"Nigga" untrademarkable?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 3/17/06, David Bergdahl <dlbrgdhl at gmail.com> wrote:
>
[Jonathan Lighter:]
> >  There is (or was recently) a Jewish-interest magazine daringly called
> > _Hebe_. The title aroused plenty of controversy (as it was no doubt intended
> > to), but the publishers insisted that the name was chosen to show how "edgy"
> > and "hip" the magazine was. They also hoped that their efforts would help
> > remove some of the epithet's negative force. Cf. the mostly academic use of
> > "queer," for simlar reasons.
>
> Hebe is still around--targeted to college students mostly.  Found in hip
> stores on campus.

It's actually called _Heeb_: <http://www.heebmagazine.com/>.

(Is "Heeb" hipper than "Hebe"?)


--Ben Zimmer

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