Calling oneself racial and ethnic insults

[Rhea]

It was only much later that the term came to be synonymous with "Northerner." Nowadays it is used by Southerners to mean "Northern fuck," and by the rest of us to mean "New-Englander."

To the rest of the world Yank (or septic) is someone hailing from the United States.

Use that term on a Texan at your peril, though. It is often considered a deep slur against northerners by people who use it in the south where it means (often but not to all) "homewrecker, cheater, anti-culture and thug". The Northerner tends to hear the slur and have no idea of its intent and just kinda nods because, yeah, Yankee in the north means "frugal and self-sufficient"

 

[Rhea]

. I think many millennials would never quite get the derogatory nature of the word "nigger" if they weren't taught it. They grew up hearing that word used as a term of endearment in their favorite media.

That would be great. I would cheer that. It's such a cheerful and peppy little word - with so much horrible baggage. I hate the word, too. Like "cunt" it represents too much hate, scorn, derision and dehumanization.

 

[Rhea]

Gee, I thought you had just told me redneck wasn't a particularly Southern thing, and now you tell us that a good redneck owns a Confederate flag.

iirc, the rules for rednecks are somewhat different between the two states. For example, in Miz'ssippi, it is mandatory for all rednecks to have at least one major appliance - refrigerator, stove, dishwasher - rusting on the front porch. In Loozann, the appliance is optional, unless you're down in bayou country.

For the record, there are a lot of Rednecks™ - complete with confederate flags, chew tobacco and fridges on the porch - in the northeast as well. Pretty much the only way you can tell the difference is the snow on the ground in the pictures.

 

[Davka]

I said my home but not my family's home.

After having read my history in the other thread (which you probably read since you responded to it) one would notice that while my family is from Los Angeles, I was born on the east coast and moved back to Los Angeles.

Hm.

Tricky.

Lives in Los Angeles, not from Los Angeles. Refers to the South as home. Hm. Nope, there's no way for that to be parsed.

But what would a minority know about his experiences?

here's a shekel. Go buy a sense of humor. And a sense of perspective, while you're at it.

 

[Mumbles]

No, it's not. Part of that has to do with history - we never enslaved Polish or Scottish immigrants. Slavery and all the attendant dehumanization of Africans casts a long, long shadow.

And a continuing one, unfortunately - although nowhere near as bad as it was.

Or, as an alternative, think of Tupac Shakur embracing the word "thug". He was very clear that he embraced it because racists see black people that way. A white guy calling a black person the word "thug". Still suspicious at best, at least in the US.

Reminds me of the punks in London in the 1970s, but without the racial component.

I personally find the word "nigger" to be the ugliest word in the English language, bar none. When blacks use it to refer to friends, I get it, but I don't like it. It reminds me of the Orwell quote, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." I'm torn between whether the constant reminder of injustice is a bulwark against letting it continue, or an unintentional method of ensuring that it goes on forever.

Heh, I can see that - although, really, I don't know the history of the word "punk" at all. I know quite a few white folks that used a joke around the word "nigger" once as kids around their parents, and their parents gave them the worst beating of of their lives. And while I do sort of accept the difference between the "-a" ending and the "-er" ending (language evolves - when even I use the "-er" ending, it's either a quote, or a very strong insult), you're right, I wouldn't say either version at an office or whatever.

But, I may have said this on this site or it's predecessor before, the white person that will call me a nigger directly to my face (and I've had it happen - man, isn't Boston the best?), is not the worst sort of racist. Much, much worse are the people that will act like a friend, and then send you some horrible racist nonsense, and then say "Oh, no, you're one of the good ones!", or people who just suddenly pull some craziness out of nowhere, where you can't really tell for sure if it's racist, even though you think it is. The real problem isn't the word, it's the attitude - the word just lets me know exactly where they stand ahead of time, and that way, I can respond appropriately.

Not to aim that at you, Davka - I know you're good, but I've run into people in real-life who pulled that sort of shit.

 

[tantric]

i'm resurrecting this because it makes more sense than starting a new thread on the same issue.

i'm getting a lot of flak about my blog/journal/tribute to Naked Lunch because parts of it are written in prison slang, and i use 'nigga'. example:

i didn't have a phone, i hate phones anyway, but 'cause i'm diabetic and keep my sugar regulated (and the nurses love me) i get a milk, cup of cereal and an orange every night like clockwork. i hate oranges - only citrus i like are limes and kumquats, so i give my orange to a nigga i know (don't assume anything about his color, just that he's got shit going on, if you're in Smith State Prison in the beautiful state of Georgia, you're either a nigger or a nigga, despite yo DNA and shit, and you need to know which is what). so i can call my family once a week, in 4G service, or any time in an emergency, and i don't have to suitcase a cellphone (yeah).

thing is, this is not an affectation. i don't go around 'nigga dis and nigga dat' but i can use the term and it works. fuck, i went up to the nation of islam table and asked them to help me with my arabic (though by no means do you try that nigga shit with those guys) - i'm okay with my peeps, it's white folks that bug the fuck out. and by 'white' i mean 'bland'. 'nigga' entered my vocab from some twisted west-coast asian americans...my gay chinese-american friend was the first to say, 'yo mah nigga, whassup?' to mean, and i was utterly nonplussed at the time. you get over it. my thing is, around white people, i'm initially accepted, then i start talking and they kick me to the curb. elsewhere, in the real world, some folks may look at my skin (the color of the sandy loam of the great plains) and judge me, but once i start talking, i'm okay. fuck - when i was 17 i followed a hippy chick into a bootsie collins concert - y'all know parliament/p-funk, right?



i was *mesmerized* and for the first time in my life, i got out on the dance floor and got the funk down. i ain't been right since. no, that's wrong, i ain't been *white* since. i know i ain't black, i got a mf mirror. but fuck, this shit you see when you look at me is skin deep. i'm nigga down to the bone. i get away with it, i think, in part because i'm a righteous man and live by my religion. also because i don't deal with the Man and i never pass up a chance to fuck with the poe-poe.

"let me hold it down,
cause they shut you down
when you speak from yo heart
ain't that bleak on they part?
...i'm speaking the truth,
not dreams, so what the fuck they mean
my lyrics ain't clean?"

-Outkast

and though the above had a touch of righteous fury to it, i'd like a rational discussion. thoughts?

 

[NobleSavage]

Quentin Tarantino uses the word "nigger" all the time in his movies. How has that played out?

 

[NobleSavage]

Mel Brooks was always pushing the line...

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvZdVK913I[/YOUTUBE]

 

[tantric]

Quentin Tarantino uses the word "nigger" all the time in his movies. How has that played out?

i think the answer to that is 'great' but i sense some other meaning. i'd have no problem interacting with the travolta/jackson characters from that movie, though my life is more like an episode of 'justified'.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the brother fat. He's got a weight problem. What's the nigga gonna do? He's Samoan.
-Pulp Fiction

i feel i have a right to my voice. i also know i'm a stone cold master of the english language, but it so happens that ole ghetto shit is expressive, pure, subtle and deep, and it's also a better mf medium from my gd art. i also speak technical scientific english, linux/code jargon, Appalachian southern english, along with spanish, japanese and swahili to some extent.