Usage of the "N" Word

Hun, the word hasn't been around for 10,000 years. I believe it originated in the 1800's or so? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

As far as this word goes, I've mostly seen it used in things such as rap songs and between African-Americans to each other. Frankly, it's a term that was originally used in a derogatory way against them, and it's their choice to use it in the way they do now. People can normally judge the difference between the usage; whether it's being used to reflect kinship or used pejoratively. It's used in two different ways.

Another word similar to this one is the word "gay". This one I find a bit worse since so many people say "that's gay" to imply that something is stupid or lame, and the word, although it originally meant something along the lines of happy, grew to mean homosexual before it meant stupid, which probably means the reason is got the meaning it has today has something to do with the fact that it also means homosexual. Discrimination against gays has been around as long or longer than discrimination against blacks, and yet people who have a problem with using "the n word" often have no problem using the term "gay" in the ways I've described. A word with a similar concept as "******" is the word "***", which is more or less the equivalent of the term regarding gay people. However, although frowned upon by many, the usage of this word has still come to be slightly more acceptable to be used as an insult than using "******". This is most likely because in modern times there are more people that still discriminate against gays than blacks. I find both these terms to be offensive when used like that.

 

I hate the word, I hate the meaning.
But this is from somebody who comes from a town where only a few Fresh-Air
people lived until a jail was built.

The term was actually used lightly, not in the demeaning way it is used in salvery and rap songs.
A popular child chant in my hometown in the '40's was:

"Eeni Meenie, mine-y mo,
Catch a N;;;;; by the toe..." and so far.

It's a great small town where the term wasn't heard as it is today until the late '90's.
My unlce had a dog by that name, which regretabbly but also thankfully, died before
the jail was built.

The moment the jail was built, the town changed a bit.
Race didn't matter back where I came from, who cared.
In fact, it's still a little civil,
Black's are treated fairly,
and even more, which is rarely found,
White's are treated the same way they treat black people, kindly.

The reason I say even more rarely is a white person treated as fairly as they kindly treat their darker brothers:
Reverend Wright, and all the other people, some even white, who think the balance of man should be ruptured and that blacks be on top.
Quite different from "I have a dream, that White, Negro, and every other color, children, will stand on a hill and hold hands in brotherhood." *I loosely remember the line of that marvelous speech, but I know the basic subject of that verse, well.*

Now then, you've heard me talk about how I hate the term, how I didn't even know the term until I was moved to Florida, and the race uncertainty many face today. What race and ethic do you think I am?
SO others won't have to respond to this:
White, and if anyone of different tone should be kind to me, I treat them the same.
If they treat me as if I were trash who's ancestors made slaves of their ancestors, that's when I speak to them as if I were speaking to one of my own race who had offended me. *Tidbit: my family never owned a slave of any race. Paid servant, perhaps, my Italian ancestor was quite wealthy until his immmagration*

So, Barrack Obama, I worry, will be the same as Lincoln and Kennedy...maybe even by someone just as same skinned as he...*Not a Barrack supporter, just concerned with the well-being of another human being.

I've stated my opion, say what you wish, but I kindly ask you all, no dereps.

 

Ok this statement right here completely invalidates what you said. That is a racist rhyme and you are saying you are using it lightly. What does that mean, that right there is blind racism at it finest. Secondly "fresh-air" people its not that hard to say black. These first three parts are just, amazingly ignorant from my perspective, I may not be getting what you are trying to say but if I am, then it is very contradictive.

And here is something some of you may find I don't want to use the word enlightening but its the first one coming to my mind. Originally a police officer was called a copper as an insult and it then involved into being cop which continued its insulting meaning. At which point police officers finally said, 'whatever, we are proud of it' and from which point on they stopped seeing it as an insult and looking higher at being called a cop. When black people use it in music its the same basic idea from the way I see, its not pissing them off, they are embracing it.

The differences from those two orgins are not that much different in retrospect.

 

The word itself is just wrong... At first it was not made to mean anything in any bad way... but (like Repliku said) it evolved into a horrible word that people use daily... and think that using it playfully or using it in anyway makes it right... and they're wrong... the word itself should be banned from the world...

And this is coming from someone who is white, just think how the African Americans feel about this.

I get sick to my stomach just hearing the word...

Micheal Richards did a skit a little while back that he apologized on, but cuased huge contraversy... and his skit had the "N" word all over it! when are people going to get that some things are better left un-said.

 

I'm just going to state on two key things, so to be fair: (They are undelined and, if you'll pardon the expression, color coded.)

That old ryhme does not, in fact, invalidate my entire point.
I was talking with my, as Barrack Obama would put it, "Typical white people" grandparents in the car one day on this particular subject.

That's where I learned the old ryme.
I never uttered it, I never used it, but yet, I heard it.

There are times when my upper-state relatives,
one Uncle who came into the family by marriage
many of us can't stand anyway,
Use the word demeaningly, and I hate it.
The very word being used in the household.
I live downstate, so you can imagine my worry and my grnadparent's worry when they exclaim the phrase,
even though we live in a moderately "White neighborhood".
We try shutting those relatives up, we may use force with that one dispised uncle,
by saying: "Don' choo know you is in the south?"
I usually say that in my "New Orleans" voice. :D
I couldn't give an example of how I do that now because I have s sore throat...seriously I can't even sing and I was going to tell Chevilar and the others in the "Your singing talent" thread I won't be posting for a while.

