I heard the term “Indian giver” the other day. I hadn’t heard it for a very long time. When I was a kid, we used it all the time and it was right up there near the top of one of the most offensive things you could call someone.
Well, of course, I got to thinking about that — where did the term come from? Was there actually an instance, when the first colonists came to America, when a white settler was presented with a gift from an Indian, only to have it taken away? I think the answer to that is no….not really.
What white settlers thought was a lack of generosity, and rudeness, was probably a cultural misunderstanding.
Native Americans didn’t have a system of monetary currency, so they conducted trade via barter. To an Indian, the giving of gifts was an extension of this system of trade and a gift was expected to be reciprocated with something of equal value. When the new arrivals in this country encountered this practice, they misunderstood it and considered it uncouth and impolite. They thought that trade was conducted with money, and gifts were freely given with nothing expected in return. So right off the bat, this native practice got a bad reputation among the white colonists of North America.
The term “Indian giver” made its first appearance in Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms in 1848. The term mostly faded from widespread use in the 1080s and 90s and a lot of younger people today may never have heard it.
I checked the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and it defines an “Indian giver” as “a person who gives something to another and then takes it back or expects an equivalent in return.” The dictionary does note that the term is “sometimes offensive.” I find it interesting that the dictionary only finds the term sometimes offensive.
The (true) Indian giver(s) understood a cardinal property of the gift — whatever we have been given is suppose to be given away again, not kept. Or — if it is kept, something of similar value should passed along in its place.
It’s too bad that the phrase stereotypes Indians as deceitful and un-generous. If you’ve been around Indians, you probably know that is about the farthest thing from the truth.
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