Inappropriately Named 2006 Jeep

August 5, 2006

If you can believe it, there is a Jeep named “Squaw Tit” in the challenge! It was delivered to me yesterday. The local tribes have said the word Squaw is a very derogatory term for an Indian woman (Search it and you will see what I mean). I wish pioneers wouldn’t have named things after this, but I’m not out to change the names of well-known landmarks. I do, however, believe that the errors of the past should not be repeated. I know this is a contentious issue here and I was wondering if anyone knew who to contact over at Groundspeak to see if they really want this thing 4X4ing around here.

Thanks!

22k · August 5, 2006

Users should keep in mind that some materials may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a period or place." -- US Library of Congress

3.5k · August 5, 2006

Why do people feel the need to get offended for other people?

3.9k · August 5, 2006

I'd say, drop it in a cache as soon as you can and be rid of such an offensive thing.

August 5, 2006

Cachegame. maybe the names were assigned by a `bot. You may want to ask the Jeep people if they think it's ok to perpetuate that negative stereotype.

And why not change the name of landmarks?In Maine lots of places with the word "squaw" in the name have been changed. And don't even get me started on "tit".

If you want to pick an insulting name for your hillside or whatever, insult yourself. If you must demean others, there are those of us who will stand up and say NO!

August 5, 2006

Ive got to agree, this is offensive. What, did Mel Gibson name it?

August 5, 2006

Why do people feel the need to get offended for other people?

Amen to that.

5.2k · August 5, 2006

Send the jeep to me and I'll take care of it for you

August 5, 2006

I'm offended for myself. I can't address Squaw from a personal viewpoint, but I can address the word tits, and I don't think we need it in TB names.

5.2k · August 5, 2006

Kind of a pretty mountain if you ask me

August 5, 2006

Hey, I vote we rename Pike's Peak. Make it Pike's Pr**k.

It'd be hilarious to hear a guy say, "Yeah, I'm climbing up on Pike's Pr**k this weekend"

That's not offensive, so don't raise my warn meter

August 5, 2006

I've seen some rather phallic landmarks, and somehow they don't seem to get crude, male genitalia inspired names.

Edited August 5, 2006 by bumblingbs

August 5, 2006

If you want to send it to me, I'll put it in GCWZF6 Which is on Dead Indian Mountain (Lake County Oregon).

3.3k · August 5, 2006

This sounds like a case of White, Liberal Guilt. If you are so offended by the name, contact your Representative, and register a complaint. You might consider growing some thicker skin.

You can mail the offending Jeep to me, here in Socal. While your at it, why don't you complain to Groundspeak about all the other SQUAW Jeeps, including Squaw teat

Edited August 5, 2006 by Kit Fox

August 5, 2006

Hey, I vote we rename Pike's Peak. Make it Pike's Pr**k.

It'd be hilarious to hear a guy say, "Yeah, I'm climbing up on Pike's Pr**k this weekend"

That's not offensive, so don't raise my warn meter

oooh, I just came up with a new way to spend my lottery money when I win. Buy a mountain and name it that, then build hiking trails on it.

1.7k · August 5, 2006

You all might want to take a look at From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame by Mark Monmonier. I have it on hold for me at the library.

3.1k · August 5, 2006

Kind of a pretty mountain if you ask me

From the looks of the mountain the second part of the name is quite appropriate.

I really would not worry about the name...it is just that a name.

August 5, 2006

I've seen some rather phallic landmarks, and somehow they don't seem to get crude, male genitalia inspired names.

I agree! I think it ought to be renamed Native American Woman's Breast!

Edited to add: Maybe men just aren't very inspiring sometimes....

Edited August 5, 2006 by whistler & co.

August 5, 2006

Leaving the name as is will allow and encourage a perpetual dialog on why we try not to use offensive language; changing the name is a vain P.C. attempt to clean up one more little corner of history to make it look more shiny and pretty than it really was.

