The subject says it all, pretty much. I’m not talking about just the United States, either. Around the world, in any culture, is there any racial slur more offensive/taboo than “nigger?” I have to believe that some exist, but I’m having a hard time thinking of 'em.
(Sub-question for the Brits: Is “packy” (sp?) really as offensive as exported British movies and television make it out to be? Must one be Pakistani to be called a packy, or does it cover everyone who has a vaguely Indian-y look?)
I’ll answer the Brit bit. Paki is the usual spelling and it is very offensive in the UK. Used by racists to describe anyone who is, or looks Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi etc.
Classic case of cultural confusion was when a Canadian UN officer interviewed on British radio during the Somalia crisis innocently referred to the Pakistani peacekeeping contingent as ‘the Pakis’. You could just feel the BBC interviewer cringing and hoping he wouldn’t say it again.
In the US, when a white man says nigger, he knows it’s rude. He’s saying, “He’s black, and I don’t like blacks.” “Black” is usually neutral. “Spade” is rare, and less rude than nigger. “House nigger” and “Uncle Tom” (the feminine is Aunt Tabby) carry some baggage of subservience. Some folks, for example, call Sec. of State Colin Powell “Bush’s house nigger,” and it’s much ruder than just “nigger.”
I might be alone but I kind of consider house nigger less offensive than nigger. If you call Powell “Bush’s house nigger” you’re saying that he should be his own man and stop serving under a white “master”. While offensive it seems that house nigger is less about race, but more about mentalities and how people act.
I’ve never heard a white person seriously use “house nigger”, and I don’t think most white people I know even really understand the meaning between house and field nigger. I’ve only ever heard blacks use this to describe other blacks.
Nigger used by itself is just hateful and racist, which I think is more offensive.
Sure - why not. Here is one of my favorite quotes -
“Love thy neighbor if he’s not a seventh-day adventist or a nigger or a greaser or a ginzo or a hunkie or a bohunk or a frog or a spik or a limey or a heinie or a mick or a chink or a jap or a mockie or a slicked up grease-ball from the Argentine…”
Ira Wolfert, 1943, *Underworld.
It depends on where you are standing as to which is more offensive.
I think pretty much every other racial slur is more offensive. Why? Because I hear ‘nigger’ EVERY DAY…no exaggeration…The only time I ever hear wop, guinea, wetback, kike, slant and the like are when they are intended to be offensive…and they make me wince every time.
Regarding the Ira Wolfert quote, nope. I’m a limey and I don’t find that at all offensive.
I’m with summerjack. It’s the racial element that’s important. So I can’t see the problem with Jap, although that might have acquired a negative racial characteristic from US WW2 usage.
It’s a shame about Paki not being usable for Pakistani (as Brit is usable for British citizen), but there is too much baggage associated with it.
One of the more interesting ones that I bumped into was that I was told not to call Romanians “Roms” because that’s a name used for the Romany.
i would say that “big fucking nigger” is worse.
In my ears, calling a Jew a “lampshade” is more blood-curdling, because of the horrific making-lampshades-from-Jewish-folks’-skin holocaust reference.
Needless to say, this all very subjective.
What about “Red Sea Pedestrian”? I think the phrase is hilarious but have often wondered if anyone else would consider it offensive.
Cy
I think “Kike” carries the same, if not worse, connotation. With “nigger” members of the group in question will sometimes use it among themselves. The same goes with “Wop” and “Bohunk”. But you will never hear a Jew (OK, OK, Lenny Bruce did it in a routine once) use that word.
Sometimes? How about constantly.
Personally I don’t like the word, but the black community has made it an everyday part of their vocabulary which IMHO reduces it’s impact even when used by a someone of a different race.
So does that mean that if someone calls me a nigger I shouldn’t be offended, because other people in the black community use it all the time?
I had no clue paki was offensive until recently.
However I just cringe when I hear wetback, brown eyed lopez, or mexiroach. Around where I live there are alot of migrant workers, and even though alot of people in our community don’t want their jobs, They will be the first to complain about them stealing the jobs from “good honest americans” :rolleyes:
“Chink” and “gook” are on the same level as “nigger.”
The OP is phrased as a factual question, but in reality it is not. Just how bad the word nigger is depends on who says it and the context. It has already been pointed out that some words are offensive in one area, like Britain, are not generally offensive in another area.
Also, this is turning into a list of racial slurs. I’m sure we can fight ignorance without a complete list of racial slurs.
This is closed.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator