# Convince me to say "n-word" rather than "nigger" when the latter is what I mean. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 15, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756 "2010-11-15T17:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/81 "2010-11-19T15:58:54Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Oh, balls. I hate rap, but in my youth I used _nigger_ in certain very specific contexts. You’re giving the word too much power. No, I’m not giving it power, I am recognizing that nigger is a hateful word. You don’t see Asians running around calling each other Chink as a term of endearment or Puerto Ricans calling each other Spics. Its about as useful as referring to black women as bitches and hos. There was a time when I was young when black men and women were brothers and sisters now they’re niggers and bitches and hos. You think the difference in terminology makes no difference? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/82 "2010-11-19T17:02:49Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > No, I’m not giving it power, I am recognizing that nigger is a hateful word. You don’t see Asians running around calling each other Chink as a term of endearment or Puerto Ricans calling each other Spics. Its about as useful as referring to black women as bitches and hos. There was a time when I was young when black men and women were brothers and sisters now they’re niggers and bitches and hos. You think the difference in terminology makes no difference? How old are you? Because when **I** was young (I am now forty), we used the word _nigger_ amongst ourselves. And as I’ve mentioned before, I know two women who use the word _bitch_ as a term of endearment among themselves. Quoting a book I am too lazy to find the author of, they say it’s an acronym for _Being In Total Command of Herself._ Anyway, my position is not that I should call the barista at Starbucks _nigger_ for putting whipped cream on my hot chocolate despite my clear instructions not to. It’s that, if someone else did so and I were relating the story, it would be stupid to say _n-word_ instead. This isn’t Narnia. Words are not magic. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/83 "2010-11-19T17:06:39Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > \ all the idiotic \s who use the term “N-word”. > > Whoever came up with the concept of political correctness should be horsewhipped through the streets. The preferred term is _Equine-Motivational-Percussion_. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/84 "2010-11-19T18:47:41Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Anyway, my position is not that I should call the barista at Starbucks _nigger_ for putting whipped cream on my hot chocolate despite my clear instructions not to. It’s that, if someone else did so and I were relating the story, it would be stupid to say _n-word_ instead. This isn’t Narnia. Words are not magic. Context is everything and theres a reason hearsay isn’t allowed in court. Partial understanding can turn a Chris Rock schtick into a KKK speech. Chalk me down as one who believes PR has gone too far, but we’ve come a long way in less than a generation and it wouldn’t have been possible if ‘nigger’ was culturally allowed in polite company. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/85 "2010-11-19T20:38:00Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Use it if you want, but not “honky.” That’s _our_ word, man. Wow. I was actually offended by this. Briefly. I am not upset now, but I had an internal knee-jerk reaction to this. It wasn’t honky, per se, it was being included in the group of (presumably) white people in this response. Odd, as I historically have not been bothered by other people lumping me in with other white people, even if I disagree entirely. I also think all of the supposedly offensive white-people slurs are pretty laughable, ‘honky’ among them. 36yo white male. I don’t want to be placed in a social group arbitrarily. I am rather odd, I think, and would be best classed with the misanthropes, even though I am extremely social. I just don’t ‘fit’ into any standard definition of anything. I used to work _hard_ at not fitting in, and now that has evolved into me fitting into so many social context groups that I am sort of ‘pushed-out’ of most, as being included in some automatically seems to discredit one… ETA - **Sitnam** , I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you are right. We have come far, and that is a part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756/86 "2010-11-19T21:05:49Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Nigerian, please! What do you call the local sheriff’s department after a budget shortfall? Niggardly police. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-say-n-word-rather-than-nigger-when-the-latter-is-what-i-mean/560756.md?page=4)