Society & Culture The N word

[CrazyQ]

Wow.

A lot of "Why can't I be racist!!!111" people still exist, huh?

 

[JuddsABlue]

cause its 'their' word now

 

[CrazyQ]

cause its 'their' word now

That's it

Whites used it as a negative and the Blacks turned it into a positive. If you really. Any fathom that then you have no clue.

 

[Natho]

Porch monkey?

 

[Admiral Byng]

Flight Of The Conchords??

Tim Minchin.

[YOUTUBE]KVN_0qvuhhw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Dan Moody]

Porch monkey?

Lol'd at this.
Mate of mine was using this years ago, I had no idea what it meant til he told me. Then I saw Clint using it on Gran Torino.

 

[kfc1]

No problem.

Like any racial epithet, its important to look at the history and context of the word.

On the surface, no word should really be insulting. But when you look at the reasons why they might be, it becomes clearer.

The word f a g g o t is a prime example. It means, literally, "a bundle of sticks" that used to be thrown on bonfires. How could that be offensive?

Well, when people were outed as being homosexuals, they were burned at the stake, so the term 'f a g g o t' was used in that manner i.e. throw that f a g g o t on the fire. Also the same reason ciggies are called the same word, i.e. a small burning stick = f a g

So when you realise that for a seemingly innocent word, it has a horrible meaning (i.e. burning people alive for their private sexual preferences) you realise why homosexuals don't tolerate being called it.

Plenty of people are much happier being offended at something than thinking things through logically.

Your average whitey using either the N word or the F word would not be using it in that context. I would wager that half the people using it wouldn't even be aware of the context. Therefore, the word being used in this situation is NOT offensive because it is not being used in that meaning.

There are hundreds of words in the English language which have multiple meanings so this is hardly a groundbreaking statement.

Someone who takes offence to the N or F words in MOST situations is getting offended because they want to be offended. Chances are they either:

(a) have a chip on their shoulder about their ethnicity or their sexuality
(b) are looking for a fight or argument to make themselves feel better about 'standing up for their race/sexuality'
(c) want to be offended because not being offended would make them feel bad based on the opinion of society that you should be offended
(d) all of the above

Note the use of "MOST" and "MANY" in my post. There are always exceptions to the rule of thumb and there are always people who think/feel/act in a different way.

The use of these words is a good thing. There is no doubt that the use of the N word by rappers has changed its meaning. There are no slave owners anymore - the majority of people saying it are using it affectionately, or taking the piss, or using it because they heard it used elsewhere. Essentially the word has lost its original meaning and should no longer be offensive in most situations.

Ultimately, though, it is the person on the receiving end who will determine whether it is offensive to them. Many black people and many homosexuals retain the chip on their shoulder and feel the need to take offence at something instead of moving on and contributing to the dis empowerment of the word.

I sort of got bored/have to get back to work so I won't finish the post but the jist is there and provides some food for thought.

 

[LouisCK]

Except when those minorities continue to face institutionalised racism and discrimination today - they have every right to be offended at such outward displays of it.

It isn't 'choosing' to be offended, when a staggering percentage of blacks are still impoverished due to institutionalised racism. Or when blacks are shot 57 times for trying to take out their wallet when stopped by four armed police officers. Or when the Federal government still doesn't legally recognise your relationship as being as valid as a hetero one?

But yeah, you're right, these nasty blacks and homo's are just victimising you and your right to be racist.... they're just playing the victim card like always, yeah?

You thought your post provided food for thought? Haha your mind mustn't get very hungry.

 

[kfc1]

Your post gets a big "wooosh" from me.

MOST people who use the N word do not use it in its original meaning and institutionalised racism has absolutely nothing to do with the average white person's use of the N word.

Did you go to school within the last 20 years? Every kid and his dog used the word "gay" to describe something that was undesirable. Very few kids actually used it to mean that something/someone was literally homosexual and very few kids actually meant it to mean that being homosexual was also undesirable. It was just a word that was used. Using the word all the time, changing its meaning, has made it pretty limp these days - nobody batters an eyelid (sic) if you say something is gay. The N word is in a similar situation and should hopefully have a similar outcome.

Finally, it is quite amusing the double standards of 'blacks can use it, whites can't' - which is the absolute definition of racism. A black person using the N word and then being offended by a white person using the N word, purely because they are white, is racist.

Nobody can deny the horrible things that happened to various races in the past. However, two wrongs don't make a right. Racism doesn't get eradicated when people actively seek it out. If you first thought is that someone is being racist to you then most likely it is you who is the racist. A normal person doesn't have that as their first thought and doesn't seek it out.

Except when those minorities continue to face institutionalised racism and discrimination today - they have every right to be offended at such outward displays of it.

It isn't 'choosing' to be offended, when a staggering percentage of blacks are still impoverished due to institutionalised racism. Or when blacks are shot 57 times for trying to take out their wallet when stopped by four armed police officers. Or when the Federal government still doesn't legally recognise your relationship as being as valid as a hetero one?

But yeah, you're right, these nasty blacks and homo's are just victimising you and your right to be racist.... they're just playing the victim card like always, yeah?

You thought your post provided food for thought? Haha your mind mustn't get very hungry.

