Agreed. It’s a racial slur against the blacks the speaker is comparing the white kid to.
I kind of always interpreted the word as deriving its ‘-igger’ component not from the insult nigger, but from the “for internal use only” nigger that’s been reclaimed by many blacks. The insult being that a white kid is trying to act like a brother, but isn’t. So he’s not a nigger (again, not the white person’s nigger, but the black person’s nigger), he’s a sad, not quite there, wigger, like a distant relative one would rather ignore.
Does that make much sense?
It also implies somehow that there is a “black” way to act, and a “white” way to act.
Same with calling the black bookworm students “oreos.”
There is a natural way to act and an affected way to act.
It’s not the same thing at all. Not even close.
It’s a racial slur. It’s also a pretty mild one, as slurs go. Roughly analogous to calling a Mexican immigrant “Paco” or a lesbian “Miss Hathaway,” or as ** Guinstansia** suggests, black students “oreos.” The tone of these names is typically more derisive, mocking and dismissive than actually hateful.
Oh, I gotta say this, to no one in particular.
Wigger, please.
The problem I have with it is that it actually elevates the little twerp’s behavior. He’s actually one liquid consonant away from being called a nigger by the man, which is every Suburban Minstrel’s goal.
Just doesn’t have the same ring.
My issue with this: the slurs you mentioned are said towards the person of that particular race/sexuality. This one is said about someone who really wants to pretend that he’s another. I’d say all of the above are worse for that reason.
Or, what saoirse said.
It’s still perpetuating a stereotype.
No, it’s showing contempt for an offensive imitation of a stereotype.
The preferred term is “Wafrican-American.”
Perpetuating a stereotype is not inherently racism. To wit:
-Most black people get their steaks cooked well done. This is true (in my experience) and I had a thread a few months back about it. It is a lesser known stereotype, but a stereotype. I worked at a steak restaurant and found it to be true. This does not promote the superiority or inferiority of any specific race, it just happens to be a generality along racial lines.
I think ‘wangstas’ might be appropriate.
I know the type the OP talks about. I had never heard of ‘wigger’ before, but I don’t like it because of what it is derived from. I don’t have that problem with the above.
Not to hijack, but…
Is that race specific though? If a black kid is doing everything that you would classify as “wiggerish” (to coin a word), isn’t that just imitation of a sterotype as well? I mean, it’s not like the black kid is inventing a new way of acting, and the white kid isn’t. Both are just imitating things that they’ve seen others do.
Is the word derived from “white nigger”? I always though it came from “wannabe nigger”. White nigger would imply that the white kid was lowering themselves like Omega Glory said. Wannabe nigger is more like the usage Eonwe used.
It may be a distinction without a difference, but there is a different connotation between the two derivations.
I still wouldn’t use it, but I have used the word wannabe to describe the stupid asshole suburban kids with their sideways hats and falling down pants and their African-American Vernacular English.
Oh my god, I sound like Bill Cosby. Plus, those kids better stay off of my lawn.
I’m pretty sure that it’s originally from the former, as it is often spelled and pronounced “whigger” as opposed to “wigger” or “wigga”.
Disagree.
Where I come from, the wegros generally have one very important thing in common with most of the black kids in the area: they’re dirt poor. In my old neighborhood, they’re usually Appalachian, and attend the public high school with the black kids, as opposed to the more middle class-to-wealthy kids in the area, who usually go to the parochial schools.
Other than skin color, they’ve probably got more in common with the stereotypical gangsta than middle-to-upper class blacks.
You might as well knock on Elvis and Mitch Ryder.
…and while I don’t really care whether “wigger” is technically a racial slur, it’s close enough (and offensive enough) that I don’t use it outside of very specific contexts.
See, where I grew up, these kids were definately not poor. Typically, we’re talking upper middle class suburbanites living out some dream of being less well-off and more hard-core, when, in the end, they were neither.
The views of folks in this thread have persuaded me to never use “wigger” for fear of being, well, misunderstood. I think the jury will remain out on how bad this truly is, but if enough folks find it offensive or off-putting, then you might as well abstain. And by you, I of course mean me.