August 5, 2006

Is the mountain's name crude and offensive? Yes. IMO it certainly is.

But I don't know that it's inappropriate as a Jeep TB name as they appear to be named after mountains, and, well, that is the name of a mountain.

August 5, 2006

Interesting how the PC craze of the 70s led to so many erroneous claims. As for the etymology of the word squaw, there is some fascinating reading for anyone who wants facts instead of controversy:

Here

here

and here

As to the second part of the name, well, science and geology are rampant with reference to various female physical features.

warning-other potentially offensive terms used

another one you didn't think of here

August 5, 2006

Well, the thing to do would be to claim mental anguish over such an offensive object being sent to you. File a suit naming Jeep, Groundspeak, Geocaching, Jeremy, the toy company the made the jeep, and anybody else you can think of. Make your millions. Buy a jeep. Drive to the top of Squaw Tit. Plant a flag. Re-name it.

Edited August 5, 2006 by hikergps

August 5, 2006

By "sanitizing" history and making everything politically correct, the true danger is in forgetting the atrocities that we committed against the Native Americans. I'm not saying that means it's OK to throw around racist or derogatory terms, but there's also no sense in sanitizing everything to the point that we can pretend we live in a lily white, white-bread world.

22k · August 5, 2006

mmmmmm, white-bread.

8.9k · August 5, 2006

<<edited: thought better of myself>>

Edited August 5, 2006 by Markwell

August 5, 2006

I guess it just depends on why you geocache. I do it to remind me that most people who do this are honest, kind, generous, and friendly to others (and to see the sights and creative hiding spots of course). I don't do it to see how many McDonalds toys I can find or how many cheap matchbox cars with dog tags I can find and log. I realize a bot probably named this... I agree that it is a beautiful mountain. I don't agree with the misguided individual that gave it its name, and I don't believe that it betters our world to continue naming things after it. There is a difference between thick skin, sterilizing the world and continuing to harbor ignorance.

August 5, 2006

You have to be kidding me, with all the names of mountains - and I bet there are quite a few, somebody had to throw this one in... It is in poor taste, a stupid choice and should be changed. I thought this was a FAMILY oriented game? If someone named their cache that, it would not be approved. GC.com should practice what they preach.

August 5, 2006

By "sanitizing" history and making everything politically correct, the true danger is in forgetting the atrocities that we committed against the Native Americans. I'm not saying that means it's OK to throw around racist or derogatory terms, but there's also no sense in sanitizing everything to the point that we can pretend we live in a lily white, white-bread world.

Sorry, but are you saying that racial / ethnic / gender slurs are wrong, so we have to keep using them to remind ourselves how wrong we are?

3.1k · August 5, 2006

No caches named tit I could find. There is one with Teat in the name. A couple with nipple in the name.

But there are 31 with squaw in the name.

They mostly look to be named after the place that they are located in.

Edit to say: Those are my "lily white, white-bread world" findings.

Edited August 5, 2006 by ParentsofSAM

August 5, 2006

...the true danger is in forgetting the atrocities that we committed against the Native Americans...

I am part of that "we," and I have never committed atrocities against the Native Americans, and I take offense to even a remote suggestion that I have. Perhaps my ancestors did, but that doesn't transfer any of the blame to me.

How about: ...'the atrocities that some immigrant Americans committed against Native Americans..."

That P.C. dialect is gonna get somebody in trouble one of these days.

Sorry for the OT thing...

August 5, 2006

Squaw is NOT an English word. It IS a phoenetic rendering of an Algonkian word that does NOT translate to "a woman's private parts." The word "squaw" - as "esqua," "squa," "skwa," "skwe" and other variants - traditionally means the totality of being female, not just the female anatomy. The word has been interpreted by modern activists as a slanderous assault against Native American women. But traditional Algonkian speakers, in both Indian and English, still say words like "nidobaskwa" = a female friend, "manigebeskwa" = woman of the woods, or "Squaw Sachem" = female chief. When Abenaki people sing the Birth Song, they address "nuncksquassis" = "little woman baby."

