City of Duluth moves to remove the word 'chief' from key job titles

[killaphill]

The city of Duluth is moving to delete the word “chief” from the titles of two of its administrative leadership positions in an effort to remove language that some Native Americans and others find offensive.

On Monday, the City Council is scheduled to take up an amendment to the city charter to change the name of the city’s “chief administrative officer” to “city administrator.” The city’s “chief financial officer” would be renamed “finance director.”

“We are dropping the name ‘chief’ with intention and with purpose so we have more inclusive leadership, and less language that is rooted in hurt and offensive and intentional marginalization,” Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said in explaining the move.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/17/city-of-duluth-moves-to-remove-the-word-chief-from-key-job-titles


Interesting move, and I'll confess this is a title I hadn't contemplated as offensive. But now can absolutely see it. Hopefully this becomes a trend.

[exboyfil]

1. Granny in Beverly Hillbillies

changing her Vice President title to Nice President.

Chief comes form the Latin caput head. It has been used in English since the 13th century.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. It's kind of backwards etymology, though.

"Chief" is from Old French chief, chef, based on Latin caput, ‘head’. A chef is called that because he/she is the boss cook. The head of a Native American tribe was called the chief because he was the boss of the tribe. I agree that if Native American people find the word to be offensive it shouldn't be used for political titles, but in that it was not likely derived from or related to that usage, but from the ordinary, much older and pre-English derivation and use of the word. The Norwegian word for boss, for example, is sjef, which clearly would have had no connection with Native American tribal leaders.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Thanks -

I just did the research myself, since this suggestion made me scratch my head. I had arrived at the same conclusion.

ETA: I'm not seeing any objections to the use of "chief" as a title by Native Americans.

[DetlefK]

3. This is getting ridiculous.

So, the first the word "chief" existed, then it got a secondary meaning by bestowing it as a title to the head of indian tribes. And now because the SECONDARY meaning is considered offensive, the word gets stripped of its PRIMARY meaning?

Let me guess: It's now considered offensive to refer to the anus as "asshole" because "asshole" is an insult?

[Azathoth]

5. If people don't think there's going to be a backlash to this hysteria, they're dreaming

From defunding police to tearing down statues of Thomas Jefferson and getting Gone With The Wind cancelled, this Cultural Revolution stuff is building *a lot* of quiet resentment -- resentment that isn't going to disappear once Trump disappears.

Trump got elected on a wave of whitelash provoked by the mere existence of a reasonable black president. Once he's out of office and the pandemic is over, the political pendulum is going to swing back at us three times as hard because of this shit.

[exboyfil]

6. Yep

There is nothing wrong with using the word Chief to designate a leader of some organization.