N*****s can be white, too!

[Slithy_Tove]

Ah, the old “whites can be niggers, too.” You’r mom’s friend is in distingushed company: Robert Byrd said these same word on the floor of the US Senate.

Of course, if this is true, then black guys can be peckerwoods, right? So when I start seeing black guys driving around in pickups with Confederate battle flags on the bumpers, I’ll subscribe to this theory. In the meantime, “nigger” is the most trusted shibboleth in our language: anyone who uses it, whatever his or her race, has identified him or herself as being civilizationally retarded.

Argue me on that, but what is NOT debatable is the prospect that this guy is “probably now on her (your mom’s) case and verbally abusing her for her friend’s outburst.” He can’t use that as an excuse to abuse her any more than if she were to buy the wrong brand of cereal or play the TV too loud while he’s trying to nap. This “look how mad you made me” crap just doesn’t cut it.

[elfbabe]

@Jurhael

But, I always thought that “nigger” meant low thinking person. It was taken from the term “niggardlyness” or something. BUT, that obviously changed. Heh.

Afraid the American Heritage Dictionary gives the origin of “nigger” as “Alteration of dialectal neger, black person, from French nègre, from Spanish negro.”

Wordorigins.org says:

Nigger

This most offensive of words in American speech dates back to the late 16th century, although the modern spelling doesn’t appear until two centuries later. The OED2’s earliest cite of the modern spelling is from 1786 in Burns’s Ordination. (The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, however, claims that this is an editorial error and Burns’s original manuscript uses the older niger.) The obsolete spelling niger dates to 1574. It comes from the Latin meaning black. It shares this common root with negro.

…

It is etymologically unrelated to the word niggard.

While what you said may well be what you were personally told about the word’s origin’s, 'tain’t so.

[Jurhael]

While what you said may well be what you were personally told about the word’s origin’s, 'tain’t so.

Actually, I got it from a Bible that mentioned the word Niggardness.

It is etymologically unrelated to the word niggard.

Ah. There it is. It’s all in the spelling. Dur.

[torie]

@Otto

Because if you can’t spew racist hate speech in the heat of anger, when can you spew racist hate speech?

If I can’t spew rasict hate speech in anger, then the terrorists have truely won.

My mom is fine. When her friend left, Mr. Mom rolled his eyes, and invited my mom to a party. Guess he had a rare moment of reasonablity. She said she had lots of fun that the party.And what was I doing staying up so late and calling her so many times? Didn’t I know she was fine? I was gonna make her think something horrible happened to me!

So it’s all ok. My mom isn’t even mad at her friend.

[Biggirl]

@GingerOfTheNorth

Wow, I hope your mom is alright.

That is a word we were brought up to never, ever say. I remember one time my brother saying “n_____” instead of ‘tiger’ in that ‘eeny meenie minie moe’ saying, and my mother storming in from three rooms away to smack him one. It still shocks me when a (black and Puerto Rican) friend (and poster on this board) calls herself a “Nigger Rican”.
I would like to know what the ‘Lesbian Phone Saga’ is.

I only do it in the privacy of my own, um, mouth.
P.S. I think the Lesbian Phone Saga refers to a thread were someone somewhere called their phone “gay”. I tried searching for it but got nothing.

[Miller]

I have a friend who used to call me a nigger. We’re both white, incidentally. Actually, he didn’t just call me a nigger, he’d perform a whole song-and-dance routine, set to the Tigger song from Winne the Pooh. Strange guy. Also used to claim to be a Puerto Rican Jew, but I think he just watched too much Welcome Back, Kotter.

[V.bis_and_Baudhead]

Disclaimer: I do NOT endorse, support, or follow any of the following practices. I am describing them here for information only. I am trying to describe a rather nasty practice here, and the mentality behind it.

I’m going to have to at least partially disagree with the OP, insofar as I have, in fact, heard the n-word applied to white people, as a serious term and on a consistent basis. Several, shall we say, less enlightened members of my own extended family use the word that way to decry the failings of various groups of people, of any race or ethnicity. (Decrying the failings of pretty much every group of people other than themselves was a big pastime among my extended family, and it’s one of the big reasons I really don’t talk to them very much anymore. But that is another story.)

When talking about white people, sometimes they applied the term to groups of people of certain nationalities (for example, they might say something like, “those damned Antarctican-n*****s!”). More typically, it was applied to those rural, impoverished, and uneducated individuals that might otherwise be derided as “rednecks” or “hillbillies.” (I don’t approve of those terms either, I’m just listing some other slurs here for comparative purposes.)

In any case, whatever group it was applied to, the n-word was almost universally understood to indicate that the individuals in question were of unacceptabe countenance - worthless, shiftless, low-class, undignified, slovenly, uneducated, criminal - you name it, all rolled into one word. But in the case of white people, it seemed that there was an added factor - the term was intended to indicate that the individuals in question posessed the negative qualities listed above in such abundance that were a discredit to white people, that they were “no better than n*****s.” The implication was that being African-American was pretty much the worst thing you could be. (I am NOT saying I agree with any part of the above - but that’s how the term was used.)

For anyone out there who may wonder why African-Americans consider this little word to be so bad, well, now you know. It’s not merely impolite, or merely stupid, or merely a nasty name to call somebody. It is the embodiment of the sentiment that African-Americans are, well, everything I listed above - simply put, lower and unacceptable. Whenever some public figure is accused of having said the n-word, it seems like it gets brushed aside. Even from my own family, I’ve heard plenty of lame excuses and rationalizations, not the least of which was the “white people can be n*****s too” defense, which I regard as a big, steaming load of bullshit. For someone to have used that term is a pretty damning indictment of that individual’s character, in my view, and it is not something to be taken lightly.

So getting back to the OP: Yes, white people CAN be n*****s, but that does not make it OK. Even when the term is applied to white people, its intent is still to evoke a negative image of African-Americans.

I hope I haven’t offended anyone with the above - I know I’m walking a tightrope here. But if I’ve made you angry, about the fact that there are still individuals out there who hold these views, then my job here is done.

[Marley23]

The word niggard is probably of Scandanavian origin. Definitely unrelated.

[cue “The More You Know”]

[dropzone]

[QUOTE=V.bis and Baudhead]
In any case, whatever group it was applied to, the n-word was almost universally understood to indicate that the individuals in question were of unacceptabe countenance - worthless, shiftless, low-class, undignified, slovenly, uneducated, criminal - you name it, all rolled into one word.

[QUOTE]
“Trash” works so much better. One can add any modifier desired but any person of any race, creed, or color can be trash. And if you leave off the modifier it isn’t even hate speech!

Your explanation accurately describes the usage I am familiar with when the N-word is used to describe someone who is not African-American. Don’t be surprised, though, to have people disagree with you. They consider their experience to be the totality of all experiences.