# White people: your use of the N word **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043 "2020-09-07T17:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/181 "2020-09-10T22:17:28Z")
So, to summarize, **ZPG\_Zealot** has indeed used the N-word against black people specifically out of hatred, for reasons that make sense to her (and probably only to her). She answered the thread. Yay. I’m getting tired of hearing about her absurd ideas, particularly since this thread isn’t in the pit. So can we accept that she is indeed loud and proud in her use of racist terms and move on with life? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/182 "2020-09-10T22:21:32Z")
Indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/183 "2020-09-10T22:25:06Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I want to take the opportunity to ask how exactly a man can _prove_ he’s not a sex-crazed animal. If I were to project my cis-male preferences onto other people: start by assuming nobody wants to know anything about your sexuality unless you are in a situation commonly accepted as a showcase for sexuality. Further, speak to strangers only when there is a clear need, and not as a pretense to chat them up. As a dude I am already at my limit with people wanting stuff from me (usually the contents of my wallet), I have to imagine women are already there and in addition have to contend with being seen as a (pretty, smart, athletic, witty, kind) cum dumpster. Mommy/Daddy time can still happen to people who actually have gotten to know each other in the context of work, school, hobbies, frequent encounters (like at a bus stop or neighborhood park), etc. But can it be proven at first meeting? I wouldn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/184 "2020-09-10T22:31:29Z")
Um, there’s a lot to unpack in your post, and this really doesn’t feel like the thread for it. So I’ll just thank you for your post and back away slowly, keeping my hands in view at all times. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/185 "2020-09-10T23:38:52Z")
Colored person is generational where I live. My black neighbors used it all the time and they just wouldn’t take it from me that black or African American are what the kids are all saying. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/186 "2020-09-11T02:05:05Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I used it in college a lot whenever a black guy hit on me. It was the fastest way to get rid of them. “No thank you” would also be considered acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/187 "2020-09-11T02:12:52Z")
I said “never”, but that’s not strictly true. The term for Brazil nuts in my home growing up was “niggertoes”, so that’s what I called them until I was old enough to know better. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/188 "2020-09-11T04:33:11Z")
There’s a good Jim Norton joke that goes something like “No white person should ever use the N-word in public, just shout it in the privacy of your car like everyone else” ---
**Author:** ![WitnessMe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/witnessme/32/4597_2.png) [@WitnessMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WitnessMe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/189 "2020-09-11T05:58:31Z")
I have to say I don’t believe anyone who claims they’ve never said the word once, if only to themselves. I’m not saying they’re lying necessarily but maybe they have a selective memory. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/190 "2020-09-11T06:20:08Z")
> [@WitnessMe](#): > > I have to say I don’t believe anyone who claims they’ve never said the word once, if only to themselves. I’m not saying they’re lying necessarily but maybe they have a selective memory I’m afraid you’re projecting there. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/191 "2020-09-11T07:13:04Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > “No thank you” would also be considered acceptable. Not to defend **ZPG\_Zealot’s** methods, but it’s long been established that this is **not** sufficient to get rid of unwanted male attention. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > you chose to use the rhetorical tools of white supremacism And you needn’t be so holier-than-thou, you’ve said on this board that you welcome all rhetorical strategies in achieving your own (political) goals. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/192 "2020-09-11T09:26:44Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > And you needn’t be so holier-than-thou, you’ve said on this board that you welcome all rhetorical strategies in achieving your own (political) goals. I guess I was wrong. This is one rhetorical tool whose usage is unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/193 "2020-09-11T09:51:00Z")
There’s actually a god reason to say “the n-word,” instead of “n!gger,” in the US. Saying the actual word can come back to haunt you. Mark Fuhrman apparently had at one time in his life, a few decades before the OJ Simpson trial, actually used the word to refer to black people, but at some point in the far past had exorcised the word from hi everyday vocabulary. I believe it was at the strongly worded suggestion of a superior, but he nonetheless did it. Then three or four years before the trial, he was interviewed for a book or article (I’ve forgotten which) by a writer of some ilk about racism in the police department, and he went whole megillah describing the sort of language other police officers use-- both content and specific vocabulary. He may have been enjoying himself a little too much, but that’s neither here nor there-- he chose not to use euphemisms, and said “n!gger” a WHOLE lot. Also, apparently, “kike,” “spic,” “wetback,” and who knows what else-- Chink, Gook? “he Jewed me down?” I don’t have transcripts in front of me. What happened was that he said on the stand, under oath, that he had not said “n!gger” for over a decade, as evidence that he was not a racist. To impeach him at trial, the defense brought in the writer, and her tapes of Fuhrman frothing off all sorts of racial slurs, including “n!gger” again and again. And she had exact dates. Now, in one sense, Fuhrman hadn’t lied, because he hadn’t _called_ anyone a “n!gger” for a very long time. But in strict point of fact, the word had passed his lips, and that was what the jury heard. White people watching that trial learned that it wasn’t a good idea to used the word no matter what the context. I can’t say for certain that the use of “the n-word” to replace the actual word in discussions of the word goes squarely back to the trial, but my sense it that it does. It goes back to the late 1990s, which means right around the time of the trial. There was already a pretty big movement not to use the word-- Huck Finn was being taken out of lots of school libraries, and off of school reading lists, but subbing something else in, like saying “HaShem” for “God,” or “He who must not be named” for Voldemort, I really think goes back to the Simpson trial. No one wanted a paper (or video) trail of having used the word. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/194 "2020-09-11T09:53:31Z")
Didn’t Paula Deen get in a bunch of trouble for among other things (her having the plantation style wedding with black servants was what kicked it off) by admitting she said the N word sometime in the 80’s after she was robbed by a black man? That really seems like a reach if you need to go back to the 80’s to try to cancel someone, especially when the plantation stuff was damning enough on its own. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/195 "2020-09-11T11:10:48Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I see most men as sex-crazed animals until proven otherwise. What’s the dividing line, they speak to you for any reason moves them to the bad list? ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/196 "2020-09-11T12:22:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I guess I was wrong. This is one rhetorical tool whose usage is unacceptable. Glad to hear it! But I wish you’d get the more general point about the dangers inherent in trying to use bad means to achieve good ends. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/197 "2020-09-11T12:34:54Z")
I agree with you on that. We just disagree on what constitutes “bad means”. I hold that boycotts aren’t inherently bad. Nor is internet criticism. Racism is inherently bad. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/198 "2020-09-11T13:43:06Z")
> [@WitnessMe](#): > > I have to say I don’t believe anyone who claims they’ve never said the word once, if only to themselves. I’m not saying they’re lying necessarily but maybe they have a selective memory. I’ve probably mentioned it. Maybe explaining to my kids why it’s not a good word to use or something. I’ve never in my life used it. I suspect that’s true of a lot of people. I’m not in the habit of using slurs, and when I have done so, it was because I didn’t realize they were slurs, and I corrected my vocabulary after being informed of my error. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/199 "2020-09-11T13:48:14Z")
Have you learned nothing from History? Taking about sex with ZPG is an exercise in futility. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043/200 "2020-09-11T13:52:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Have you learned nothing from History? - I live for the moment for the next moment I may die. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-your-use-of-the-n-word/920043.md?page=11)