August 5, 2006

No caches named tit I could find. There is one with Teat in the name. A couple with nipple in the name.

But there are 31 with squaw in the name.

They mostly look to be named after the place that they are located in.

Edit to say: Those are my "lily white, white-bread world" findings.

Try squawtit

2.7k · August 5, 2006

Kind of a pretty mountain if you ask me

No one has suggested a bra from that mountian yet. You PCers are really letting me down.

August 5, 2006

Probably a computer generated program named the jeeps after mountains, rivers, and other such items. Most likely no person actually read all the names. It is obvious that using such a name for a new item offends some people and does not offend others. As it offends you, it might be best to write to Jeep and explain your point of view. After which you can choose to release or not to release the jeep in to the wild.

August 5, 2006

Squaw is NOT an English word. It IS a phoenetic rendering of an Algonkian word that does NOT translate to "a woman's private parts." The word "squaw" - as "esqua," "squa," "skwa," "skwe" and other variants - traditionally means the totality of being female, not just the female anatomy. The word has been interpreted by modern activists as a slanderous assault against Native American women. But traditional Algonkian speakers, in both Indian and English, still say words like "nidobaskwa" = a female friend, "manigebeskwa" = woman of the woods, or "Squaw Sachem" = female chief. When Abenaki people sing the Birth Song, they address "nuncksquassis" = "little woman baby."

Well, I'm not following. I've hiked Squaw Peak in Phoenix, and thought that squaw was just a name referring to a female Native American. I still don't know specifically what female body part it supposedly refers to, but, if it doesn't, why have there been protests by the Native Americans themselves?

My only point with PC is that if a particular group finds a term that is used to represent them to be highly offensive, then why would we choose to use that word? Confrontation? Why? And if that word has an emotional charge, in my opinion it should be left out of usage in a corporate sponsorship deal.

1.4k · August 5, 2006

This thread's got it all. Controversy, education, humor...

I sympathize with the OP feeling that the name is inappropriate. I am not offended though. It's VERY OBVIOUS this is not due to malicious intent.

Don't know how the kids behave these days, but when I was growing up, something like this would start a round of adolescent jokes for a few minutes, everyone gets a chuckle (including the girls), then we move on.

9.4k · August 5, 2006

Hey, I vote we rename Pike's Peak. Make it Pike's Pr**k.

It'd be hilarious to hear a guy say, "Yeah, I'm climbing up on Pike's Pr**k this weekend"

That's not offensive, so don't raise my warn meter

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

August 5, 2006

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

...although there used to be!

Edited August 5, 2006 by Sevilon

3.2k · August 5, 2006

I think we should all be offended by Jeremy's avatar. The positioning of the hand appears dangerously close to the American Sign Language sign for Lesbian. OMG - how can we stand such indignity.

I hate politically correct bs.

August 5, 2006

Hey, I vote we rename Pike's Peak. Make it Pike's Pr**k.

It'd be hilarious to hear a guy say, "Yeah, I'm climbing up on Pike's Pr**k this weekend"

That's not offensive, so don't raise my warn meter

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

That's the best you can do in response to my suggestion?

9.4k · August 5, 2006

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

...although there used to be!

yes, there used to be. And it also used to be 14,110' (which is what is still shown on maps and at the summit). Modern technology has verified that the mountain is taller than originally thought.

I always thought a "squaw" was a female Indian Native American. Only since Squaw Peak in Arizona was renamed a couple of years ago has it been publicly "known" as a derogatory term.

9.4k · August 5, 2006

I think we should all be offended by Jeremy's avatar. The positioning of the hand appears dangerously close to the American Sign Language sign for Lesbian. OMG - how can we stand such indignity.

I hate politically correct bs.

I can't comment on the story behind the sign

1.4k · August 5, 2006

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

...although there used to be!

