"Nigga" untrademarkable?

[Charles Doyle]

Right-wing politicians and hate-radio ranters seem to assume
that using "Democrat" as an adjective or attributive noun
("the Democrat scheme," "Democrat candidates," even "the
Democrat Party") will be deemed especially derogatory
(thence preferred to "Democratic").  The same, of course, is
the case with the word "Jew" ("Jew merchants," "the
international Jew conspiracy").

Is there a general Rule of Offensiveness that covers such a
process, I wonder?

Together with the offensive use of "Jew" as a verb, that
application of "Jew" might further occasion sensitivity
regarding the noun "Jew" as a personal or (to a lesser
degree) group designation.

To answer the question of a very early reponder to my
original observation/query:  My student who found the
noun "Jew" offensive was, indeed, herself Jewish--having
grown up in a part of the country (the deep South) where
Jews constitute a tiny minority, although her hometown of
Savannah harbors a very old and active Jewish community.

--Charlie

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