Anyway, I listen to old music, even though I'm a teenager,
A few which include:
Sammy Davis Jr.
B.B King (Though very rarely I must admit)
Louis Armstrong (I can do a super cheap imiation of his signature voice, but I can't do it for very long. >.>
Nat King Cole is one of my Grandfather's favorites! :D

And don't think my grandparents are racist either,
then you're insulting me.

My grandfather spoke with an Old African(Though he sounded maybe a little more Jamacan(SP?)-American man in a waiting room just today,
and they spoke about war and about back home as if they knew each other for years!

So that old nursery ryhme is not a negation to my point after all.


Hey, that's right...I had another point to give(D'OH*FacePalm*):
I had to scroll up just to remember what it was XD:

"Fresh-Air" people, is a term for any person who formerly lived in a very hazardous area.
In this case, Old NY.NY.
I couldn't just say "Black people" because there are and were the following living in those horrid areas:
White, Hispanic, Black, Asian, European and every kind of immigrant or race you can think of.

These were people who live in fear of their familys and themselves,
those who have a hard time escaping the literal imprisonment of being shot otherwise.
Freedom Writers gives a good point on this.

The people who did escape even promised their parents that they would
help their siblings, if they had any, when they came of a good age.

So, with thus the diversity of these comendable people,
I couldn't just say "Black people."
Because "Black People" is also a demeaning slang if used improperly.

 

Mmk, coming from a black person (though, I'm not black. I'm light brown =3...)

I don't listen to rap or anything, so I don't care. If they use that word in their lyrics, that's their decision. People use it all of the time at my school, because that's how they were raised. I don't like the word, personally, but I've become a bit immune to it when black people say it.
I haven’t met a lot of white people who use that word in a friendly way.
If a white person comes up to me and asks "What's up my *****?" I don’t care. It's whatever. I'll probably laugh and reply 'what's up my dude?'. If they bump into me and say "Watch where you're going, ******." Then it's disrespectful. Then it's personal. Then it's wrong.
The majority of black people I know DON’T like it when white people use the term '*****' as a greeting, because it's a black thing. It's something African-American's took from slavery and attempted to turn around and make a good thing, or to cushion the effect of the word. When another race uses it, it sparks that defense reaction that we've built up in us because of it's usual negative reference to black people. But then again, the people I know now are in this really tight community and protect each other.
=/
I wish the word never existed though. I hate racism..

 

I hate that word so much guys in my class joke around with it then say something similar [ the spanish word for black]I have been taught not to say that word by my parents because it is so base it is as bad as the person saying it..

when you say a word like that you are basically a deusche...

 

Well, the word is only offensive if someone is uptight and doesn't want to forget the past and move on, or if it's meant to be offensive. When meant to be offensive it's usualy pronounced as "******" not "*****". ***** is used like "dude" though not thrown around as freely as dude. You can call any old person a dude. ***** is usualy used by blacks and thier closest white friends as showing that they are close friends that trust eachother. If one of my good friends, white or black called me a ***** or used the word at all I wouldn't give a ****. If some idiot I didn't know called me that I'd say "Who the **** are you, *****?" Now days ***** is sometimes used like dude to describe any old black guy or sometimes even white people. Some say our use of the word is ignorance because of the way it used to be used. Well the way I see it, it's kind of like taking the offensive word and saying, "Yeah I'm a ***** and I'm proud of it" and it's helps us to kind of forgive, but not forget the past. As ice cube said in a song once, Why should you be able to tell us not to say ***** when we learned it from you? On the news and in the media you people make it seem as if we are the root of the problem but you brought the word to us, and we took it and changed it into something completely different and much better. Sure we may fuel the fire that keeps the word going, but so do countless other people who emulate our fashion and the entire ghetto life style. Some people hate that we use it in our music, but we use so we can have something unique and it does come in handy while freestyling. In conclusion, I must say I use the word on a regular basis, rather it be while rapping, joking, or just having idle conversation.

So you are saying that saying the word makes you a bad person and a "deusche"? DO you realize how ignorant that is? You are saying that just about every person, regardless of race, who has said the word is basicaly a worthless ****** cleaning mechanism? So I'm a bad person now? Lil' Wayne is a bad person? T.I. is a bad person? Kanye West? The countless other people who have said the word? Please, don't speak unless you have something intelligent to say.

***** is not demeaning in rap songs. It's used almost like dude.

You can't ban a world from the world. This is the US. We have freedom of speech. As Voltaire said "I may not agree with what you say but I will protect your right to say it"
Just because you don't agree with my usage of the word ***** doesn't mean I can't say it, just as I may not agree with your usage of the word "gay" but you can still say it.
And another thing, if you really do think about how the majority of african americans feel about the word, quite frankly most of them don't give a ****.

 

I think that its a terrible word. no doubt about it. it was used in a cruel way and even if it may "lose its true meaning" it will always stand for it. There will always be a memory of it. In the late 50's-60's and even 60+ people fought their hardest to abolish things like this and notions like this. usage of the "N" word makes me cringe because it feels like each time the word is said, we go back 300 years to the times of when slavery was "okay."

HOWEVER: I'm not going to act like some holy righteous person. hypocritical as it may be, I believe that there are two types of N words.
"*****"
and
the version in which "a" is replaced by an "er"


I dont mind when people say *****. its used in music, and many other forms of media. I dont think its as racist as the "er" version and whenever it is used, its not used for racial discrimination intent. None of my friends say it, and I do not say it, unless jokingly or mockingly, but, I think its "okay." "okay" as in, its about as vulgar as saying f*** or b****.

then theres "er." that word pisses me the **** off. I'm pretty sure people know why. (Im black, btw.)

 

The 'N' word is starting to lose it's offensiveness. However, people still need to be wise when they say it..