The word 'Oklahoma'

"Correct me if I'm wrong; Isn't the word 'Oklahoma' Choctaw for 'red-skinned people?'" -J.J. Sefton

Growing up here, we were taught it meant "Land of the Red Man." Later revisionism suggested the etymology was unclear, possibly an Anglo mangling of a couple of AmerInd words. Last I checked the web, Choctaw for land of red-skinned is the modern settled science.

My daughter has an annual ritual of going to the lake and forgetting to use sunscreen. Has to learn the lesson early every Summer that if you don't use sunscreen, that blazing Oklahoma solar furnace will teach you the name of the state, the hard way, especially us melanin-challenged types.

Decades ago, back on CompuServe Issues Forum, I had some Tribal fellow all over me for referring to "the red man." Funniest remark he made was that a drunken Irishman was more red than he. I said, thought we were talking melanin, not burst capillaries.

"Black" is okay but "Red" is disparaging. Ooookay. The indignation is always amusing to me. I never met a real-life Cherokee or Osage who was worried about being a red man; it's not considered rude or mean or hurtful, and in fact is a point of pride, but the AmerIndians I've known were cowboys, not butthurt babies. Other tribes may be more sensitive, like those precious Navajos....

(heh- trying to start intertribal war)

Rename the Washington R-Words
http://mindfulwebworks.com/radical/rename-the-washington-r-words
Derived in part from and quoting horde comments.