There still is if you are trying to breathe while you are there...

9.4k · August 5, 2006

Hey, I vote we rename Pike's Peak. Make it Pike's Pr**k.

It'd be hilarious to hear a guy say, "Yeah, I'm climbing up on Pike's Pr**k this weekend"

That's not offensive, so don't raise my warn meter

There is no apostrophe in Pikes Peak (if you're referring to the 14,115' mountain in Colorado)

That's the best you can do in response to my suggestion?

Pikes Peak is not shaped like a pr**k

August 5, 2006

You have to be kidding me, with all the names of mountains - and I bet there are quite a few, somebody had to throw this one in... It is in poor taste, a stupid choice and should be changed. I thought this was a FAMILY oriented game? If someone named their cache that, it would not be approved. GC.com should practice what they preach.

I don't know about anyone else's family, but I spent a total of six years nursing my babies, so the objects in question are pretty common in our household! And if they happen to belong to a sqaw, a white girl, a soul sister, or whatever, so be it.

Yes, the mountain's name could be construed as a bit off-color, but there is so much that is truly offensive readily available in the media. Turn on your television right now and your kids will see worse, much worse, and not just on pay-per-view either.

Use it as a teaching experience (like reading Unlce Tom's Cabin)...don't ban it (like, unfortunately, Uncle Tom's Cabin, has often been).

August 5, 2006

Uh, I've seen a couple in slightly similar shape but that is irrelevant to the conversation (and also enough to make you never want to see one again, of any shape)

August 5, 2006

After which you can choose to release or not to release the jeep in to the wild.

Nope. The Jeep Travel Bugs belong to Jeep, and it's our responsibility to release them.

August 5, 2006

I was afraid that my comments would be misconstrued. That's what I get for trying to write a coherent post while my 3yr old would rather that I come and play Legos with him

I didn't mean to imply that I thought that it was appropriate to have a Jeep TB with that name, or even anything specific about this particular mountain.

Of course none of us were around when slavery was legal or when the Native Americans were displaced, I definitely didn't mean to imply that any of us should carry guilt about those incidents.

I keep getting distracted by the kids, so I don't have time to re-form all of my thoughts about what I was trying to say, so please just take this as a sincere apology to any that I've offended and know that it absolutely was NOT my intention.

-Kristin

Edited August 5, 2006 by parker313

9.4k · August 5, 2006

There is no better way to say this, but you have to be completely out of your mind if you think there was any intention to create controversy by having those names in there.

First, a quick background - these names were drawn, in decending order by altitiude, as peak names from the official United States list of placenames. I assure you that each and every name is for an official peak, regardless of your opinion of the names.

Late last week it was brought to our attention that there were some offensive names, so we started compiling a list of them. Since my offensive meter isn't as highly attuned as some we just started listing the ones that could be perceived as offensive.

Because of the way that the names are generated and updated, we have to update an official list that we can draw from when we make updates, so each travel bug doesn't constantly change names. Our hope was that for fun some of these may even reach the peaks they are named for. However to ensure the names don't show up again it takes a bit longer than just going in and editing them directly.

I went ahead and changed the one in the OP to just "Peak" until we can replace it with a less offensively named peak in the US. There are more 23,000 of them so it won't be difficult to do. In the meantime I ask for your patience while we make these changes. And if one shows up that we missed after we make the changes, by all means let us know by the contact address.

Jeep liked the idea of naming the Jeep Travel Bugs but, like us, had no idea that there were patently offensive games on the register. Although it may be a part of America's past, I see no reason why we need to pay homage to those names in the Jeep Travel Bug promotion.

I think many of us learned an interesting history lesson that I certainly didn't read about in school. It definitely would have kept me from falling asleep in history class!

August 5, 2006

I think many of us learned an interesting history lesson that I certainly didn't read about in school. It definitely would have kept me from falling asleep in history class!

And geography...

Inappropriately Named 2006 Jeep

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