# And so the "code words" begin.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 4, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066 "2008-09-04T22:11:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/141 "2008-09-07T21:49:26Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> Nig? The word is Nigger. Nigger! niggerniggerniggerniggernigger! Ha! It’s fun!
Well, no. “Nig” was short for “nigga.” Do you have any hope of ever belonging to a multi-racial/ethnic/cultural peer group? If so, do you plan on fractioning your peer group into those who are really in your peer group and those who are not and pretending you’re actually in a peer group? Every peer group I’ve ever been in was able to use the exact same language and not divided into Peer group, not peer group but pretending to be peer group.
We call that high school clique game playing.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/142 "2008-09-07T21:50:16Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> I freely admit that I feel a certain ‘tension’ when white folks say it.
>
> The ‘niggerniggernigger’ is in homage to a comedian that I love alot. Sorry. No pent up rage. White people are going to have to accept that uttering that word doesn’t shred black folks to shreds inside the way it used to. _Accept it._
Genuinely curious, then: why do _you_ think that saying that word repeatedly is so funny, as opposed to saying “sandwich”?
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### Author:  [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/143 "2008-09-07T21:51:51Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Well, no. “Nig” was short for “nigga.” Do you have any hope of ever belonging to a multi-racial/ethnic/cultural peer group? If so, do you plan on fractioning your peer group into those who are really in your peer group and those who are not and pretending you’re actually in a peer group? Every peer group I’ve ever been in was able to use the exact same language and not divided into Peer group, not peer group but pretending to be peer group.
>
> We call that high school clique game playing.
What about the early-90s skate-rock band “Skatenigs”? I don’t remember them having any black members.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/144 "2008-09-07T21:53:58Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> Genuinely curious, then: why do _you_ think that saying that word repeatedly is so funny, as opposed to saying “sandwich”?
It is funny because white folks get mad when we say it. Maybe you sort of have to hear the actual act, when Paul Mooney does it, to really get the joke.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/145 "2008-09-07T21:55:46Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> It is funny because white folks get mad when we say it.
Ah. So it is aggression, then.
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/146 "2008-09-07T22:00:10Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> It is funny because white folks get mad when we say it. Maybe you sort of have to hear the actual act, when Paul Mooney does it, to really get the joke.
Not mad, sad. And you’re automatically in my “do not associate with” group.
Oh well, since you thought it be funny to make me (as a white folk) mad, you probably don’t care anyway. So no harm done to you, I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/147 "2008-09-07T22:04:42Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#):
>
> Not mad, sad. And you’re automatically in my “do not associate with” group.
>
> Oh well, since you thought it be funny to make me (as a white folk) mad, you probably don’t care anyway. So no harm done to you, I suppose.
Actually, yeah. Harm done to me. I hate that I come across as the kind of person you don’t want to associate with. I didn’t mean to laugh at all white people. Only the ones that wanted to hurt us with a word that doesn’t hold the same power anymore.
It bothers me that you think less of me; Koxinga, too. I do tend to get overly hype sometimes, about race issues. I’m gonna work on it, though.
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/148 "2008-09-07T22:17:39Z")
**RACIST GOPer:** “Well, you’re pretty sure of yourself, ain’t ya, Barack? _Barack_. That’s a funny name for a nigger boy that comes from Chicago. What do they call ya up there??”
**BARACK OBAMA:** “They call me MISTER President!”
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### Author:  [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/149 "2008-09-07T22:36:44Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> **BARACK OBAMA:** “They call me MISTER President!”
PLEASE, oh, Universe, let it come to pass! 😉
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/150 "2008-09-07T22:42:43Z")
> [@Li\_l\_Pluck](#):
>
> **OtakuLoki** ,
>
> HUH?! 😕 Where in any of my posts did I assume, imply, or even outright state that you wanted to use the word “nigger”? That’s highly unlikely, sir, considering that you very clearly wrote–and I saw the first time around–“I have no desire to use the word”. Now, I know that there are people on the SDMB who sometimes have difficulty reading for comprehension, but I try really hard (and, I think, mostly successfully) to not be one of them.
>
> I will, however, stand corrected if you can show me a post in this discussion, where I’ve addressed you or anything you’ve said, where I failed in that regard.
Well, back in post #120 you said:
> [@](#):
>
> I mean, really, is it that difficult to accept that one group of people can call themsevles what they want, and **you can’t**?
