[Ads-l] a different take on "chain migration"

[Baker, John]

If you are asking why some African-Americans call other African-Americans "nigger," that seems like a different question than the one you asked.

I'll let someone else expand on the in-group/out-group usage and, possibly, reclamation (although I'm not sure that there's much reclamation going on here).


John Baker



From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of paul johnson
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2018 10:09 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: a different take on "chain migration"

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It's not that I want to call anybody anything, I want to know why blacks
feel free to call each other nigger as if it's some sort of Macho
signifier?

    I'm 83 years old grew up on 47th street in Chicago which was a sort
of mixed neighborhood, (changing from white to black,) by 1963 we were
the last white family on the block. My parents called every one
including themselves by ethnic slurs Dad was a Lugan of a Hunky , mom
was a mick, their friends were dagos, wops, spics, shines,  blockheads,
krauts, niggers, chinks and so on.  I can clearly remember my mother
remarking.; I've got all nigger neighbors now and they're a lot nicer
than the polacks that used to live around here!'

With the rise of the Black Panthers I can assure you that you could not
say nigger in a black bar if you were white. In fact if memory serves
me, for a while nobody used that word unless you wanted to start something.

By the way, just like Damnyankee was at time one word, I personally
never heard honky without the descriptive 'mother f--ker


On 2/23/2018 7:07 AM, Baker, John wrote:
> I've heard the question before, but I don't understand it. Why would you want to call someone a nigger or a faggot?
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> On Feb 22, 2018, at 7:57 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM<mailto:mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM<mailto:mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM%3cmailto:mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>>> wrote:
>
>
> The same applies to the word "faggot". It's an in-group/out-group thing combined with reclamation. BB
>
>> On 22 Feb 2018, at 16:38, paul johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM<mailto:paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM<mailto:paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM%3cmailto:paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>>> wrote:
>>
>> I'm upset that on television blacks can call themselves or each other 'nigger' but I can't say it unless I'm packing. Curious, can they under that protocol, are they proscribed from calling whites 'honkys'
>>
>>
>> On 2/22/2018 6:29 PM, W Brewer wrote:
>>> Wonder who pulled her chain.
>>>
>>> -
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--
I'm not saying you're stupid, just that you have bad luck when thinking...

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