Q WHAT is the difference between an Eskimo and an Inuit? - Doug McKenna, Stockton.

A THE term Eskimo is applied to a wide group of people. Eskimos inhabit an area spanning more than 3,000 miles, including Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska and part of Siberia. They live in a wide variety of northerly habitats, but their languages are very closely related. The people of the Aleutian Islands, called Aleuts, are sometimes regarded as Eskimos and are certainly closely related. They number around 24,000.

As an ethnic group, Eskimos are more closely related to the Mongolian peoples of Asia than to the Native American Indians. Their language group is known as Eskimo-Aleut and is not related to the American Indian languages. The term Eskimo is sometimes regarded as offensive and many natives call themselves Inuit, meaning The People. However, the term is not widely accepted by the natives of Alaska and north eastern Siberia. In these places Eskimos regard themselves as Inupiaq or Yupik.

Whale-hunting, fur-wearing Eskimos who live in igloos in the far north of Arctic Canada are not typical of the Eskimo people. Some Eskimos are fishermen while others are caribou hunters. Some live in mud huts and others live in tents made of caribou skin. Today many Eskimos, particularly in Alaska, live in towns and cities. The word Eskimo derives from a French Canadian word Esquimaux but its meaning is uncertain. One theory is that it derives from a native American word meaning raw meat eaters.

A FURTHER to CB Dobbing's question regarding Toc H at South Church, Sally McDonagh, who was born in South Church in 1941, says she remembers the building well. It was a large old house on the main street opposite St Andrew's Church. Mrs Armstrong, of Middlesbrough, also remembers it and was a member of a Girl Guide troop that met there.

Frank Robinson, of Thornaby, remembers the building, but he says the Toc H club was in Waldron's School at the corner of Mill Lane and Main Street.

The site including the Toc H building, schoolroom and several streets were demolished and replaced by council houses.

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