[Ads-l] n-word update

[Jonathan Lighter]

The talking heads are still discussing it.

The assertion may be gaining ground that it's OK for Obama to "use" the
word because he's black, but no white person should ever be "permitted" to
utter it - presumably even in reporting on what the President of the United
States actually said.

One white anchor called it "a word most of us haven't used in over a
decade."

Presumably "use" means "mention" here as well.

Meanwhile, certain members of a rival political party are accusing Obama of
borderline hypocrisy for "using" the word even as he supposedly condemns
racism.

Another topic of growing controversy is whether the flags of seven Southern
states should be replaced because of some historical connection or visual
resemblance to one or another Confederate flag. (The Mississippi flag
actually includes the rebel flag in its canton.)

JL

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:30 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: n-word update
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "That old black magic / Has them in its spell," I reckon.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: n-word update
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > NPR found it necessary to "warn" listeners that they would actually hear
> > the word spoken by the President.
> >
> > In an unrelated development, CNN reports that at least three prominent
> > newscasters (Megyn Kelly of Fox and Jake Tappert and Anderson Cooper of
> > CNN) have announced their resolve no longer to utter the name (or even
> the
> > initials) of D----- R---.
> >
> > I seem to recall an interviewee after the Newtown massacre telling a
> > journalist she would not utter the name of killer-suicide Adam Lanza
> > because "It gives him power."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 3:56 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      n-word update
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Even the BBC World News crawl carried the headline, "Obama Uses
> N-Word."
> > >
> > > CNN has already devoted many minutes to a discussion of the President's
> > > utterance. At one point the question was raised of whether it's
> > appropriate
> > > for white journalists to report it.
> > >
> > > The journalists' answer was yes, but that doesn't make the question any
> > > less dumb
> > >
> > > And just now, Professor Cornel West has heatedly declared Mr. Obama
> "the
> > > first niggerized President."
> > >
> > > A black person is "niggerized," he explained (again heatedly), if
> they're
> > > too afraid to speak the truth about racism.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> -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
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org