n-word

[Duane Campbell]

On Fri, 7 Dec 2001 10:26:40 -0500 Ellen Johnson <ejohnson at BERRY.EDU

> Patricia Williams, an African- American professor at
> Columbia Law School, objected to the title: "That word is a
> bit like fire - you can warm your hands with the kind of
> upside-down camaraderie that it gives, or you can burn a
> cross with it. But in any case it depends on the context
> and the users' intention

More often it depends on the hearer's perception of the users' [sic]
intention(s).

D