Ghetto/nigger-rig

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I first heard heard "reggin" used as a joking replacement for
"nigger" by black college students in Los Angeles in the '50's.
"Reggin weed" I know primarily from the Urban Dictionary, though I
have heard it in the wild, upon occasion.

-Wilson

On 5/1/07, Doug Harris <cats22 at frontiernet.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Ghetto/nigger-rig
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Beyond being offensive, such terms as nigger-rig are, IMHO, more
> than a wee bit ironic, too:
> If that term is supposed to mean something has been made to "just
> barely work", it could be imagined that the fixer had, at the VERY
> least, the git-up-and-go to get (whatever) working AGAIN, even if
> not quite to designed-for standards.
> And truth be told, the person who caused (whatever) to be dysfunctional
> more'n likely was a chromatically disadvantaged person, as I am.
> --
> And I'm curious as to who uses the term 'reggin'. That sounds like a
> construction that might have been arrived at by a rapper.
> (the other) doug
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Wilson Gray
> Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 1:50 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Ghetto/nigger-rig
>
>
>
> Hasn't it been proclaimed that racism is dead? New formations such as
> "niggerbox" for boombox and "nigger-rig" as a replacement for
> "jury-rig," as well as pswaydo-euphemisms like "reggin ("nigger"
> spelled backward) weed" for low-quality grass make the 21st-century
> appear to be only numerically distinct from the 20th.
>
> -Wilson
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens
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The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.

                                           Rumanian proverb

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