The N word.

Before I post this, let me state that I am of mixed descent (Native American, African-American, and Swedish).

Honestly, I used to feel that there is nothing wrong with either word (they are just words, right?), although I wouldn't use it. Now I feel both words just shouldn't be used at all because they both carry into our history into a hateful time and no matter the context or situation, I feel it shouldn't be used because others may misunderstand or be offended seeing as the word is vulgar.

Obviously some people are quick to call the race card on racial slurs and then go on to use them or portray themselves in a poor manner which is hypocritical and something of a byproduct from various things in our media that is paraded around at times in vulgar manners (such as certain genre's of music using slurs or someone gossiping about another using these slurs).

On the topic of music, specifically certain rap/hip-hop artists, it's clearly a bad image portrayal to all people of descent. Where I live, white males use the 'N' word all of the time to each other and to other black males and the other way around. Sometimes it can be taken a bad way and sometimes it can be taken in another. Honestly all conflict can be avoided if we eliminate these terms from our vocabulary seeing as the history of these words are filled with hate and sometimes misunderstood in their use.

I do not like people using the word against people or about peoples, though if you listen to a lot of gangsta rap they use those words about their friends like they part of some secret Daft Punk cult and I do not understand why 1 race cannot use it but another 1 can.

Why say "The N word"
It literally means the same exact thing, and only makes it so I have to say it my head.
That being said, I don't care who uses the N word ( I'm half black, and only use the word jokingly). It's always funny to see people freak out about it though, and the only people I've seen freak out about white people using the N word, is other white people.

Seriously, no black person I've met cares who uses the word, even my dad doesn't care. (He still can't get my mom to say it, even after like 18 years lol)

I'm really sorry black people but we use it in the asian community all the time ;;

I don't know. Calling a word "bad" in and of itself isn't a real deal (I mean, if I didn't know ****** existed I would probably invent it to mean "table" or something) but if you use it to make fun of/hurt other people then it becomes bad.

That said, it can be touchy for some people, so don't say it around them, but if you're like some people that I know and you don't really care that it's such a long history of abuse behind that word (though we do realize that it does, don't get us wrong) then go ahead and use it willy-nilly. Just don't say "screw you it's our choice" when a black person walks by and objects to you saying that in front of them. Well, you can, but you can also get your ass beaten in. Your call.

I guess there is no fundamental reason why anyone should be unable to say that word, however, I could never bring myself to say it myself. When I think of the historical significance behind that word it makes me feel somewhat sick.

I think the N word is considered so bad and not used much is because it was largely used in the 19th and 20th centuries as a derogatory term for blacks. People don't want to remember the horrors suffered by many black people during those times. Which brings up another question:
Why do some blacks (and whites) feel that it is okay to use the N word to refer to one another?
Why would they want to a) say a word that a large part of the US society is not comfortable hearing and b) say a word that is considered highly offensive by many people today?
I think the answer to these questions is desensitization. We are exposed to this word in movies, TV shows, music, etc. so much that it has no effect on some people when said.
It's not just desensitization on this word. Desensitization to guns, violence, gore, etc., but that's a topic for another time. :)

Thanks for reading! I'm not trying to offend anyone with this post and I apologize if I do so!

Personally, I don't use the N word purely because I have no reason to use it. I know for a fact that most, if not all, of my black friends wouldn't mind if I used it (as other friends do + they've asked why I don't use it) but the only time I ever have is if I'm having a chat about the word. Just like in this thread.
I know a lot of other white people who do use the word but only when in conversation with black friends, which seems to be the general consenus that I've seen.

I really don't care if I see black people using the word among others because it's not aimed at me + I don't get offended by words (regardless of how serious the word may be). The only people who I actually have a problem with using the word are black people who complain at a white person for using the term as it was used throughout black history as a derogatory term, yet they'll go and use the word right afterwards to their friends.
In that situation I'll generally say something because I can understand people being offended by the term due to history but for someone to claim that excuse and then use it themselves is just hypocritical and a slap in the face to all people who are offended by the word.


