N-word - def. not covered

Thu Dec 1 22:43:52 UTC 2011

And then there's John Lennon's "Woman is the Nigger of the World"
(although I suppose usage in a song can't be considered "outside
literature"). Here the emphasis seems to be as much on "servile" and
"downtrodden" as on "contemptible" and "inferior."

In defense of the song, which was banned in Britain for its word choice
and not particularly well received elsewhere, (African-American)
Congressman Ron Dellums is reported to have said, "If you define
'nigger' as someone whose lifestyle is defined by others, whose
opportunities are defined by others, whose role in society is defined by
others, the good news is that you don't have to be black to be a nigger
in this society. Most of the people in America are niggers."

Lynne Hunter

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Subject: Re: N-word - def. not covered

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> On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 10:35 PM, Benjamin Barrett
<gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> OED
>> 2b. Any person whose behaviour is regarded as reprehensible.
derogatory.
>>
>> The AHD is similarly close:
>>
>> 2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive . a person of any race
or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant,etc.
>
> Do these usages have any genuine existtnce outside of literature?

This seems to be what Senator Robert Byrd is getting at with his use
of "white nigger" in this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIBJt-c2o0

> the wild, I've often heard, for lack of a better term, "loser-grade"
> speakers from among members of the black underclass - we boojies don't
> live in any such dream - attempt to redefine "nigger" as having this
> kind of non-racist pseudo-meaning. I've already posted a paraphrase of
> the mockery of this argument that occurs in the anime, The Boondocks,
> spoken by the whigger, Gin Rummy: "When I say "nigger," I don't mean
> no disrespect, 'cause, by 'nigger,' I mean 'a ignorant motherfucker'
> and a ignorant motherfucker can be _any_ race."
>
> Well, needless to say, it's true that an ignorant motherfucker _can_
> be "any race."
>
> But, in the United States, not a nigger.
>
> BTW, in some parts of the world, even "Negro" presents a problem for
> some speakers. As I was reading the synopsis written by an Indian of a
> Bollywood movie, I was startled to see one of the characters described
> as a "Dravidian _Negro_."
>
>> Here, not only is being productive the issue, but apparently being a
_recent_ African immigrant evidently > > > disqualifies him from fitting
the definition.
>
> More likely, it's his being a Muslim that precludes the possibility of
> his being, in his mind, any parts of "nigger." But, would a black
> foreigner already be fully aware of what it means to be referred to as
> a "nigger" and be prepared to defend himself against the charge?
> Richard Pryor once posited as, presumably, a joke, the existence of
> schools run by the INS to train the fresh-off-the-boat in the ways of
> American racism.
>
> However, as, e.g. V.S. Naipaul, among others, has noted, in
> sub-Saharan Africa and, IMO, even in the Middle East, Muslims,
> regardless of their personal phenotypes, regard themselves as
> absolutely non-black and non-Negro, in any sense of these terms
> whatsoever, whether cultural or racial, even as they break-dance,
> high-five, and rap. These things are, after all, _American_. They have
> nothing whatever to do with any "niggertry," to borrow once more from
> The Boondocks.
>
> Hasn't anyone here besides me ever actually _looked_ at photos of
> random Saudi or, especially, Sudanese "Arabs"? Would former Saudi oil
> minister, Prince Ahmed Zaki Yamani, look at all out of place at an
> NAACP meeting? Are there any Sudanese "Arabs" at all fairer of
> complexion than Johnny Mathis? Or even my own brothers, for that
> matter? Did no one else see the members of the troupe of Berber
> musicians on the Daily Colbert Hour, the other night?
>
> OTOH, there was the time when I casually mentioned to a Turkish
> friend, Engin - you know him, don't you, Larry? - that, when I had
> merely seen him around, I thought that he was some kind of black
> person, possibly from the Caribbean, he. was. Absolutely. Fucking.
> SHOCKED! STUNNED! MIND-BLOWN! His reaction was, in fact, so
> overwhelmingly, surprisingly negative that, if we hadn't already
> enjoyed a close friendship of over a quarter-century, I would have
> immediately cut him out of my life. As it is, the revelation that, in
> order to be my friend, he's had to overcome his "natural" antipathy
> for the darker brother has permanently colored <har! har!> our
> relationship.
>
> Despite the darkness of his complexion, the bluntness of his features,
> and the curliness of his hair, it was simply beyond his comprehension
> that it could be at all possible for anyone to mistake him for a
> Negro. He forgot that "Negro" doesn't necessarily refer to the
> tar-black-skinned, Brillo-haired, thick-red-lipped, flat-nosed,
> blackamoor Sambo caricature in the United States, I reckon.
>
> The use of "n-word" in the subject nearly prevented me from realizing
> that there was anything of interest to me in this thread.
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> 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.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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