Nigger - Misplaced Pages

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For other uses, see Nigger (disambiguation).

Nigger, also spelled niger (obs.), nigor (obs. dial. Eng.), nigre, nigar (Caribbean), niggor (obs. dial.), neger (obs. U.S.), niggur, nigga, niggah, and niggar (obs.), is a derogatory term used to refer to black people. During the period when slavery was practiced worldwide, and in particular by the United States and European countries, and for several decades after Europe and North America prohibited slavery, it was a standard, casual English term for black people and was not an insult or pejorative; it was from the Spanish word negro, simply meaning "black". Associated with the word traditionally have been an often casual contempt, a racist assumption of black inherent inferiority, even of bestiality, making it extremely pejorative.

Etymology

The word Negro stems from the Latin word niger for the color black. The word nigger originates from the French nègre (with a similar meaning) or perhaps from Dutch and German neger, all derived from the Latin adjective niger, meaning black. In English, negroor neger became negar and finally nigger. Neger (sometimes spelled "neggar") prevailed in northern New York under the Dutch and also in Philadelphia, in its Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch communities. For example, the New York City African Burial Ground was originally known as "Begraaf Plaats van de Neger." It was initially also used by the British as a derogatory term for Indians, after they colonized the subcontinent.

In the United States, the word nigger was not originally considered derogatory, but merely denotative of black, as it was in much of the world. In nineteenth-century American literature, there are many uses of the word nigger with no intended negative connotation (see below). The perception of the term nigger as derogatory is no doubt related to the fact that the Negro race itself was widely regarded as inferior, lazy, stupid and criminally inclined by light-skinned North Americans of the time. There is an observable pattern of words denoting black people coming to be regarded as derogatory as there is with all ethnic groups. Some well known ones are: Nigger, darky, coon, and colored, all at various times acceptable, but all considered politically offensive now in North America. Black was generally the preferred term from the late 1960s until the 1990s but has now been displaced by black groups in formal politically correct usage by African American, which resembles the term Afro-American that was in vogue in the early 1970s. The term African American is imprecise, insofar as neither the population of Africa is entirely black nor do all blacks live in the Americas, most so called blacks of North America are mixed race, and it seems pretentious to many, as did the term "person of color," which (ironically, insofar as it means the same as "colored person") gained some currency in the early 1990s. Consequently, Black continues in widespread popular use as a racial designation.

In Cuba the Spanish word prieto (similar origin to the Portuguese preto) is not derogatory. In Cuba a prieto is someone who is very dark, but not black ("Negro").

At times, African Americans have appropriated the slur, subverting it to a self-referential term that is often suggestive of familiarity, endearment, or kinship. When spelled phonetically, the word often is represented as nigguh or even nikuh for some speakers; however, currently, when used in this manner, the spelling is often changed to nigga or niggah.

all niggers must fuckign die. i will kill every nigger in the world. fuck niggers, jews spicks,butholes, ass, shit cock, cunt in the mouth of a vagina, nigger man nut man nut man nigger NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10NUTMAN10v

Avoiding offense

"The N-Word"

The euphemism "the N-word" became a part of the American lexicon during the racially polarizing trial of O.J. Simpson, a retired football player charged with -- and ultimately acquitted of -- a widely publicized double murder. One of the prosecution's key witnesses was Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who initially denied using racial slurs, but whose prolific and derogatory use of it on a tape recording brought his credibility into question. The recordings were from a session in 1985 that Fuhrman had with Laura McKinney, an aspiring screenwriter working on a screenplay about women in the police force. According to Fuhrman, he was using the word as part of his "bad-cop" persona.

Members of the media reporting on and discussing his testimony began using the term "the N-word" instead of repeating the actual word, presumably as a way to avoid offending audiences and advertisers. The euphemism was adopted quickly by Americans as a way to avoid uttering one of the most generally offensive words in American English. The euphemism is most often used in constructions like: "He called me the N-word", or "I can't believe she said the N-word." (This form mimics other euphemisms for offensive words such as "the F-word" for fuck, "the B-word" for bitch or "the C-word" for cock or cunt.)

