Probably not since they said it a few times on People’s Court this week. It means a white person who acts like a black person. Doesn’t seem dirty to me, is it?
I think your question should have been opened in IMHO. Is it dirty? If nigger is dirty, then wigger is dirty. Then we can get into what does dirty mean?. Rather an imprecisely asked question for GQ.
Sen. Robert Byrd says no.
Seeing as how ‘wigger’ means ‘white nigger’, then I’d say it’s dirty.
Not that stream of consciousness questons aren’t a good thing but in case just one of the teeming millions don’t know every contemporary slang word ever coined just for the record it might help to define it. (see below)
My daughter has told me of kids in her school who call themselves “wiggers”. My gut reaction was “clueless morons” but then I realized the beauty of the concept for teenagers. It is a double barrelled shotgun blast of offensiveness. First it is offensive to blacks for obvious reasons in that it co-opts an extremely offensive, yet powerful term and renders it into a silly affectation. For whites it’s like your child being able to say a very bad word that offends you and polite society in general with impunity (pride even) because it’s not really the “bad” word.
It’s two bug the crap out of the known universe mints in one! What teenager could ask for anything more.
http://www.wm.edu/flathat/April212000/reviewsstory2.html
part of “Black and White” film review
"The impolite word for the phenomenon is “wigger.”
Ostensibly, it refers to a white kid who wants to be black. This phenomenon is the topic of writer/director James Toback’s new film “Black and White.”
But “wigger” is deceptive. It doesn¹t exist in a vacuum, referring to any “white” person and any “black” person. If it did, its close association to the word “nigger” would make it simply reprehensible and taboo. “Wigger” only has meaning in a hip-hop context, where “nigger” can be an acceptable word and mean more than the usual demeaning definition.
“Wigger” is still a joke on white people who foolishly “dress black” and “talk black” and generally think they can be black. But this blackness is black only as hip-hop says black is. Who can say “whassup my nigga” to whom and not be insulting? Who can be hip to hip-hop? It may not be as simple as black and white anymore. The problem of defining a race by music and style is where “Black and White,” set in the New York hip-hop scene, gets down to its messy business."
how would that be offensive to blacks? Personally I would think that silly is less offensive than “extremely offensive” being offensive.
(Blinking… stunned… mouth open in sheer amazement at qestion) I…I… I’m speechless. But I guess I not typeless or quoteless.
Well let’s see how about here
http://members.aol.com/lilrongal/race.html
"Hello there. I was glancing through an issue of Collegiate Monthly 101 last night when I read a word so offensive I stopped and threw the entire paper in the garbage. The word was “wigger.” As a Black female, I find that word very offensive due to it’s meaning: “white nigger,” and what it implies: “a white person trying to act Black.” First of all, I am disappointed that you let such a word be published in your paper. It is as bad of a racial slur as “nigger.” The word implies that all Blacks are niggers and a white person who acts “Black”, whatever that means, is trying to be a “nigger.” Secondly, this is a national paper, geared towards the some of the most influential people in America: college students. I thought the idea was to rid the world of ignorance. Instead, this paper is promoting it. First, the word “wigger” will be accepted. How long before every other racial slur is once again widely used and accepted, without regard to other’s feelings?
At any rate, you’ve lost a reader, and I am going to spread the word about your lack of tact and respect for yourself and others. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ronica Richmond"
and here http://listserver.udmercy.edu/pipermail/e-crit/Week-of-Mon-20001113/000244.html
"On Mon, 13 Nov 2000 16:22:36 -0500
“Patricia Terrell” <terrellp@state.mi.us> wrote:
Hello Class, Just a few of my comments on the article…
It seems the world has a sublime fascination with Blacks
and what has been designated Black culture. Constantly
under a microscope, Blacks are at once revered and
reviled for who they are. The term ‘wigger’ set off
bells of emotion for me. Wigger - white nigger - is a
term reserved for Whites who embrace Black culture and it
conjures up negative images.
Visualize what a wigger looks like. How would they look?
Would Brittney Spears fit the description? Is she
passing for jan-
It becomes tiresome that Blacks are not measured by the
same yardstick as the whole of society. Blacks are kept
in a separate category below Whites What is Black
masculinity and how does it differ from masculinity on
the whole? What factors are considered in determining
the level of ‘blackness’ in a particular subject? How
does Black female assertiveness (pg.344) differ from
white female assertiveness?"
