The Etymology Psychic Predicts

[harp]

There's an all-day tutorial on the Circulatory system tomorrow, so I won't be able to make the ontdcreepy FFA. This saddens me.

Today seems like a good day to lose friends and alienate people.
You might not like this entry. Click back as soon as you can, for I promise you that it's not going to get any better as it goes along.



My aunt married a black man, and so I have cousins who are half black. I visit with one of them, Marlene, very often, and she clues me in on what's going on in the real world. During out last discussion,

Harp: I think white people get more offended at the N word than black people do.
M: For real! [laughs]
Harp: I told one of my friends about how Caro used to use the word "Sand nigger" and she got really uncomfortable. They get really squirmy...
M: I know! I say it and they're like [affecting a white valley girl voice] Ummmm, I don't appreciate you using that worrrrrd. [Laughs] Nigga, I don't appreciate you not usin' that word!

The effect that word has is really amazing. It's part accusation ("if you don't react to this in a certain way, you're a skinhead nazi racist pro-slavery puppy kicker!"), part guilt trigger, part Awkward Bomb, part rage catalyst (for white people). Understandable. But what next?

Words like "gay" and "faggot" have changed meanings over the years. Perhaps the word "nigger" is undergoing a similar change. Consider the following: white people react with annoyance and rage to it, some people have said "this is our word; they can't use it, it's been partially de-fanged in several areas of the internet, and it's practically a pronoun in some subcultures.

I think that in the far distant future, like 1,000 years from now, that word is going to evolve to become a slur against white people.

I might just get the ball rolling on this one. Just start acting like it's a slur against white people.
"Hey, buddy! The proper term is Caucasian. >C"

"That Rick Santourum guy with his homophobia and racism, is the quintessential nigger. Look at him go! Pandering to the nigger crowds in nigger central America with their pasty white nigger faces and their gaggle of inbred, five-toothed, gun toting, bible thumping, white bread nigger ilk. He feeds right into their ignorant nigger views, which is why they like him. I doubt any of those niggers have so much as a single African American person in their towns."

I wouldn't use the word "nigger", but it would be ok if I did because most of my friends are nig- errrrr, I mean white persons.

Comments

[theonlymeyouget.livejournal.com]

See, there's "nigger", "nigga", and "negro".

They all mean something different, and some people are OK with people of any race saying them, some are OK with only people of a certain race saying them, and some are not OK with anyone saying them.

Among the black people I know, "nigger" used as "What a fucking nigger" is a slur meaning uneducated ghetto trash. "Nigga" and "nigger" can mean a friend or someone in the person's social circle. I have a friend who's, like, the ONLY white guy among his best friends, who are all African Amercian, and they all throw both terms around freely. "Go over there and get a cigarette from my nigga", or "Hey nigger c'mere and look at this!"

"Negro" is generally derogatory although some Black people use it amongst themselves.

Personally, I find Negro the least offensive. But, being half a gene away from an albino, I don't get any say.

Same thing with Hispanics. Some well tell you Chicano is an insult, others will tell you it simply refers to a specific subset of Mexican people.

I worked with a bunch of Mexican guys at a job I had, and let them call me gringo. I never gave a shit.

Also, whenever someone bring up the n-word debate, I always think of this:

[urbanmagician.livejournal.com]

Hm. I always felt it's not the word choice that is the offensive element, but the intention to offend. You know, when someone says "you idiot!" it's not the word "idiot" that is offensive (I know with absolute certainty I'm no idiot :P) but the fact that someone apparently hates me and wants to cause me pain by saying it. Same thing with racial stuff. It's not the "Jew!" (Thanks, Captain Obvious, I am one.) but the fact that someone tries to show me I'm different and that I should be ashamed of that. And the same way, the most innocent words can be used in a way that makes them extremely offensive. Gonna stop using the whole vocabulary, because of the potential risk to, say, use "man" in a way that makes it sound totally like "privileged dirtbag, can't wait till you're extinct"? (I swear I had it spoken to me in just this way once.)

So the key is simply identifying the intention that the speaker has in mind. That's usually very easy in person, (Most people don't just go around trolling with a poker-face 24/7,) less so on the internet. But who gives a shit over the internet? And unless someone is very... emphatically closed? I don't see what the problem is.

[ozen.livejournal.com]

I actually really like using "nigga" or "nigger" in the friendly way. In my head (sealed off from history and sociology) it's mostly a light, comedic word.

I just don't use it unless I'm 100% positive that the people I'm around won't feel hurt or pissed (if black) or angrily self-righteous (if white).

Which means, functionally, I almost never use it.

Though I'd like to. It rolls off the tongue and has this neato bounce to it and matches up so, so well with "fag" and "faggot". I mean, just say "Niggafaggot" five times fast and tell me that those syllables aren't fun to say. It's like doing somersaults with your mouth... somersaults while naked (offensive to some, funny to others, oddly arousing to a few).

I can only wish it would become a whitey slur. Then I'd get to use it anywhere except a job interview! And my friends would be all like, "Hey niggafag, where you going?" and I'd be like, "I'm gettin' a sandwich, nigga!"

But then it would be yet another example of white people appropriating the cool parts of some oppressed nonwhite demographic/culture.

Eh. In the meantime I've still got faggot, fairy, twink, tranny, shemale, cocksucker, and all that fun stuff.

[x-creepy-doll-x.livejournal.com]

White folks are accustomed to having their asses kicked for any use of that word... so yeah, we're uncomfortable around it. We avoid it like the plague.

TL:DR

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

Yankee. As in, Damnyankee. Properly usable only to refer to New Englanders, has spread to apply to, generally, someone whose parents were unlikely to have met at a family reunion. (cough)
Honky. Racial epithet, ought properly only to be applied to persons of Hungarian descent. Or possibly Bohemians, as well.
Irish. Full Stop.
Now me, my ancestors were Krauts, Herring Chompers, and Damnswedes. As well as full-blooded Yankees. Oh, say; We rather WON the War of Northern Aggression, didn't we? No, you can't have your Damn' Johnny Reb battle flag back, you sons-of-traitors! (cough)
Not that I have opinions on the subject.

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

sry 4 rantipoling

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

>C You always say that, and I always tell you the same thing- there is no tl;dr on my journal and I make my entries specifically to collect the thoughts of other people.

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

(Huddles)
But it's how I AMMMMM!

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

*Distracted* What the... is Livejournal delivering your comment notifications in a totally bizarr-o freakshow way? I just got a message that says "Reply to your comment in "The Etymology Psychic Predicts" Um, duh LJ, just put it in my thread. WTF?

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

Um.
No, they're kinda popping up in the "messages" booth like usual.
Well, there's the whole mangly title line thing, but...

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

For feck's sake, Livejournal... as soon as ONTDCreepy moves to Dreamwidth, we all need to think about hardcore migration. Too bad DeadJournal is invite only. ONTDCreepy would be great there.

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

Le Sigh...