On a final note, one thing I find hilarious is when someone is racist and then uses the excuse - "I can't be racist because my best friend/family member is black" - as if that makes any difference in the slightest. As one of my favourite comedians, Sean Lock, once said "That's just like being in court for murder and saying 'I can't be a murderer because my best friends are alive' ".

Call me a goody goody. I never say bad words unless i am dared to. I seriously do not think that the N word should only be used by Africans. (I grew up in an anti racism community so I use this term.) Freedom of speech right?

It's really interesting to me how people feel about this word, black and non-black. I'm black; I know that my non-black friends, before we were really close, would test the waters around using it with me first-- usually through small jokes-- to see if I would react. In the past, when I was younger, I had an instinctual aversion to the word. It was innately offensive, and anyone using it towards me was seen as trying to hurt or pull rank over me. My parents taught me to never allow anyone to get away with saying it to me. As I grew older however, I noticed that I was growing less and less appalled by it. I heard it more often and saw other people not reacting with such vitriol towards it. It even began to slip into my own language.

Mostly, I started hearing my dad and grandpa use the word around the time I turned seventeen and they started getting looser with their word choice around me. They weren't offended, clearly. Should I be?

My opinion is basically this: words have power over you only if you let them. Language changes over time-- innocent words get turned into something entirely different, and words thought unthinkable to be spoken CAN adapt into commonplace, friendly phrases. Look at the word, "catfish." A couple of years ago, a catfish was only a type of fish to me. Now, it's so infused with the idea of being fooled by another person into believing they're someone that they aren't that I hear people saying things like, "You sure she isn't catfishing you?," all of the time.

That said, while you can choose to disallow a word to control your feelings, that does not change the contextual history of the word or the intent of the person speaking it. If someone calls me a ****** out of obvious anger and disrespect, I can't just ignore that ****** is a word with negative connotations. I'm not rubber, the words won't bounce off of me. It's irresponsible to try to cover up the past-- stick your fingers in your ears and say you're not listening. ****** IS an offensive word with an offensive history.

It's a complex situation, and I'm not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts coherently. I guess in summary... I feel that we have to recognize that the meaning of ****** has changed over time and that it shouldn't be immediately viewed as a racist sentiment. It all depends on context and intent, like any other word with two or more meanings. Are you reading a book, or are you booking it to Chicago? Are you dancing to the beat, or are you about to get beat? Am I your *****, or am I nothing but a *****?

(As a side note, I absolutely hate it when people who would normally never use the word decide to use it in front of me because I'm black. I find it incredibly offensive. If you're doing it to "fit in" or get shock value out of it, you're doing it wrong. Like I said, intent and context matters. At the end of the day, it's probably best to just not use it at all if you think someone is uncomfortable with it. Not everyone has my opinion on the subject, and like someone else mentioned earlier, people have a right to not feel offended. There's nothing it adds to any conversation ever, really.)

Rivuhh said:

I think there is a big difference between a white person saying n-er and n-ga. The first one is an insult and is saying they are ignorant. However that word means ignorant and it doesn't need to be stated to a black person to still be offensive. The other one is more for jokes or swag fags. However, most of the time, neither of these words are used to seriously harm someone.

Also, I hate how the stereotype only goes for that and not cracker. One, why can I say cracker when it has the same offense to a white person as the other word should have to a black person? And also, why should they be able to call me that and I can't call them that? Double standards make this world screwed up sometimes.

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That's a shame that he didn't get in trouble. My school was the opposite - I felt that Anglo-Celtic kids (especially girls) got off easier than minority kids. One Anglo-Saxon girl who was very cruel to me rarely got called out for it (I was happy the few times she got in trouble). Another girl who was mean to me - a Pakistani girl - did get in trouble frequently.

I try not to say anti-white words because I know they're wrong too. Racism never justifies reverse racism.

