# Picking Nits with Pulp Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192 "2010-12-23T17:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/41 "2010-12-26T15:58:59Z")
^^I’m sure that Jimmy wasn’t going to buy an oak bedroom set. It was just payoff money. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/42 "2010-12-28T18:31:03Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > ^^I’m sure that Jimmy wasn’t going to buy an oak bedroom set. It was just payoff money. And money I’m guessing Bonnie won’t know about. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/43 "2010-12-28T19:10:33Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > ^^I’m sure that Jimmy wasn’t going to buy an oak bedroom set. It was just payoff money. It was a couple of hundred to replace the stuff and a few thousand to shut Jimmy the hell up so they could get the situation handled. Bonnie, coming home after a night shift as a nurse, probably won’t notice the missing sheets until Jimmy can replace them, but she would certainly notice three hoods and a Marvin-encrusted POS in the garage. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/44 "2010-12-28T19:52:02Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > IIRC, although it was 1994, the word didn’t have the extreme negative connotation that it has today. Many white rednecks would casually use the word in public when conversing with each other, and I’m sure gangster killers did the same thing. Unless it was directed in a harsh way TOWARDS a particular person, I don’t remember it being that big of a deal. I’m not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, **jtgain**. This was about 15 years ago, not the 1930’s. Saying the n-word at all – much less to a black man – was just as taboo then as it is now. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/45 "2010-12-28T19:59:00Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, **jtgain**. This was about 15 years ago, not the 1930’s. Saying the n-word at all – much less to a black man – was just as taboo then as it is now. It’s always been taboo in polite society; even in 1930s Mississippi official records would use Negro or Colored and it was understood (just not always cared) that n-gger was a pejorative. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/46 "2010-12-28T20:55:27Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > The explanation I’ve read for this (from Ebert?) indicated that, while it was the same scene, we are experiencing it from different perspectives. In other words, the general events are re-told intact, but subtle variations are inevitable when the same incident is recalled by different folks. > mmm That’s not how _I_ remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/47 "2010-12-28T21:24:58Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Almost every movie that has ‘bookend’ scenes, subtly changes the dialog. [jules] Example. [/jules] ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/48 "2010-12-29T14:51:22Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, **jtgain**. This was about 15 years ago, not the 1930’s. Saying the n-word at all – much less to a black man – was just as taboo then as it is now. I agree with **jtgain**. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/49 "2010-12-29T16:09:33Z")
Boy, I sure don’t. Certainly during my college days (1985-90) and later calling a black man a nigger without prior permission of some kind or the other would be bound to start a fight. Maybe it was my crowd but I sure wouldn’t have done it unless I was intentionally antagonizing someone and looking to get violent. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192/50 "2010-12-29T16:32:37Z")
That doesn’t contradict what he said, though. I do remember the word not being censored on tv, which is the core of his argument as I read it. EDIT: Note that you’re saying “calling a black man a nigger,” which **jtgain** specifically mentions (in ALL CAPS) as not being what he was talking about, and would likely elicit the exact reaction you say. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-nits-with-pulp-fiction/565192.md?page=2)