Props

[Barnhart]

Following, for what it's worth, is the entry from John Holm¿s
Dictionary of Bahamian English (c. 1982) (submitted with diacritics,
but you're system may not read them):

nigger, _n._ 1. [OED a negro ... usu. contemptuous; cf. US Black “when
used by a whit person addressing a black person usually it is offensive
and disparaging; used by black people among themselves, it is a racial
term with undertones of warmth and good will--reflecting, aside from
the irony, a tragicomic sensibility that is aware of black history”
(Major)]
a black person (not necessarily derogatory):
1880 _The newly converted negro ... was persuaded to be baptized by
immersion in the ocean, and having accidentally slipped from the grasp
of the officiating clergyman while his wooly head was under water,
declared, so soon as he could get the sea out of his eyes and
mouth--“Some gemman kum nare losing a good nigger by dis yere cussed
foolishness_” (Ives 164). <Black>
2. [cf. Haitian “En créole le mot _nègre_ désigne encore l'homme en
général sans acception de race” (Faine 1974:313)]
(any) person:
_I bet you're one happy nigger_ [to a white] (Nassau).
_Dat nigger could dance!_ [of a white] (Nassau). <Black>
3. [cf. US Black _my nigger_ best friend (Brown 1972:135); cf. Haitian
_men nèg mwen_ that's my friend man (Gaujean p.c.); cf. Haitian _nèg_
man (male person) HCEFD and Reunion Cr. Fr. _monwa:r_ (cf. Fr. _mon
noir_) my friend (Chaudenson 1974:158)]
a male friend or a boyfriend (youth clang; not derogatory):
_Dancie say you better don't mess round with her nigger!_ (Nassau).
<Black>
4. a person (of any race) who acts the opposite of a gentleman. <White>
5. a sly person. <Adelaide>

Regards,
David K. Barnhart

barnhart at highlands.com