 

[Feerits Elf]

The N word= this racist towards blacks.
Therefore black's using it towards black's make's no impact, they probably just use it because it is a offensive word.

Thank's for tho'se wi'se word's

 

[LouisCK]

Your post gets a big "wooosh" from me.

MOST people who use the N word do not use it in its original meaning and institutionalised racism has absolutely nothing to do with the average white person's use of the N word.

Did you go to school within the last 20 years? Every kid and his dog used the word "gay" to describe something that was undesirable. Very few kids actually used it to mean that something/someone was literally homosexual and very few kids actually meant it to mean that being homosexual was also undesirable. It was just a word that was used. Using the word all the time, changing its meaning, has made it pretty limp these days - nobody batters an eyelid (sic) if you say something is gay. The N word is in a similar situation and should hopefully have a similar outcome.

Finally, it is quite amusing the double standards of 'blacks can use it, whites can't' - which is the absolute definition of racism. A black person using the N word and then being offended by a white person using the N word, purely because they are white, is racist.

Nobody can deny the horrible things that happened to various races in the past. However, two wrongs don't make a right. Racism doesn't get eradicated when people actively seek it out. If you first thought is that someone is being racist to you then most likely it is you who is the racist. A normal person doesn't have that as their first thought and doesn't seek it out.

In what manner do use the term nig ger then?

 

[kfc1]

Not often, but I sometimes do in the same way I use "kent" (a female friendly version of the see you next Tuesday). Or in the Chris Rock sense, to describe a particular sub-culture. Or if 'singing' along to song lyrics I like.

 

[LouisCK]

Not often, but I sometimes do in the same way I use "kent" (a female friendly version of the see you next Tuesday). Or in the Chris Rock sense, to describe a particular sub-culture. Or if 'singing' along to song lyrics I like.

You're referring then, to the word nig ga.

Big difference.

 

[kfc1]

^ I'm not sure that the difference between ga and ger is noticeable when you are speaking to someone, especially someone who speaks slang rather than proper english.

 

[La Dispute]

[YOUTUBE]dF1NUposXVQ[/YOUTUBE]

Bit off topic but anyway.

 

[LouisCK]

^ I'm not sure that the difference between ga and ger is noticeable when you are speaking to someone, especially someone who speaks slang rather than proper english.

There's a pretty distinct sounding difference between the ger and ga pronunciation. And there is certainly a drastically different meaning behind the two.

I don't say either, so its not really an issue. But I suggest if you feel the need to drop the word in front of people, for what reason I don't know, that you at least take good care of your pronunciation (if you think you will be able to explain why it isn't offensive, and let's be honest, you haven't done a good job of that in your posts in this thread - so the chances of pulling it off in the split second before you get beaten to a pulp are even slimmer) if you ever want to be pronouncing something again.

 

[Bouvet_Island]

Late 80's, early 90's rap/hip hop from NWA, Public Enemy and Ice T amongst a few others went a fair way to "socializing" the N word and probably starting the whole trend again of offensive/non offensive. (Straight Outta Compton is brilliant however)

NWA and Ice-T (and others) yes, but definitely not Public Enemy.

Their lyrics did use the word at times, but never in a way to popularise, socialize or legitimize the word. In fact, one of the songs on their Apocalypse '91 album was "I don't wanna be called 'Yo N***a'". Public Enemy's focus was on issues facing the black community rather than the "I'm a gangsta" emphasis of other rappers from that era, hence their different treatment/usage of the word.

 

[phantom13]

I said it once in high school in front of others, not in a deroatory way i think i nailed a test in a class with a mate and said "my nig ga" and fist bumped him, then saw the look of horror on the face of one of my black classmates, have never and will never say it again. Having said that the word has lost all meaning to most white and black people, we are simply so far removed from it having ever been an insult that we cant even comprehend it in that regard now, it gets flittered about in all sorts of songs and pop culture, it gets dropped on tweets and in movies so often and mostly by people who have actually never heard it said in an insulting way that for the most part we have no idea how it came to actually be offensive. It is bizarre the way that it is but i was talking to my mates the other day and the only time i have heard it used insultingly that i could think of was in an adam sandler movie and the guy saying it was so sterotypically white and villainy that it was like a pantomime.

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

I find it strange for people to be offended by a word if others say it, but not if they say it.

Yet if they say racist words towards white people not much happens.

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

Maybe you don't know why they use it?

It was 'taken back' from white slave owners. Slave owners used the term as a form of ownership and derision, designed to separate blacks from whites and deem them as less valuable as white people. To make them feel sub human. It had long associations with black men being lynched, wrongly convicted and persecuted for hundreds of years. They're still living in grossly unequal conditions in the US.

By black people using it, they were saying there is nothing wrong with being black, we'll take this term of derision and make it one of love between black people.

Again, it completely depends on the context as to whether its offensive or not.

If you, a white person who appears a little ignorant of the history of the word, were to use it with a hard 'r' sound in front of a group of African Americans from Alabama - I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised if you were beaten half to death over it. And you'd deserve it imo.



It isn't hypocritical if you learn a bit about the history of the word.

That's it

Whites used it as a negative and the Blacks turned it into a positive. If you really. Any fathom that then you have no clue.

Is that really the case though? If it still has the same venom when a white says it to a black it hasn't really become a postive.