I have had customers who have issues with ‘eskimo’ in our domain name because some people consider it to be a racial slur which is based primarily on a misunderstanding of the meaning of the word.  It is often believed the word was originated by Siberian Eskimos who were enemies of the Inuit to mean Eaters of Raw Meat.

     In fact the word was originated by Greenlandic Eskimos and means one who uses snow shoes.

     In any case, prior to Western civilizations influence on Eskimo communities, eaters of raw meat would not have been inaccurate since fuel sources are rather scarce above the arctic circle and while cooking still aids in digestion, it was not required for sanitary reasons because bacteria do not grow and ruin meat when temperatures were consistently below freezing.

     Many people feel that Inuit is the correct term but Inuit is to Eskimo as Japanese is to Asian.  Eskimo refers to all people living above the Arctic Circle, Inuit refers to only a subset living along the northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenlandic Northern coastal areas,  It excludes inland Eskimos and Siberian Eskimos among others.  Another commonly recommended alternative, Aleut, refers only to those living in the Aleutian Islands, other Islands in the Bearing Sea, and the Northwest coastal areas of Alaska.

     Unlike the more politically correct Asian verses the less politically correct Oriental, there is no politically more correct term for Eskimos equating to all peoples living above the Arctic circle and the degree to which it is politically incorrect is the result of a false myth with regards to the origin of the word.

     With all that said and with the realization that I’m not going to educate the world or even a small part of it, and the realization that sadly much Eskimo language has been lost (there were at one time more than 200 languages, some much closer to each other than others) and that the Eskimos prior to their interfacing with Western civilization had no written language, everything was passed down by oral tradition, much of which has been lost, so crazy mythology is bound to screw things up further, acknowledging all these things, I have enabled mail on one of our game domains so that those of you who have a problem with it have an alternative.

     I have enabled e-mail on ybbored.com domain so if you send e-mail to user@ybbored.com, it will be delivered to your INBOX the same as eskimo.com.

    For further reading I highly recommend, The Book Of The Eskimos by Peter Freuchen.  It will not only open your eyes about the nature of the Eskimo, a people surviving in the harshest inhabited portion of our planet, but also of their thoughts, spirituality, and even some eye openers on the nature of reality itself.  Peter Freuchen is one of the most direct, honest, and lucid writers I’ve ever read and the book is a very captivating read.

     And if you’ve read the book then you will hopefully understand my use of the term and interest in the people and their lives, particular historic prior to Western Influence, is one of great respect, nothing I would ever want to slander or slur.  These people not only survived in a harsh environment, the lived life to the fullest an they did so in a sustainable manner.