Kalaalit (Greenlander)

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KALAALIT

   From a brochure:

   The term "Eskimo" is no long used.  Greenlanders refer to themselves as "kalaalit", and the Greenlandic name of Greenland is "Kalaallit Nunaat", which means "kalaalit's land".

(Could be one of these things like Everest or Ayer's Rock.  Everyone here, in my experience, uses "Greenland"--ed.)

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TUPILAK

   From Pg. 79 of FACTS ABOUT GREENLAND 97-98:

   Also much sought after are tupilak, originally a type of bad luck charm against enemies, which people made using parts of the skeletons of various animals, sewn into a skin and lined with peat.

(OED?--ed.)

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MISC.

GREENLANDIC COFFEE--the SAS-sponsored Hotel Arctic here has "Gronlansk Kaffe (Ikke Flambert).

MORE FROM MY DANISH GUIDE:
BACKBOARD INDIAN--a homosexual.  I asked him for any terms for gays, and he came up with this, but another Dane had never heard of it.  The guide said that "Backboard" means "starboard," as on a ship.