The 'N' word - anything but black and white

bbc ^ | 3 October, 2003

[demlosers]

The 'N' word - anything but black and white

It's either the most viciously racist word in the English language or a rich term of endearment. How has the "N" word come to have so many different meanings? "If white boys doing well, it's success When I start doing well, it's suspect."

The lyrics are from rapper Mos Def's Mr Nigga, attacking society's distrust of black men who do well for themselves.

It carries the refrain: "Mr Nigga, Nigga, Nigga."

Ironically though, when it comes to using the controversial "N" word, Mos Def's line about the inequality between white and black can be turned on its head.

Chuck D abhors the use of the
word as a term of affection

Many would say it's ok for a black person to speak it, but for a white person, it is definitely "suspect".

In the words of veteran rapper Ice T: "If you are it, you can use it." Yet many other black people would shudder at the mere whisper of it.

Surely, no other word in the English language can provoke such polarised reactions as "nigger", which is still widely seen as about the most vicious term of racist abuse there is.

It's a funny
word... a bad word...
it's very twisted
Singer Ashanti

Four years ago a (white) local government official in Washington DC was forced to resign for uttering "niggardly" in public. The word is not even related to "nigger" and the official was later reinstated.

In Britain, it could even be illegal - interpreted as an incitement to racial hatred.

Yet to some, especially in the US, it has actually become a term of affection between black men, the equivalent of "mate", "pal" or "buddy".

Political rap lyric

A new BBC radio documentary highlights how the word has been reinvented - some would say reclaimed - by the black community over the past 15 years.

Lopez broke the 'If you are it, you can use it' rule The influence of black urban music has been at the centre of this recasting, with political rappers such as KRS-1 blazing the trail.

"KRS-1 always used it in the context of looking at it in a negative state of mind," says Chuck D, frontman with one of the most influential rap outfits ever, Public Enemy.

.

Lopez broke the 'If you
are it, you can use it' rule

But it was groups like NWA - Niggaz With Attitude - who promoted a positive use of the word, in a effort to wrong-foot racists.

"They said if you are going to call me one, then I am one," says Chuck D.

Incredibly, the notorious "N" word gradually became accepted as a term of endearment between black friends.

Today, even black artists who are labelled more conscientious, such as soul singer Angie Stone, have adopted the term. "I don't have a problem with it," says Stone, "as long as it's used in an affectionate way."

Historical baggage

Yet other black people remain astounded how an infamous racial slur can be bandied around so freely among those it was used to insult.

Prof Randall Kennedy: 'It's the most infamous racial slur' "People use it but have no idea about the historical baggage," says Professor Randall Kennedy (right), author of Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.

But confusion over use of the word doesn't stop there. Some argue its new found respectability is down to the difference in spelling - hip hop artists end the word with an "a" rather than "er".

And the fall-out over its use in Quentin Tarrantino's film Pulp Fiction - it got 15 mentions - highlighted how many consider the word ok when it is issued from black lips, but not those of a white person. Tarrantino wrote the script and speaks the word in a cameo role in the film.

Last year the same row was resurrected when Latino singer Jennifer Lopez spoke the "N" word in a track she recorded with black artist Ja Rule.

But the comments of rapper Pharoah Monch reveal how perhaps too much is being read into the word's new-found popularity.

For Monch, much of the word's appeal lies in its phonetic quality, and the fact it rhymes well.

"Sometimes I'll go over my words to find a better word, other times I'll just leave it there because phonetically, it fits."

[yarddog]

Agree with what you said except I still don't think the word "nigra" was used commonly if at all.

I grew up in the Florida Panhandle and lived in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Kentucky. I have never heard that word actually used outside the Northern media.

In my experience the different classes used the same language in the South. My family probably qualified as middle to upper class and we were often around all classes. Never heard that word. I guess the more educated, probably didn't use the N word as much but they would say Colored or Negro, not Nigra.

[foolscap]

What I find offensive is that stupid use of the phrase "the 'n' word". It is sort of like "This word is so vile, so cruel,so toxic we dare not utter it or our white tongues will shrivel in our mouths". I remember back a few years ago there was some big flap in the news about some famous white person using the word nigger in a public statement. I recall Peter Jennings and the other TV talking heads using the phrase "the 'n' word". I thought "Wow, do these guys have any idea how stupid they sound". I reminded me of being a kid again and referring to the "f" word. Now it is said all day everyday without anyone batting an eye. The reason I don't use the word nigger is not because I am afraid to say it. It is because it is just plain tacky when it is uttered by whites or blacks.

