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<br />f().~ <br /> <br />'the Denver Post Online - News <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />IlT!lI/Dll( <br />llAIIOI <br /> <br />+ IIICX 10 MIWS <br /> <br />000832 <br /> <br />Page I of3 <br />() <br />,\O~\ <br />Uc..~ <br /> <br />Indians' plea nets new name for squawfish <br /> <br />By Mark Obmascik <br />Denver Post Staff Writer <br /> <br />March 28 - Sticks and stones may break bones. Now some scientists <br />say names can really hurt, too. <br /> <br />Heeding Tequests from American Indian tribes, an international panel <br />of biologists has officially changed the name of the Colorado <br />squawfish to the Colorado pikeminnow. <br /> <br />It's the first time a fish's name has been changed for political reasons, <br />biologists say. Tribes long have been offended by use of the "S" word, <br />which they say is a French corruption of an Algonquin term that <br />became an obscenity. <br /> <br />Though fish experts agreed that the five letters of squaw were akin to a <br />four-letter obscenity in English, few people are especially pleased with <br />the replacement name. There also is grumbling about the resulting - but <br />still unspecified - cost of changing government signs, brochures and <br />posters to reflect the new pikeminnow name. <br /> <br />Some wonder if the fish switch has put biologists in murky waters. <br /> <br />"I'm all for this change, but theTe are some people who think it's caving <br />in to pressure groups," said Joe Nelson, chairman of the Names of <br />Fishes Committee of the American Fisheries Society. <br /> <br />"There is talk about changing the name of the jewfish. Some said: Are <br />we going to change the name of the whitefish? And we do have a <br />subtropical fish named the slippery dick," <br /> <br />The end of the Colorado fish's moniker marks the latest victory in an <br />Indian-led drive to scale back the use of "squaw." In 1995, Minnesota <br />approved a law ordering counties there to rename any natural <br />geographic place identified by the word. <br /> <br />One protesting Minnesota county responded by trying to rename <br />Squaw Creek to Politically Correct Creek. The state vetoed that switch. <br /> <br />"The use of the word is degTading to Indian woman. It's like calling <br />someone a whore," said George Lee, a Yakima tribal member in <br />Washington state who led the campaign to dump the fish's name. <br /> <br />A common offense <br /> <br />If the word is offensive, it's a common offense. According to the U.S. <br />Geological Survey, more than 900 places across the United States <br />include the word "squaw." Colorado has at least 26, including Squaw <br />Pass on Colorado 103 northwest of Evergreen, three Squaw Mountains <br />(in Clear Creek, Routt and Teller counties), as well as eight different <br /> <br />http://www.denverposl.comlnews/news0328c.htm <br /> <br />3/31/99 <br />