some who travelled through the area alone.
I guess the author was going for a Native American greeting that would be recognizable to kids.

A friend of mine, while living in Germany, got a kick out of Bonanza re-runs, where the Indians all raised a hand in greeting and said, "Wie geht's?"

[Critters2]

5. Wie geht's?!!!

:rofl:

[Kutjara]

2. If I remember correctly...

...the Lakota and Dakota Sioux used the word "hau" for "hello." So "how" isn't too bad as racist stereotypes go. It's still pretty bad, considering it's the same as thinking all Europeans say "Guten Tag" for "Good Day," but on the scale of horrible things that have been done to Indians over the centuries, it's fairly benign.

[MrScorpio]

3. Most Euros are cool with "Ciao" though

I know from experience

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Americans, too...

I wonder what it means in Chinese...

[mzteris]

8. ni hao

ni hao ma?

Is hello, how are you? in Chinese.


Interesting, eh?

(and yeah, the "hao" is pronounced like "how" only sorta swallowed at the end. like you were starting to say "how" and stopped about the ho (no not Hoe) - before you got to the ow part. )

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. What does "Ciao" (or "Chow") mean?

[mzteris]

10. that's Italian

(Venetian really)

Mostly used for goodbye (by us) but can mean "hello".

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I know, but isn't there also a Chinese homophone for ciao?

As in chow mein?

[mzteris]

12. I started to go into all that

and figured I getting all 'over-the-top' again with my explanations.

:rofl:

Chow is Cantonese
Chao is Mandarin (pronounced roughly the same)

it means cooked - fry, saute, fried


炒 is the Character, btw.

AND one more tidbit - the "mein" in Chow Mein is pronounced more like "mean" than "main".


:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. True...

This book was included in my son's homeschool materials. It's a pretty progressive school, as they go. I can't help wishing they'd edit the book to include a greeting that was authentic to one of the tribes that actually resided in Indiana...