Matt Lauer of the NBC Today Show is reportedly taking some heat for using the term "don't be an Indian giver."

It is an offensive term because it slights Native Americans as if to indicate you can't trust them in a deal.

This is something I learned when I first started in TV in the early 1970s in Syracuse, New York where the Onondagans had a reservaton.

We also did not use the phrase "Indian Summer" which means a false summer during the early fall. It was viewed as an insult on Indian intelligence.

Some might say that the phrases are similar to saying "Jew you down" when referring to bargaining.

But I think in the case of Matt Lauer's infraction, he just may not know that Indian Summer and Indian Giver are inappropriate phrases. I know many people who use those phrases today.