N-bomb

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 1, 2004, at 4:59 PM, Alice Faber wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: N-bomb
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Wilson Gray said:
>> On Sep 1, 2004, at 8:53 AM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>>>  On Wed, Sep 01, 2004 at 08:14:05AM -0400, Kristina Eisenhower wrote:
>>>>  I am a doctoral student in Second Language Acquisition and a new
>>>>  subscriber to this list.  If I can be so bold to ask: what the fuck
>>>>  is the "n-bomb"?
>>>
>>>  The word _nigger_.
>>>
>>>  Jesse Sheidlower
>>>  OED
>>>
>>
>> No shit?! To quote Johnny Carson, "I did not know that." Yesterday, I
>> did a quick Google of "n-bomb" and got the impression therefrom that
>> it
>> stood for "n[uclear]-bomb." So, how is this other "n-bomb" used and
>> who
>> uses it?
>
> Professional athletes, in TV (post-game) interviews might say
> (explaining a fight) "he dropped an n-bomb on me". Try your googling
> on "N bomb -neutron -nuclear". Take a look at
> <http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/205953p-177782c.html>,
> including the headline, for instance. An example, from usenet:
> <http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=8ne0uc%243q2m%241%40newssvr03-
> int.news.prodigy.com&output=gplain>.
> And another
> <http://groups.google.com/groups?
> selm=3DFEF344.BF76002%40cox.net&output=gplain>.
> And a beautiful quote from
> <http://groups.google.com/groups?
> selm=o50mta.0nv.ln%40goodways.com1net.com&output=gplain>:
> "i am sure all yall have dropped the N bomb on a some black people
> who have pissed you off.."
> --
> =======================================================================
> =======
> Alice Faber
> faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203)
> 865-6163 x258
> New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203)
> 865-8963
>

Who knew? Thanks for the cites. The only slang term/euphemism that I've
ever known or used for that is "the magic word," from back in the
'60's. FWIW, I don't even begin to agree with Chuck D. I'm on the Dave
Chappelle side of that fence.

-Wilson Gray