English words are for English Speakers

Vincent J. Curtis

19 Nov 20

RE: Halifax to review use of ‘Micmac’ on street signs and buildings.  Report by Keith Doucette of the Canadian Press.  “It’s an anglicized version of the Indigenous word for Mi’kmaq First Nation.”

Could there be anything more ridiculous than the debate over the use of Mi’kmaq versus Micmac?  The criticism is that Micmac is an Anglicization of the word the Micmacs had for themselves.

Of course it is!  They both are!  Mi’kmaq and Micmac are pronounced the same; only the spelling is different.  The Micmacs had no written language, and if they did it would odd that they used Roman letters.  Both words are literal renderings of sounds to an English speaker’s ear.  One rendering is spelt in the direct English way, while the other is some prissy P.C. contrivance that makes the simple complex.  (We could spell Iraq Irak if we agreed to, and we once did.)

To say that Mi’kmaq is preferred over Micmac requires a polite explanation other than that one suits polite society while the other doesn’t.

The effort by Halifax to make nice to the First Nation is bound to fail.  The professional leaders of the First Nation have a vested interest in maintaining hostilities.  Since the other criticism is that assimilation is bad, Halifax would be better of simply replacing all references to Micmac and Mi’qmak.  The word “Cornwallis” springs to mind.

English words are for English speakers!

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