Indian giver
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Indian giver is an American English expression used for any individual who gives something and then either takes it back or wants to take it back.
The expression Indian giver is based on the belief that Native Americans would lend items to the settlers, in other words, let them borrow necessities. The settlers thought that this was a gift from the Native Americans; hence, they were shocked when the Native Americans asked for their items back.
Many people believe that the expression also may have derived from the Native American tribes' lack of a conception of property rights and that most tribes utilized only communal property standards, which would have been an alien notion to European settlers. However, this is patently not true, as the frequent conflicts over territory ante-dating the arrival of Europeans to the continent demonstrate. Native American tribes may have had different concepts of property rights from the Europeans but they definitely understood the concept and traded in property and ownership.
However, among many Aboriginal nations, to bestow something of value to another, the item was given, then taken back three times. If given a fourth time, it was considered permanent. This practice was in accordance with the philosophy that everything was cyclical and everything with a cycle was done in fours. The term has been misinterpreted by people who have little or no understanding of Aboriginal culture and has become the pejorative definition that is common today.
Other sources indicate that the term Indian Giver, according to some members of the Choctaw tribe in Mississippi, is derived from the fact that Whites used to make treaties and give land and such to Indians and then renege on the aforementioned deals and treaties. Although this is disputed, the evidence suggesting this is just as concrete as evidence for any other theory. This is seen several times throughout the wars concerning the United States, Britain, France, and their involvement with the Native American tribes.
Some consider the phrase a racial stereotype because using the term to denote a person who takes back what they previously gave implies that Native Americans might commonly practice this. It also uses the term Indian to denote Native American, which can be offensive to some.
Usage in popular culture
Indian Giver is the title of a song by 1910 Fruitgum Company, covered (among others) by The Ramones, The Rockin' Ramrods, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. The Jazz / Punk / Swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers also have an original Christmas song called Indian Giver on their Christmas Caravan album.
Further use of the expression includes the TV-Shows Seinfeld[1] and Curb Your Enthusiasm[2]. In Dharma and Greg[3] the phrase "Native American giver" is used.
Appears in the song Bukowski (2004, Good News for People Who Love Bad News Album) by Modest Mouse in the lyric "If God takes life he's an Indian giver."
The term was used in the movie Total Recall, when Quaid (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) was told by his alter ego "Sorry to be an indian giver, but it was my body first".
On Malcom in the Middle, Hal won 3 grand from an Indian casino with Malcom's help. When confronted by the Indian's he gave them the money to keep from getting banned. When the manager took the money and told Hal that he's still banned, Hal asked for the money back. The manager looked at him and said "What money?".
See also
"Indian Giver" is the title of an acclaimed satiric novel published in 1983 by Gerald Duff. The protagonist is Sam Houston Leaping Deer, a Native American youth from the Alabama-Coushatta nation in East Texas, who is recruited to play basketball at the University of Illinois and who takes back from the white culture what he has loaned it.