(emphasis added)
I interpreted that to mean you thought I wanted to go around calling people nigger and couldn’t. You say you didn’t mean it that way, and I accept that - but on first read through - it sure felt like I was being accused of wanting to use the word.
> [@](#):
>
> And how was my first response to you hostile? Granted, I did say, “I mean, really, is it that difficult blah-blah-blah,” and perhaps it is that which you interpreted as hostility. If that is that case, I assure you that my choice of words was meant less to convey hostility than beffudlement.
I guess I had my prickly suit on. I apologize for that.
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/151 "2008-09-07T22:46:11Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#):
>
> Not mad, sad. And you’re automatically in my “do not associate with” group.
>
> Oh well, since you thought it be funny to make me (as a white folk) mad, you probably don’t care anyway. So no harm done to you, I suppose.
Okay, this is some bullshit, especially after this:
> [@DudleyGarrett](#):
>
> Are there any negative adjectives that can be applied to a black man by a white man that CAN’T be construed as racist?
As a rule, any insult that you’d also consider applying to a \*white \*man is fine, as insults go.
I have no patience for this “What, you people got everything you wanted, and now _I’m_ oppressed because I can’t use the N word” shit.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/152 "2008-09-07T22:52:33Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> It bothers me that you think less of me; Koxinga, too. I do tend to get overly hype sometimes, about race issues. I’m gonna work on it, though.
Hi Nzinga, no no no no no, I don’t at all think less of you! I guess I’m showing that asinine analytical side of my nature that makes me look like I’m talking down to people when I don’t mean that at all.
I value hearing your perspective very much, because I know my own viewpoint is very limited and probably naive. And I hope I don’t ever catch myself disparaging or looking down on people’s right to use words the way they want to. But if I can understand _why_ usage and culture has developed the way it has, maybe it can help me address some of my own blind spots about issues like race.
Again, sorry if I came across that way! 🙂
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/153 "2008-09-07T22:53:44Z")
I don’t really suppose it’s necessary to mention it but my above post was paraphrased dialog from [_In the Heat of the Night_](http://www.wavsource.com/movies/in_heat_of_night.htm). The link is to a .wav file site but it has the dialog in question in text. Strangely, I couldn’t find the entire quote on IMDB–only the _"They call me MISTER Tibbs!_" part–otherwise I would have linked to them.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/154 "2008-09-07T22:58:41Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> … Maybe you sort of have to hear the actual act, when Paul Mooney does it, to really get the joke.
Here ya go, [Nigger Nigger - Paul Mooney](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGMhuVLjTA), (but I don’t think it’s gonna help :(, some folks just don’t get it and some simply don’t want to :mad:).
CMC +fnord!
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/155 "2008-09-07T23:02:58Z")
> [@DianaG](#):
>
> As a rule, any insult that you’d also consider applying to a \*white \*man is fine, as insults go.
Isn’t this thread about the term “uppity” and how it _can’t_ be used on a black the way it can against every non-black?
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/156 "2008-09-07T23:03:35Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> My mileage varies like hell. I will never understand people telling me I can’t use nigga.
Can you understand why people wouldn’t be comfortable with it?
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/157 "2008-09-07T23:07:25Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Isn’t this thread about the term “uppity” and how it _can’t_ be used on a black the way it can against every non-black?
Find me an example of “uppity” being used to describe a white man. I can wait.
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/158 "2008-09-07T23:19:16Z")
> [@DianaG](#):
>
> Find me an example of “uppity” being used to describe a white man. I can wait.
[John Kerry: Uppity Rich Guy with a Superiority Complex](http://www.opinioneditorials.com/contributors/glandrith_20040730.html)
Ow, ow, that took 30 seconds.
You got nothing.
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/159 "2008-09-07T23:44:18Z")
Okay, you got that one. I personally have never encountered (until now) that word used to describe a white man.
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### Author:  [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-the-code-words-begin/462066/160 "2008-09-07T23:58:19Z")
> [@DianaG](#):
>
> Okay, you got that one. I personally have never encountered (until now) that word used to describe a white man.
And you’re not likely to encounter it often.
Trust me, the Southerners on this board know, as we live and breathe, what “uppity” \*is most likely meant to imply \*when it’s applied to black people. Especially by white, Southern congressmen.
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