"Negro with two g's"

[Laurence Horn]

On Mar 9, 2013, at 2:13 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
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> *PS It doesn't seem quite right to describe phrases like "the N-word" as euphemisms, though that usage seems to be pervasive (see, e.g., the Wikipedia entry for "nigger"). To say that "A" is a euphemism for "B" is to say that A denotes politely what B denotes rudely, but in this case the words are not co-extensive: "A" denotes "B" not B's.  Is there a name for this type of expression?
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Well, increasingly it does seem to be used to denote B's, maybe because of the inevitable confusion of use and mention, maybe because of exigency/taboo avoidance:  "X called Y an/the N-word" seems to function exactly like any other god-fearing euphemism, although to be sure in other contexts "the N-word" is used to refer to the word, not its referent.  I guess the real shift from whatever-we-call-it to a true euphemism would be when X can actually hurl "You N-word" at Y as an epithet.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this transition has already been made.

LH

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