The N word.

[Tom Joad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ezVpT8Zew

[HarmanKardon]

What about Thomas Wolfe? Did he use this word? I had all his novels, the play "Manor House" and the letters in German translation and LOVED all his books. Until I noticed that he was an antisemit and a racist.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ezVpT8Zew

When Louie CK is on his game, there aren't many funnier humans.

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Where did you come up with an idea like that?

The "N word" is a reference to skin color. The polite term used to be Negro which is the Spanish word for black. The "N word" may be a corruption of that or perhaps a corruption of the French word for black, negre. (The pronunciation of negre is closer.)

I don't really know or care at what point in the history of the word it came to be thought of and began to be used offensively. The only thing I care about id that it is so considered and so used now and the people who use it succeed in labeling themselves more than they insult the target.

See here,


http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_e...-brief-history

[donquixote99]

If someone thinks up odd personal meanings for words, such as 'nigger' means 'out-of-work,' it's likely to pose difficulties for communication. Moreover, since the word used as a racial slur is considered a sharp and shameful-to-use insult, one may suspect the one proposing such a redefinition is seeking to duck condemnation, thus allowing use of the word in a double sense. That is, to fellow bigots it signals one thing, while that meaning becomes deniable to critics. This is an example of passive aggression--transgressing behind a pretense of innocence.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

What about Thomas Wolfe? Did he use this word? I had all his novels, the play "Manor House" and the letters in German translation and LOVED all his books. Until I noticed that he was an antisemit and a racist.

Quite possibly but, these days, when an author uses the word, it's usually to put it in a character's mouth to show us something less than positive the author wants to reveal about him or her.

That's in modern times, of course. In a previous era, Mark Twain used the term liberally but it was revelatory of the culture he wrote about, not about a particilar character. In "Huckleberry Finn", Twain created the character of Jim, a runaway slave and very much the hero of certain parts of the book but he was described as a nigger throughout it.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Quite possibly but, these days, when an author uses the word, it's usually to put it in a character's mouth to show us something less than positive the author wants to reveal about him or her.

That's in modern times, of course. In a previous era, Mark Twain used the term liberally but it was revelatory of the culture he wrote about, not about a particilar character. In "Huckleberry Finn", Twain created the character of Jim, a runaway slave and very much the hero of certain parts of the book but he was described as a nigger throughout it.

All words mean what the user intends in the user's head, and what those who hear or read think in their heads. When these are the same, accurate communication has occurred. However, there are lots of ways for inaccuracy to happen.

The most benign meaning I know of for 'nigger,' historically, would be something like 'black person, therefore a racially inferior person whose exploitation by whites is supported and encouraged, and who may actually be treated with savage hostility without consequence.' Mark Twain's writing documents a time when the word was in open use, with this meaning accepted and unchallenged in a large majority of minds.

[HarmanKardon]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Quite possibly but, these days, when an author uses the word, it's usually to put it in a character's mouth to show us something less than positive the author wants to reveal about him or her.

That's in modern times, of course. In a previous era, Mark Twain used the term liberally but it was revelatory of the culture he wrote about, not about a particilar character. In "Huckleberry Finn", Twain created the character of Jim, a runaway slave and very much the hero of certain parts of the book but he was described as a nigger throughout it.

I fear that Wolfe, who died in 1938, used this word.

I was very familiar with this author and so I know that his racism and antisemitism was in a way "guileless", (German term: "arglos") but this guilelessness is what made at last possible so much pain and sorrow some 80 years ago.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

If someone thinks up odd personal meanings for words, such as 'nigger' means 'out-of-work,' it's likely to pose difficulties for communication. Moreover, since the word used as a racial slur is considered a sharp and shameful-to-use insult, one may suspect the one proposing such a redefinition is seeking to duck condemnation, thus allowing use of the word in a double sense. That is, to fellow bigots it signals one thing, while that meaning becomes deniable to critics. This is an example of passive aggression--transgressing behind a pretense of innocence.

Exactly.

No, bigots, you can't just go around demeaning people at will so quit your whining.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Where did you come up with an idea like that?

The "N word" is a reference to skin color. The polite term used to be Negro which is the Spanish word for black. The "N word" may be a corruption of that or perhaps a corruption of the French word for black, negre. (The pronunciation of negre is closer.)

I don't really know or care at what point in the history of the word it came to be thought of and began to be used offensively. The only thing I care about id that it is so considered and so used now and the people who use it succeed in labeling themselves more than they insult the target.

They're trying to promote the idea that the bigot is a "victim". That in shaming him, we are maliciously violating his right to be an a-hole and thus....."....hate America and everything it stands for. ".

Oh, but make fun of their religion or their politics and see who's offended now. Oh, that's right; It's not "offense" when they have their hissy fits.

See how THAT works?