We don't have many as black people over in Australia as the US, but we realise how offensive the N word is. I still do not get why black people would want to use a word with such an ugly history (directed at them, no less!).

Well it's horrifying to know that words can cause such harm, actually. It was we who made the meanings, yeah? Just like that common words have turned to be insult forms, so vile that they're censored too.

I would avoid conflicts including this racist word because it's not right just to use this word as an insult, just because of the whole "you're-racist-blacks-are-equal-to-whites" thing, and that goes the same to anti-racist words.

And the common N-gah usage is more modernised swag, usually used like blacks and whites (I think) but without the insults. So it's not uncommon to see this used in raps, swag jokes, etc.

Still, it is considered offensive to use the N-word in general, I don't see why we shouldn't leave it be. Just a swear word with a controversial history.

Oh yes, I also feel cracker shouldn't be used as well, it doesn't do justice to the whole "all-equal" thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63M34s8afbo maybe this will answer your question haha.

I don't think so. It's really up to context, how you say it, your intentions and who you say it too. if i see a white person calling another white person a ******, i think your a tool. if i see a community of black people calling each other *******, well good for them, it may sound ugly and offend some people, but they're taking an otherwise offensive word and embracing it as well as excluding those who in the past used it hurtfully. If your race hasn't been discriminated and enslaved for hundreds of years then you don't get to say that word. But again if your black friend is okay with you calling him/her that then no harm done.
think twice before saying it

Rivuhh said:

I'm not offended by that at all. The N word means Ignorant. It has nothing to do with black people. However, when slavery was a thing, that's just what they called them. It evolved into a racial slur. And I think when that happened they retaliated with the word cracker. It's a double standard, dude.

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ignorant is not a synonym of the n word buddy, it's a very small part of the meaning. it means inferior as well (why do people with your argument always leave that one out?). and definitions change. Meat meant food 2 thousand years ago, technically an apple was considered meat. definitions change and when it was associated with black people and even asians during the older days it's definition altered with it. cracker is no where near on the same level as the n word. not like your people got enslaved for hundreds of years with black people whipping you calling you guys crackers. maybe then you could compare the words. i dont see a double standard, everyone has slang words used to described them based on their skin colour. The N word is on another tier.

It's all about the way someone says it. If a white guys comes up to me and says "sup n-gh?" I'll answer with "not much bro, you?" but if you call me a "f-ing n-gh" I'll fight them. I don't care what race you are, use the word in a non provocative way and it doesn't matter - just like with most words. TBH the N word is too controversial - in my opinion as a black person - it should't be used. But it is. So, we just deal with it I guess.

If your race hasn't been discriminated and enslaved for hundreds of years then you don't get to say that word.

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I really dislike this sentiment.
The Chinese were enslaved. The Irish were enslaved. There are countless races that throughount history have been treated like little more then dirt. Does that mean that if you're Chinese , or Irish that you can use racial slurs, but not if you're British, or Anglo-Saxon? Oh, wait, both the British and Anglo Saxons have been enslaved before too.
Racial discrimination against 'Black' people is bad, yes, but it's not the only kind. Saying "You can't say that word 'cause your white" is just as racist as using it.

The reasoning behind N-gh being not as bad as N-gr is that it was repurposed by the 'Black' population as a word meaning 'friend' or 'brother' or things or the ilk. Since it was repurposed, that means that everybody gets to use it like that. As I mentioned above, saying a word is only racist when a certain race uses it is just as racist as what the word was used as.

The world needs to come to a consensus; either the word is discriminating, or a friendly nickname. Period.

If your race was enslaved at one point in time, then chances are they'd know better than to casually throw the term around. They understand the context, and what it really means.

Oh, like 'Black' people with N-gh?
Sorry Live, but that statement doesn't have a lot of ground in a thread about a racial slur that people of said race use.

My point in mentioning that multiple other races have gone through the same sort of problem was to both exemplify how blinded what I quoted was, and, to a point, how over-concerned people are about the 'N' word.

