The "N" word

[Psycho Cat Industries]

Just watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xryXpK042pQ

Really,who cares when all people do is come up for another word to say the EXACT SAME THING

OG MY GOD!!! Someone on youtube with an understanding of American politics. I don't believe it.

Kind of hard to grasp ain't it?

 

[chuckman1]

Joe Petto put it best.

 

[campofapproval]

i think louie ck says it best.

Heh. My friends throw the word around in Ventrilo alot, directed at each other and the people in the games we are playing with. None of us are black, and I doubt any of the kids we're playing against are black. It's hard not to fall into that pratfall. I wonder if that's insensitive: to replace every single given insult with the word ******, and then direct it at your own white friends and the (probably) white opponents in DotA games?

On the other hand, I think whenever these discussions get started, and white people are like, "Well black people say it all the time!" I don't think that's an accurate argument. I have a number of black friends/acquaintances and none of them are fond of the word in any context.

I think it's a minority within the majority of black people who find it OK to use the word ******. And it honestly strikes me as something that's going out of fashion nowadays. I'd be interested in seeing an actual linguistics study to see if it's frequency in rap music has decreased at all in the past few years

much like the word "redneck", "jibaro" etc. the word "******" (in self-application) tends to be used by people of lower social standing (in my experience anyway, which is bullshit anecdotal "evidence".) when people say "i can say it cause THEY say it" it's assuming the poorest elements of a "race"/ethnicity represent the people as a whole.
and i'm not aware of a study like that; i'd assume it'd be hard to cover hip-hop at large since there are so many different movements that can come from radically different environments and influences...not to mention the zionist-record-execs-makin'-money aspect that influences some of the more prominent rap scenes.

 

[Drudgelmir]

What's the N word?

Not sure..Nuclear, Nicompoop, Nicaraguan, Nosy, Neptune...

 

[campofapproval]

*Dear mods - I realize this is a touchy subject, and I mean no offense to anyone, but this is a subject I feel strongly about. I'm merely voicing my opinion in the simplest, most honest way I can. - HailtotheKing
-----------------------------------------

I, personally, don't consider it a racial insult. If it's used in the typically considered insulting sense, I take it to mean, for lack of a better way of putting it, trashy people. The kind of women that go to the store in thin, aged pajama pants 3 sizes too small, no shoes and dirty wifebeaters. The kind of people who let their kids run rampant through a store causing havoc without ever correcting them. The kind of men that talk a big game to make themselves seem big and badass, but would sooner do away with the booze and weed and run for Congress than back up any of their threats. That's what a ****** is to me, and maybe this comes from growing up in a very small town in the deep South, but I've know just as many white, Asian and Latino 'niggers' as I have black ones.

A term that I take more offense to is 'African American'. Yeah, yeah, political correctness and all that. Tell me this though: how can you claim to be an African American if you were born in America and have never been outside of the country? "But HailtotheKing, their ancestors are from Africa!" Newsflash: Science determined that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa! By that logic, I'm exactly as African American as any person of color. My uncle is a 300 pound white guy who could pass as Jay Leno's twin brother. He happens to be a citizen of both Africa and America, but no politically correct people would ever consider him an African American. What's that called, ignoring facts in favor of just what you can see based on someones skin color? That, friends, is racism. (there are other points I could make, but Maddox has already said them better than I could - [link]http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=your_stupid_ideas[/link])

Don't get me wrong, I think that anyone, regardless of skin color, who goes up to a black person and spouts up "****** this, and ****** that" in an insulting way, trying to make trouble is a stupid, misinformed, hate-filled **** who deserves to get their teeth kicked in.

I think racial prejudice is stupid in and of itself. Yahtzee said it best, you should need a better reason to dislike someone than the level of melanin in their skin.

in regard to the "african-american" comment:
african-american is an oversimplified term that has a basis in something not totally silly, as black americans of most sorts are part of african diaspora (whether it be due to slavery, colonialism, upward mobility/immigration etc.) however, referring to black us citizens as "north american residents whose ancestors were for the most part victims of african diaspora, typically enslaved as prisoners of war by neighboring secondary empires then sold as but a small part of the larger trans-atlantic slave trade (only half a million slaves were sent to the usa from africa, after all)" is more of a mouthful than calling blacks "african-americans." in common usage, "african-american" a criminally narrow view of who's "african" based on diaspora rather than any understanding of african history and peoples. it's still better a term than "negro" but that's not saying much.

 

[sanomaton]

In all fairness I only use 'derogatory' words when they are used against me and that only happens between me and a Vietnamese guy I've been friends with forever. He calls me a cracker and I call him a *****. That's fair enough, eh?

Also, I sometimes use derogatory words for showing my affection to the person I'm talking to. I think using them to insult people is pretty much plain stupid. So it depends on the situation if I care about them or not.

 

[Grimlock Fett]

Its "their" word! They can say it all they want but I respect the fact that they would find it offensive coming from a white guy so I dont do it! Same as how I dont swear when I'm around parents of friends or the elderly. Its just manners!!

Wikipedia also confirms what I had already thought on the word (underlined)

Spoiler: Knowledge

****** is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people (generally people of Sub-Saharan African descent), and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur. The word originated as a term used in a neutral context to refer to black people, as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger, meaning the color "black".

 

[Mrrrgggrlllrrrg]

A word only has meaning if you give it one. Also you cant kill a word, its impossible to kill what has no life.


Also porchmonkey and ******, we're taking it back man so its cool.

 

[campofapproval]

What's the N word?

good read, though i still have no idea what the word is.

 

[LandoCristo]

Joe Petto put it best.

I really want to start watching that now. Pretty funny stuff.

 

[Joel Soh]

Some of them take it offensively, some of them think of it as the word (or similar to) 'bro'. Just depends who I suppose!

 

[Dancingman]

I don't really think one ever can take the N-word too seriously. There are plenty of blacks still alive today who remember the days of Jim Crow. While there is always going to be a vocal minority that wants to take it a bit far even those folks I can sympathize with, it's a horrible word from a horrible era that should never be forgotten, forgiven yes, forgetten never.

 

[Professor James]

What's the N word?

good read, though i still have no idea what the word is.

Can you give me a bit of a summary of a book?

 

[DoPo]

What's the N word?

good read, though i still have no idea what the word is.

Can you give me a bit of a summary of a book?

Does this [http://www.racialicious.com/2007/06/13/book-review-jabari-asims-the-n-word/] help?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Necro-bump from a year ago...though persumably the issue has been raised in the meantime a fair few times.

 

[GenericAmerican]

What ****** dug up this thread?

On topic because why the hell not: It's just a word, it's only real meaning is what we attach to it.

 

[ACman]

I don't think that I would point at a black person on the street and say "Hey ******!"... That would be rude.

But I call my (mostly white) friends ****** all the time. I have a black friend who calls me ****** and in return I call him white boy.

When I think of the word ****** I think 70s blaxploitation films and mean-ass dude who fight felt hatted pimps with shotguns. And it's not the colour of their skin, it's the attitude.

Anyone who can carry themselves with a certain level of style and panache, while kicking ass evokes the term ******. For me it has transcended colour and become about style.

But I doubt it will truly shake off its racist connotations until the human races interbreeds to a uniform asianoid-brown.