And here just for the hell of it is a very interesting discussion/analysis (the best I’ve seen to date) of the origin and power of the weighty n-word (from which the posturing, nose picking, “Mom can I skip the St. Francis soccer practice this afternoon? I want to hang with my Niggaz” little “wigger” descends.
http://parallel.park.uga.edu/distance/texts/hamilton.html
Nigger, Please
Alison B. Hamilton
Nigger is, perhaps, the most meaning-“full” word in the English language." etc
It is my opinion that any word used to disparage another can be classified as “dirty” in context, at least.
Any “answer” to this would be a subjective evaluation, so I’m going to move the thread to IMHO.
The answer is “yes,” BTW.
IMHO opinion the term is offensive moreso than dirty. However in the military, I heard the term used by younger troops, both black and white. Hardly ever in a good sense, however. Both used the term derisively. Whites to deride racially, blacks to deride the so-called wigger as a wannabe, someone not to be taken seriously.
Sir
To me, the word wigger is shorthand for saying, “Look at that white kid who acts like a nigger.” Even though it’s directed at a white person, it is still derogatory toward blacks as well.
I really think that the term “white nigger” which wigger is just a short-hand for is a thousand times more insulting than just nigger(which is, of course, bad enough): “white nigger” asserts that the bottom of the white social scale is the equivilant to the top of the black social scale–that the worst thing a white person can be called is black. This is insulting to everyone.
(Note that here in the south “white nigger” = “trailor trash”. This isn’t exactly the same as the hip-hop culture you are talking about, but I think that the other sense of the word stil reverbiates. Sen. Byrd being a shinning example of its use).
Excerpts from a link Astro provided
http://parallel.park.uga.edu/distance/texts/hamilton.html
Rappers, too, have joined in the controversy. In a recent New York Times article, several rappers asserted that they use nigger frequently in order to demystify it. Nigger can be heard virtually everywhere–on the air and in the streets. "Rappers bring out what’s bad and make it popular. Nothing is sacred with them, and people love them. Rap has been the number-one selling music for the last two years.
And it seems that even white children have embraced nigger as an endearment. Joey relates, “I was standing on a platform, waiting for the train in Westchester County (New York)–a rich, white area. Some white prep school boys were waiting too. I was listening to their conversation, and every other word was nigga this, nigga that. I was surprised, but I wasn’t offended. It’s very trendy for kids to beusing it; they’re into rap, and they hear nigga as often as brother or bitch or any other word. I can’t really blame them.” Some white kids in Southern California have taken to using a derivative, wigger.
Excerpts from a link Astro provided
Lets look at both iggers.
N is going through a rapid evolution by way of rap music. I think soon it will be no more offensive than the words dude, bro, man or Cuz.
If N is not offensive How can W be offensive?
To me it sounds insulting to everyone white black or otherwise but my perspective is not the same as the kids using it.
I hope some young white kids post on this subject.
Personally, I find the term highly offensive.
I always use the term “Wafrican-American”.
Hmmm… ‘nigger’ has a very distinct connotation in many usages. Nigger is, with my generation, not referring to black persons as a whole. It refers to black people who are also commonly called ‘gang-bangers’, ‘gangstas’, ‘gang-stars’, etc.
Basically, with most people my age that I know, when they say nigger they are not implying disgust with black people, they are implying disgust with the actions or appearance of the person for whom the term is being used. I think it was Chris Rock that said “The problem isn’t black people, it’s the niggers!” which shows that it is a well known meaning for the term.
Whigger just means a white person who attempts to act like a nigger of Chris Rock’s definition.
Don’t take this to mean, however, that the definition that many of my contemporaries use is the only definition. There’s certainly people out there for whom the term nigger refers to ANY black person.
I’m not really offended by any term (they are just words, remember) so I’d have to say no, it’s not dirty, althought it may offend.
–Tim
I read it and I just had to post the Millard Filmore link from the article.
Also, I think I remember Howard Stern and his anchor debating this one a few years back, around when his movie came out. Just a thought.
WIGGER?!
I hardly knew her …
I once heard a disc jockey refer to prince as a figger.
I don’t know what he meant by that.
Along the same lines, I’ve heard my father’s family refer to those wanna-be whites that hang around at pow-wows, wear fringe, talk about their “Navajo” great-grandmother (aren’t they all?), do the sweat lodge thing, go on ‘vision quests’ and other crap as “Winjuns”.
When did Nigger become the term used for the top of the black social scale? I always heard N- used to reference the gang-bangers and thugs. IMHO wigger is not just calling a white person black. Most of the population (in my opinion) sees a difference between a Black person and a nigger.