[mhking]

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[deedgirl]

Nomatter what the issue if A white person makes a remark against a black person it's racist, but a black person can say whatever he wants and that's just fine.I blame the dumb white voters ,yes I called them dumb, because your rights are ragidly not slowly being taken away.

[Joe Hadenuf]

What I find offensive is that stupid use of the phrase "the 'n' word". It is sort of like "This word is so vile, so cruel,so toxic we dare not utter it or our white tongues will shrivel in our mouths".

You bet, it's embarrassing.

For a white to use the word is almost beyond evil, yet blacks use it routinely.

The sheep are almost rounded up and fenced...

[norton]

Where to start.....

My grandmother was very clear, there were negros and niggers, just like there was us and white trash. I guess there were also people who said 'nigra' but I don't know what the polite term for cracker might be.

My major car building associate was perfectly comfortable calling me negro, but I was real hard pressed to use the term in return. Found it easier to remind him I'd gone to school to become a spook while he got it the easy way. (Or I just answered in spanish.)

Homey, homes (or holmes) is real tough since it does not refer to coming from the same neighborhood; does it?

Ain't a way in hell I'm calling some Irish Republican dipstick wannabe "blood". That one is out the window.

We can't even say illegal alien, so greaser and wet-back are clearly out of bounds.

"Wop", "Dago" and "Ginnie" (sp?) are terms of endearment only if you are one.

Same goes for "jew"...don't use it unless you're wearing the cap.

"Palm" or "Pom" only means something if you are Australian, "Lime" and "Brit" seem to be American things.
Jap, Heiney, Boche, gook, Fritz, and eye-tie were specific to a time and a situation I was too young to experience...but I know that "Jap" was sufficient to cost someone their life savings and acquired property, so I guess it was a powerful piece of ju-ju (can I use that word?).

I won't even get into Zip or dink because they are all too recent to evaluate and, besides, I remember Charley and Mister Charles being used at least as much.

Jury is still out on Rag Head, camel jocky, and whatever; personally, I think they're valid.


According to Monty Python, "Sprouts" is OK for Belgians, and according to anyone named Goldberg "cheese eating surrender monkey" is fit for a frenchperson. I don't have a problem with either interpretation.

Would it not be nice if none of this mattered?

I prefer "the bald guy" to any pre-established, race based, tribal, identity imposed on me by someone outside "my' tribe....unless someone comes up with a really cool term for "other than Saxon, Celtic (with possible Pict and/or Amerind, French, or even American)", THAT I moght be able to endorse.

[expatguy]

Freedom of Speech died a long time ago.

America has become a pathetic joke, a caricature of itself at times with this ridiculous hypersensitivity of intolerance while all along preaching tolerance.

This post gives be an excuse to post the evil taboo word "Nigger" which would normally be immediately moderated and deleted by overzealous moderators here fearful of offending anyone.

[King Prout]

Ah!
Kipling lives!

[Lexington Green]

Kipling lives!


Kudos to you...

[King Prout]

how could anyone, having read or heard that poem, NOT espy its derivatives?

[King Prout]

And it's "Tommy this" an' "Tommy that"
An' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'Eroes"
When the drums begin to roll.

One of the best from a master.

[King Prout]

the variant you posted... yours?
It's quite good. Is there more to it?

[Lexington Green]

the variant you posted... yours? yes... but don't tell anyone. My skin color prohibits me from using certain words.

Is there more to it? no



Not hard to see why Tommy ain't a democrat---

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

[King Prout]

Damn Straight!

[xm177e2]

"People use it but have no idea about the historical baggage," says Professor Randall Kennedy

Did he really say this? Do people not know what the N-word means, and how it was used in the past?

[freedumb2003]

"I love ugly tree note"?
"I love evil tree eightth note"?
"I heart lying tree C"?

What does that rhebus mean?????

[Lexington Green]

What does that rhebus mean?????

I Love Country Music - your mind must be too clean

[King Prout]

"I love (vile word)-tree music"
aka: I love country music

I had to ask, too, a few weeks ago.

[freedumb2003]

LOLOL!