More recently the "N-word" has been joined by a similar euphemism suggestive of the potentially explosive nature of the racial epithet: "drop the N-bomb" as in "You didn't need to drop the N-bomb".

Near-homophones

The word niger is Latin for "black" and occurs in many Latin scientific terms and names. (See Niger for other meanings such as the country in Africa.) Niger is the root for some English words which are near homophones of nigger.

Nigra, which is the way Negro is pronounced by some people in the American South, was considered by some to be a more polite way to refer to a black person. Because of its similarity to the n-word, however, it generally is detested by blacks and is no longer regarded as acceptable.

The words niggardly ("miserly") and snigger ("to laugh derisively") do not refer either to black people or to characteristics or behavior attributed to black people, nor do they have any etymological connection with the word. Niggard (a miserly person) and the verb niggle come from the Old Norse verb nigla -- "to fuss about small things". As such words are easily mistaken for "nigger," their use is frowned upon and sometimes seen as offensive. David Howard, a white city official in Washington, D.C., resigned from his job in January 1999, when he used niggardly in a fiscal sense while talking with African American colleagues, who took offense at his use of the word. Howard later was reinstated, after the furor subsided.

Revisionist usage

In the United Kingdom, the word was in common use throughout the first half of the twentieth century to denote a shade of dark brown. "Nigger" was famously the name of a Black Labrador belonging to the RAF Second World War hero Wing Commander Guy Gibson. The dog died before the 617 Squadron's 1943 raid on the Ruhr dams (the "Dam Busters raid"), and "Nigger" was adopted as the radio code word signaling the destruction of the Möhne dam. Because of the modern connotations of the name, the British television broadcaster ITV now tries to reduce offense by editing out some scenes including the dog when it broadcasts the film Dam Busters. This has been condemned by some as "revisionist", although the edited version apparently produced fewer complaints than a previous uncensored broadcast. However, this scene probably has been viewed more times than any other part of the movie. It was worked into the background of the infamous hotel-room sequence in the Pink Floyd film The Wall, during which the word nigger can be plainly heard coming from the television.

"Nigger" versus "nigga": the new revisionism

Since the 1980s, a common argument among some young African Americans and other youth centers on the pronunciation of nigger as "nigga". Nigga, they contend, is simply a synonym for accepted slang words such as dude and guy. This was the (rejected) argument given by now-infamous secondary English teacher Paul Dawson, who was white, in defending his use of the word to refer to a black student, for which he was given two weeks' suspension without pay. Such use of nigga is heavily dependent on context. It could be an insult to say, "Hey, you niggaz"; whereas, "What up, my niggaz?" might sometimes be acceptable among blacks only. Also, if a non-black refers to a black person as a "nigga", it is sometimes considered insulting. In the first example, the use of "you guys" is similar to "you people", a phrase often seen as off-putting when used by whites to refer to blacks. The second example is in the African-American tradition of using the word to express kinship or affection.

Proponents of this neo revisionist usage of the term believe nigger, in its vernacular pronunciation, is harmless. Moreover, many believe it draws a line between blacks as victims of racism and blacks as empowered, street-wise individuals. In an interview in the documentary Tupac: Resurrection, Tupac Shakur explains, "Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; Niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs." On the track "Violent," from his 1992 album "2Pacalypse Now," Shakur interprets "nigga" as an acronym standing for "Never Ignorant, Getting Goals Accomplished."