People use slurs. Yeah, it's true, sad, but still true. The next best thing from halting all usage of said words is to repurpose then. The 'N' word has been repurposed, gay has been generally repurposed (again. . .), hell, the writers of South Park have started trying to repurpose a certain 'F' word that I'm sure all of us here know.
If you repurpose a word, then douchbags can use it all the **** they want, but it won't be offensive anymore. But, the main part of repurposing a word is to get over any offensive meaning it might have had. The more that people who use it in a friendly sense are scoffed at, the more the word will remain a slur.

That. That was my point.

Rococo said:

I really dislike this sentiment.
The Chinese were enslaved. The Irish were enslaved. There are countless races that throughount history have been treated like little more then dirt. Does that mean that if you're Chinese , or Irish that you can use racial slurs, but not if you're British, or Anglo-Saxon? Oh, wait, both the British and Anglo Saxons have been enslaved before too.
Racial discrimination against 'Black' people is bad, yes, but it's not the only kind. Saying "You can't say that word 'cause your white" is just as racist as using it.

The reasoning behind N-gh being not as bad as N-gr is that it was repurposed by the 'Black' population as a word meaning 'friend' or 'brother' or things or the ilk. Since it was repurposed, that means that everybody gets to use it like that. As I mentioned above, saying a word is only racist when a certain race uses it is just as racist as what the word was used as.

The world needs to come to a consensus; either the word is discriminating, or a friendly nickname. Period.

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you misunderstand, because a race of people have been enslaved doesn't mean they can use the word. like you pointed out they use the word n-gh and it pretty much means brother, like i mentioned in my earlier post was that they embraced what was an otherwise offensive word and made if friendlier. i guess it really depends what word we're talking about. the more modern term like i said is okay to use, by everyone if the person they're directing it at is okay with it (im guessing you didnt read my whole post). It's a very complicated word because it's original meaning was so dark and ugly and now its a term of endearment, thats a mighty jump and it's in it's own category because of that. Even when my white/yellow/brown friends call me n-ggh i don't feel like they say it because they care about me, they say it cause i'm black and they think they can get away with it because they're my friend. honestly when a dark skin friend calls me the word they understand the weight of the word and i know they really mean brother. its not just white people its EVERYBODY else. maybe a few of my close white friends can call me that. i don;t even like it when random black people direct it at me, it's not as bad cause i assume they understand the weight of the word but i still don't like it. i'm aware this is subjective.

you want people to decide whether or not its a racial slur or a term of endearment? only possible if you completely eliminate the use of the word directed as an insult. which is still used every single day by so many people. and its an unrealistic expectation, but it might happen one day. redefining a word takes along time to achieve. we're only half way to getting rid of the mean spirited n'ggr.

Lets not get into other races and racial slurs cause aint no body got time for that :P

Ehehehe, sorry guys, I just read over my posts a second time and realise that they kind of sound a bit *****y. Heh, I guess I was in a truely D&D-y mood earlier. Though seriously man, Live, there are so many flaws in that arguement. Dx

Sorry guys. :x

@Ash:
Yeah, I did read all the way through your post, but, I don't know. . . I took more offense from it then I should have, and despite reading all the way through, left little heed for most of it. Reading through both of them again, they do make sense, now. Please don't hate/avoid me now, I can assure you, I'm generally a very relaxed person!



Seriously guys, my bad. . . I'll keep the decompressing to the punching bags from now on. . .
Oh, god, is that why there are so many people like that in D&D? Relax, people! Please!

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Yes, Ash, I really wish more people had that sort of attitude! Even if something bothers you slightly doesn't mean the person meant it as offensive.
And yes, I know that there are people who still use it as an offensive term, but if the number of people who use it in a generally friendly manner outweigh the others long enough, then it's meaning will indeed shift entirerly.

all good man. i don't get very worked up during debates.

even if you did get a little more offended then you should, i really had to look at my own beliefs and question everything to come up with a good response. It's okay i like your attitude. respect

yes, we'll get there one day I'm sure of it :D