tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404305187176881635.post284192518884619716..comments2023-10-16T03:42:56.455-04:00Comments on Wandering Thoughts: The N WordJ.R.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498164179579546593noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404305187176881635.post-17578452460784648892008-04-30T11:35:00.000-04:002008-04-30T11:35:00.000-04:00My, My, My. This is a lot to difest before I've fi...My, My, My. This is a lot to difest before I've finished my daily dose of caffeine, but I'll try. I need to preface my remarks by saying that I try to rise above my raisin' most of the time. <BR/><BR/>And my raising occurred in a small town in Central TX in the Early 60's. The use of the word nigger in my home was considered vulgar, though not a vulgarity, as a curse word. The prefered word was colored or if you felt you HAD to use an "N" word, then nigra was used. <BR/>My attitudes, as most children's, were shaped by the adults and children around me up to a certain age. When I was 9, I moved away from that small town to a larger, more urban and urbane area. <BR/><BR/>This move occurred 3 months before the Watts riots of 1965. When the colored people in our area didn't come to attack us and burn down our house, I began to question the "truths" I had been taught all my life about these exotic and mysterious "Others."<BR/><BR/>Not attending lily-white schools help reform my attitudes, too. I have left behind the bigotry of my raising. BUT, having said all that...<BR/><BR/>I taught my children that nigger was a "bad" = hateful word for black people. So imagine my surprise when I was told by them that it had become a KEWL word for black peeps to call each other.<BR/>And that there was even a term: Whigger, for white 'burb kids who were imitating the dress and talk of the black gansta rappers! ZOMG! <BR/><BR/>Given that these gangstas embody everything I detest: disrespect for law and order; misogyny; drug use; casual sex...I feel free to use the word nigger when describing someone who adopts or imitates this lifestyle in whole or part. They have given me this permission by using the word over and over and over themselves. <BR/><BR/>The constant use of a word robs it of its shock value. And if one group can use a word, they cannot legitimately bar its use by another group. IMO. FWIW.HollyBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17644166795449256850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404305187176881635.post-57204368801356681762008-04-29T20:57:00.000-04:002008-04-29T20:57:00.000-04:00Honky that I am, I probably shouldn't say anything...Honky that I am, I probably shouldn't say anything, but I can't help myself, so here goes.<BR/><BR/>Yes the word still has much emotional weight, especially with the original syllables... I would never speak that word myself, though I could see myself using the variation for comedic effect "... please".<BR/><BR/>I may be wrong, but my experience is that the variation is ok among people with colour to eachother, and sometimes even their white friends, while the original pronounciation is almost uniformly derogatory.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I live in a country where it's not used at all, so I'm probably the last person to ask. We have our own versions(though I do not use those either).Mikaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04894602732468692375noreply@blogger.com