Props

[Dennis R. Preston]

I can date it to at least 1969, Columbus, Ohio. Three
African-American kids were riding in my car in what was to them an
unfamilair white neighborhood. A funny looking old geezer (white) was
walking along the street. (Before anyone take offense, I am a funny
looking old white geezer, so I get to say it in solidarity with all
FLOWGs). One of the kids said "Look at the funny looking old nigger!"
The other kids looked and laughed and did not react at all to the
usage. When I asked them about it later, they said they often used
the word to refer to a strange or outlandish person (among other
uses), regardless of race. When the same kid used it around his
mother later (in a related sense, although the context did not mkake
it as clear that race was not involved) she shot him a nasty look,
since she obviously did not want the word used in my presence. The
pronunciation was, by the way, r-full.

dInIs

>>dn't be used by whites.
>>
>>While the hip-hop 'nigga' makes for an easily identifiable alternative to
>>'nigger', and is generally seen as a positive black-on-black use, rather
>>than the pejorative 'nigger', 'nigger', irrespective of spelling, has been
>>used in a positive manner long before 1991.
>
>
>Before I get more misunderstandings, I better clarify. Non-racial use
>is not black-on-black or positive, which is ancient. It means the
>term is used to mean roughly "dude." I'm Jewish, and I've been
>referred to by it. You can get expressions like "No, not Paul, it's
>that White nigga" or "Chinese nigga."
>
>I could use it too, but it would elicit some odd looks unless they
>knew I was "playin'" , much as if I used "mad" meaning "a lot" since
>I'm (1) not a hip-hopper and (2) old. If I went around doing it, I
>would be accused of being fake not racist.
>--
>Michael Newman
>Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics
>Dept. of Linguistics and Communication Disorders
>Queens College/CUNY
>Flushing, NY 11367

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736