Poll Question: How do you feel about the modern day usage of the n-word?

[armyowalgreens]

This can apply to all variations of the word.


I personally think it is all about context. I know people who use it and people who don't. But I am perfectly open to explanations why it should not be used under any circumstance.

Obviously, I am not talking about it being used as a slur to invoke harm. I'm talking about the more "socially accepted" forms and uses.




Edited: Sorry, my poll is evolving.

Also, anyone is allowed to explain there positions. But I specifically would like explanations if it states so.

[RC]

1. Negotiable: Doing things my way?

It's a Republican term.

[annabanana]

2. The ONLY time

a white person can use it without exposing racism in their own mindsets is when they're quoting someone else as a negative example, or in a discussion of the word itself.

The word is ugly and charged. Still.

[The Straight Story]

4. How you can tell online though a person's race?

Or on the radio (ala certain songs which use it)?

[annabanana]

20. hmm I guess online you'd have to PRETEND to be a black person

to use it. Am I a white boomer long island housewife or not? hmmm

[The Straight Story]

30. You could be sgt crowley

:rofl:

[armyowalgreens]

3. Shit. Sorry guys. I totally screwed up the first two votes. I'll counter that with my one vote.

[armyowalgreens]

5. Okay, nevermind. I fixed it.

[prostomulgus]

6. ONLY Blacks can use this term

It is part of the black culture.

A member of any other race CANNOT use it in any context without being racist.

[armyowalgreens]

7. Are black people allowed to call people of other races the n-word or it's variants?

Because I'm white, and I have been called a nigga before.

[The Straight Story]

8. as I asked above: How you can you tell the race on the net

So if I see someone using the word and don't know their race, how would I know if it was ok for them to use it?

[chrisa]

31. Agreed.

[elocs]

9. To tell the truth, I have not actually heard the word used in years other than in rap songs.

Or occasionally read it online, and references to it here at DU.

[Tim01]

26. I heard it recently, made me nervous.

I was in a big city(unusual for me), and I was in a burger king just before they closed on a saturday night. The thug looking youngster with his friends with their matching bandanas came in the door, and he saw another person sitting alone on the other side of the dining area. He made a big show of saying the word loudly when addressing the other guy. I would give a quote but somebody here would surely say I was a racist making it all up.
I think the big show was mostly for my benefit and that of his friends. The guy he was addressing didn't seem terrible comfortable with the whole thing, but they did seem to know each other.

[texasleo]

10. Black people have done a marvelous job of keeping the word alive.

[liberal N proud]

11. The word is an actual color name (not associated with race)

I see the word describing a specific color in paints and other media where color must be described.

But in any other sense, the word is derogatory when used by someone other than a black person to describe a person or people.

[armyowalgreens]

12. What about a black person using it when talking to a white person?

I have been called a nigga before and I'm white.

[liberal N proud]

13. That would probably be an insult

[armyowalgreens]

14. It was an insult one time. One other time it was actually used as a term of endearment

I know that's unusual, but it happens.

[annabanana]

21. (or a mark of easy familiarity in a close friendship) . . .n/t

[aikoaiko]

15. Fo shizzle, my nizzle.

;)

[Vinca]

16. The whole thing totally puzzles me.

It's probably the last word on the planet I'd ever use, then I turn on HBO and there it is coming out of Chris Rock's mouth. I might be a fat person, but I would never go up to another fat person and say, "Yo, fattie."

[MADem]

17. OK, now THAT was funny. That has potential as a comedy sketch.

And not just "Fattie," either....you could have an old guy go up to another old guy and say "Howzit hanging, my geezer?" or somebody with a prominent overbite greeting another with "Whassup, bucky?"

The possibilities are endless....and illustrative of a paradox!

[pipi_k]

25. Howzit hangin my geezer!!! bwahahahaha

Mr Pip and his older brother refer to each other as "Geezers" all the time...


:7

[daedalus_dude]

18. I don't think its right.

[polmaven]

19. I find that to be

one of the two most offensive words in the English language, the other being a 4 letter word beginning with c and ending in t.

[madmom]

22. I had a friend in high school who was mixed race, I am Italian. His pet name for me was

wop(an ethnic slur also) mine for him was nigger. We both used them affectionately and NO BODY else used them toward us in the same manner.We both knew they were used with affection and were ok with it. But this was way back in the 70's, so:shrug:

[pipi_k]

23. I don't like the word, but voted

that it depends on the race of the person.

Like if two or more black persons are talking and they want to use that term to each other, what the hell. I don't think they're doing themselves a big favor, but who the hell am I to tell them to stop doing it?

Being of a certain ancestry myself, if I were talking with a relative and we referred to ourselves or each other with some uncomplimentary epithet and someone of a different ancestry gave us hell for doing it, I personally would tell that person to fuck off and mind his/her own goddamned business.

If black people aren't hurt by using the "N" word, and they're adults, then I don't think it's anyone else's business when or how they use the word.

[slackmaster]

24. Depends on context - Bleeping it out of the movie Blazing Saddles is just plain wrong

About 1/4 of the jokes involve the N word, and make no sense when it is blanked out.

[csziggy]

27. Other - I don't think it should be used in current everyday conversation

But it should not be blanket banned in older, historical use, such as in Mark Twain books and older movies, etc. And yes, there are those that have tried to get "Huckleberry Finn" banned for the use of the n-word.

Here is an example from "The President's Analyst" (1967) that shows why I don't think there should be a blanket ban (Don Masters was played by Godfrey Cambridge):

Don Masters, CEA Agent: I was five. And I knew there were colored people and white people. But then Mama took me to school, and it was almost all white kids. And nothing much happened on the first day. But on the second day, I was walking to school alone - my big brother, he was already in the third grade, and when you got a kid brother in kindergarten it can be kind of an embarrassment. So he ran on ahead to be with his buddies. Anyhow, there was a group of white kids on the street up ahead, and as I came up they started laughing and running and yelling, "Run! Run! Here comes the nigger! Run, run!"

Don Masters, CEA Agent: Here comes the nigger. And I looked around, and I didn't see any niggers. But if they wanted to play, so did I. So I started laughing and running and yelling, "Run, run! Here comes the nigger!"

Don Masters, CEA Agent: Run, run. Here comes the nigger. Suddenly there was my big brother. And I ran up to him, and I started yelling, "Run, run, here comes the nigger!" And he hit me. Then he did something worse - he told me what a nigger was.

[Iggo]

28. Context is everything.

I don't use it ever.

But I hear it used often, and there's a difference between its being used as a negative racial epithet or as a...I hesitate to say "term of endearment" so let's call it a "salutation" instead.

I hear it both ways and I can tell the difference. And so sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it doesn't.

EDIT: So basically, choice numbers 1 and 3 apply to what I said above.

[datasuspect]

29. go to 660 W. Division in Chicago

climb up the stairs (the elevators are broken) and ask some of the residents about your poll.

[bamacrat]

32. Most of the black friends Ive had dont really care as long as it doesnt end in "er"

Nigga is ok, as in my nigga. Ive found that black guys care way less as long as its joking fun and (the most important part) they know you and are cool with you. I would never say it around a black person unless they are my close friend and it has been established as ok. Even then it is only used with humor or when the situation would warrant it. Black women Ive found do not like it regardless.