If you call me a “nigger”, I’m going to think you’re a brazen racist who deserves to be taken down a peg.
If you call me a “nigga”, I’m going to think you’re uncouth and need to spend a day in charm school. Whether you be black or white.
I overhead a colleague (white) say, “for shizzle my nizzle” and I told her (playfully) not to do that again around me. She did it again. Thus, I think she’s a silly person who needs to spend a few minutes in charm school.
Both words are ugly to me, but for different reasons. My advice is that if you want to use “nigga” or “nizzle” or any variant of “nigger”, don’t be shocked when people act upset. Some black people use the word. Even fewer like hearing it from non-black mouths. It’s a double-standard, yes, but the word was born in a world of double-standards. That’s just how things be sometimes. Cry me a river if you don’t like it.
To hell with it. What do you need it for? What necessity does “nigger” satisfy? Speaking as a life-long peckerwood, I am willing to modify my speech in order to assure my fellow human of my benign intent (though I regard the term “african-american” with the same skeptical bemusement as I regard all pointless hyphenation). But, in truth, there aren’t really that many occassions when a reference to race is required.
About the only occassion would be as a description, to indentify.
“Hey, Fred, some woman came looking for you this afternoon. Said her name was Linda.”
“Linda?”
“Black woman, said she knew you from work…”
“Oh, yeah, Linda…”
Other than that, it just doesn’t come up. Some black people are niggers. Some peckerwoods are white trash. But if they don’t already know it, I see no reason why I should remind them.
As far as using “nigger” to show off how hip I am: fuck that shit!
Like I said, I would never use the word in a demeaning fashion but why the sensitivity? The whole OJ simpson trial became about the N word.
What makes it ok for blacks to openly joke about whites without any form of backlash but not the other way around? Isn’t that a double standard? What do black people think about this?
There’s no hurt to it as long as there’s no truth to it. There’s a variety of white folks who are rythym-impaired, clenched-rectum who maybe can jump but are too self-concious to do so. If a black man wants to sneer at them, got nothing to do with me. Knock yourself out. Call James Carville a “coon-ass”, won’t bother him none.
This will pass away, because we will make it so. That’s the prize. Keep your eye on it.
Yes, in a monologue about his visit to Africa he described a sort of epiphany in which he realized that he had not said or thought the word during his entire trip. He said in that monologue that he would no longer use the word in his stand-up and as far as I know, he never has.
I’m white, but I think the answer lies in the idea that blacks are oppressed and whites are not. IF you accept the idea, then:
A white person racially demeaning a black person would be attacking someone in a weaker position. Uncool. The members of the privileged class have a responsibility not to act like assholes.
A black person racially demeaning a white person is taking an action to weaken the oppressor and “take on the man.” In American culture, this is a generally accepted mode of behavior for any subject matter.
Er, I guess all I’m saying is I agree totally with the OP.
And thanks to the Eminem mention, I now have this song echoing through my head while I’m at work (Yes, this is a quote from a black rap artist in an Eminem song).
Words can only hurt if the context – the time, situation, speaker, and listner – are right for them to hurt. Just because some folks can say “nigger” in some contexts without any problems doesn’t mean the word is entirely harmless.
I’ve never heard the word nizzle and had no idea it had anything to do with the other word. It’s probably not something I would have used anyway, but I’m glad I know about it now just in case.
Kaspar, if you listen closely to that commercial with Fran Dresier, you’ll see that she says “shizzle” but not “nizzle”. I think she may say “hizzle” (which means house, for the unintiated).
Reminds me of a scene from Family Guy when Peter’s rafting down the Mississippi:
I still regard the word as very taboo and think it’s going to be a very long time before it would be acceptible for whites in the USA to use it even in a joking manner.
And for those wanting Snoop’s translation of a webpage, check out the shizzolator.
I think snoop dog should go start his own country somewhere, that way whatever it is he’s saying could be the official language.
I know that language evolves and flows but this is a grown man making up dorky words and other grown men want to learn the language.
I understand that people could be covertly racist but doesn’t the fact that white people can’t use the N word show that there is at the very least a racial tolerance in this country like never before?
I’m sure there are still people who don’t get hired based on color and santa is still white but it has to be almost as easy to be black as it does to be white these days, doesn’t it? Am I wrong? Even Chris Rock makes a joke about a one legged white bus boy who wouldn’t want to switch places with him.
Could you please connect the dots above for me? I’m not sure how Santa fits into your equation. (Unless you mean that one only sees white people hired for the roles as Santa, then, I’d have to disagree as I’ve seen african-american Santas at malls before).
Snoop Dogg sez in a Conan skit: Shizzle, my hometizzle wizzle, you be layin’ low in my hizzle wid da BC chrizzle. But yo punk-ass betta bring da bizzle.
Am I translating properly? I think this means: Sure, my white buddy, you certainly are invited to my house, where you may partake in some delightful Canadian sensimilla. Just remember, it’s BYOB! elucidator: Do you think you could explain what you meant?
Black people were beaten in the streets forty years ago for daring to vote. Racist whites were the ones who were beating them.
Lots of people living right now are at least forty years old, are they not? I wasn’t around during the 60s–the widely-accepted “bad old days”–but I’m sure many Dopers were. And I’m sure many of the people who were beating black voters, calling them “nigger” and whathaveyou, are still fucking alive and haven’t repented one little bit. I’m sure some of them refer to Oprah as a “nigger” even as she entertains them on TV.
Just because you “can’t” say nigger does not mean that race relations are peachy. Forty years ago isn’t even a lifetime. And who says white people can’t say anything? There are white people a-plenty who get away with using the word “nigger”… and not all of them are toothless hicks with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. They’re probably just smart enough not to say the word around the “wrong” people.
It’s not as hard being black as it once was, yes. But don’t be foolish enough to think that black people have it just as easy as white people, not when everywhere you turn we have to be reminded about their lower IQ scores, their health problems, their crime statistics, and their abject poverty.
I’m sure most black people would gladly grant white people the permission to say “nigga” if this meant we didn’t have to be in an inferior position all the time. I know I would.
Do you think you could explain what you meant?