Opponents of this view argue that nigga is simply nigger pronounced with a southern accent, that the revisionist spelling is merely a phonetic representation of the word as it always has been pronounced in African American Vernacular English and nothing more. Nigger, they point out, is also pronounced "nigga" by many who intend it as a racial slur. While proponents of the neo revisionist use of nigga contend they have "reclaimed" the word and robbed it of its racist connotations, critics dispute this. They claim such usage has not changed the word's centuries-old, racist nature. African Americans generally never consider the usage acceptable in any context by nonblacks. Usage by members of other ethnic groups is viewed as racist and/or, as with much of nonblack, hip-hop culture, a form of cultural appropriation. In the film Rush Hour (film), Chris Tucker uses the word in one scene; and then in a subsequent scene, when Jackie Chan repeats Tucker's line in front of a bartender (while affecting an African American dialect), he thus instigates a riot.

A passage from the African American Registry echoes this sentiment:

arguments may not be true to life. Brother (Brotha) and Sister (Sistah or Sista) are terms of endearment. Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect. ...the artificial dichotomy between blacks or African Americans (respectable and middle-class) and niggers (disrespectable and lower class) ought to be challenged. Black is a nigger, regardless of behavior, earnings, goals, clothing, skills, ethics, or skin color. Finally, if continued use of the word lessened its damage, then nigger would not hurt or cause pain now. Blacks, from slavery 'til today, have internalized many negative images that white society cultivated and broadcast about black skin and black people. This is mirrored in cycles of self- and same-race hatred. The use of the word nigger by blacks reflects this hatred, even when the user is unaware of the psychological forces involved. Nigger is the ultimate expression of white racism and white superiority no matter how it is pronounced.

Combinations with other words

Within American culture, following the word nigger with a second word connotes an extremely negative conception of that second word, usually playing to racist stereotypes. Thus, to call someone "nigger rich" is to say that they unwisely spend their entire paycheck upon its receipt. To say someone is playing "nigger hockey" implies that they're cheating. To say that something is "nigger-rigged" suggests that it was hastily or carelessly improvised from any available materials. To say that a victory was a "nigger-win" suggests that the victory was not justified and most likely a result of cheating or other forms of illegitimacy. While such phrases are used to describe people of any race, they are nonetheless considered as racist as using the word nigger by itself.

Nigger-lover is a derogatory term used to characterize whites who sympathize with blacks. This term is more commonly used by racist whites against other whites.

The term wigger, or whigger, refers to a young, white mimicker of certain affectations of hip-hop and thug culture. It is a portmanteau of white and nigger. The word is widely considered offensive because of its similarity to nigger and because it reflects stereotypical notions about blacks.

However, some people have now embraced the usage of the word "wigga."

Similarly, other portmanteaus formed from nigger, also considered offensive, are used to describe other groups.

These include combining nigger with Chinese, to produce chigger, (not to be confused with the parasitic arthropod), with Korean, kigger; and with spic (a slur for a Latino), to produce spigger. Also to deride those of Mexican descent is the term "taco nigger". The terms timber nigger, prairie nigger, and swamp nigger are used in some areas to refer to Native Americans. This term is found more in the northern part of the United States where the original Native Americans flourished in the large forests that once existed there. Sand nigger refers to those of Arab or Persian descent, snow nigger is a slur against those of Inuit descent, and rice nigger and slant-eyed nigger are slurs similarly directed at Asians in general. Those of Irish descent are sometimes referred to as potato niggers, and Germans called NigMeisters. People of Polynesian descent are derisively called pineapple niggers.

References

Cited references

General references

Robert F. Worth (Fall 1995). "Nigger Heaven and the Harlem Renaissance". African American Review. 29 (3): 461–473.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
"nigger". (2 ed.). 1989. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |ency= ignored (help)
Swan, Robert J. (2003). New Amsterdam gehenna: segregated death in New York City, 1630-1801. Brooklyn: Noir Verite Press. ISBN 0972281304.
Smith, Stephanie (2005). Household words: bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, nigger, cyber. Minneapolis: University of Missesota Press. ISBN 0816645523.
Kennedy, Randall (2002). Nigger : the strange career of a troublesome word. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0375421726. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Fuller, Neely (1984). The united independent compensatory code/system/concept: A textbook/workbook for thought, speech, and/or action, for victims of racism (white supremacy).

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