Racial epithet makes news

[Robin Hamilton]

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John M." <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Racial epithet makes news
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
>        I think there is an interesting question, though, as to what
> extent an otherwise offensive term is ameliorated by its use in a set
> phrase.  Certainly some speakers and writers think that it is:  For
> example, Agatha Christie on several occasions used the phrase "nigger in
> the woodpile."  I don't know of any other occasions when she used
> "nigger"; she probably would have thought it inconsistent, when used on
> a stand-alone basis, with the tone she sought.  Contemporary editions of
> her work seem to have the phrase edited out, which would seem to imply
> that the word retains some measure of its offensive character, even when
> used in a set phrase.
>
>
> John Baker

Well, there's her novel which started life with the title (in 1939) as _Ten
Little Niggers_ before being ameliorated to _Ten Little Indians_ (sic!) and
ending as, _And Then There Were None_.

Again, the context isn't entirely straightforward -- the original title
draws on a counting rhyme (UK only?), and while offensive in the UK,
"nigger" has (or had) a different semantic spread to that in US English,
referring to *any non-white figure, rather than specifically African
American or West Indian.

Possibly marginally related, the English children's author Enid Blyton toned
down the language of Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus tales about Brer
Rabbit and Brer Fox for an English audience.

Robin


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 8:57 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Racial epithet makes news
>
> If I may play the devil's advocate, "Injun" may be rightly offensive in
> ordinary discourse for obvious reasons. That does not entail that the
> phrase
> "Honest Injun" is meant to be or should reasonably be understood as
> offensive.  For critics to jump on Steele with both feet for saying
> "Honest
> Injun" and for CNN implicitly to endorse that reaction (when it could
> have
> reported it without comment) strikes me as disproportionate to the
> offense.
> (Like that matters.)

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