Is 'the N word' offensive or just acceptable everyday slang?

[sp1814]

I would appear to be the latter in Australia:

http://www.dailymail....N-word-offensive.html

Would any Ab'er use the phrase in front of a black person they didn't know, and if so, in what context?

[jno]

there was a similar case in England in 1977. Cutting and pasting:

John Kingsley Read, moving that year from the National Front to the competing British National Party, told a meeting:

‘Fellow racialists, fellow Britons, and fellow Whites, I have been told I cannot refer to coloured immigrants. So you can forgive me if I refer to n*ggers, w*gs and c*ons.’ Then, speaking about the murder of Gurdip Singh Chaggar, Read said, ‘Last week in Southall, one n*gger stabbed another n*gger. Very unfortunate. One down, a million to go.’

He was charged with incitement to racial hatred. At the trial in 1977 Judge Neil McKinnon “directed the jury that the law against incitement to racial hatred did not cover ‘reasoned argument in favour of immigration control or even repatriation.’” The learned fellow concluded that “it was difficult to say what it is that this defendant is alleged to have done that amounts to a criminal offence.” Accordingly the jury found John Kingsley Read not guilty and Her Majesty’s judicial representative gave him some cordial advice for the future: “By all means propagate the views you may have but try to avoid involving the sort of action which has been taken against you. I wish you well.”

(My asterisks, to avoid outraging the AB swear filter.) Anyway, the result was pretty much the same as is now the case in Australia: widespread outrage.

[TheTruthHere]

jno i wonder how much of that is true remember when the bnp was on telly

The BBC are facing criticism today after inviting The British Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin onto it's show 'Question Time' last night, on which Griffin described homosexuality as "creepy"

What he said was, Grown men kissing in public is creepy to most people. You don’t often see it but if you do see it, it’s not a matter of homophobia,

See how people change things round.

[sp1814]

I wonder which survey Mr Griffin was referring to...

Not this one obviously!

http://news.bbc.co.uk..._politics/8479624.stm

Bigots generally assume they 'represent' the majority...what they fail to appreciate is that they don't, because the vast majority of Brits aren't bigots.

[sp1814]

naomi24

It's exactly the same as the 'c' word (rhymes with 'runt').

There are certain sections of our society who happily refer to women with word...but the majority find the word offensive.

Same as the 'n' word.

[mike11111]

I think I've asked this before on another thread many moons ago, but when I was a child the traditional rhyme for selecting people to play games in the schoolyard was, "Eeny, meeny,miney mo, catch a $$$$$$$ by the toe" . What do kids chant nowadays?

[naomi24]

sp, sorry that answer makes no sense. To be honest I wasn't aware that women are referred to in those terms, but surely anyone would be offended by it.

However, it seems that some black people aren't offended by the 'N' word. They are only offended if the wrong person says it.

[sandyRoe]

Context is everything. If a racist man from one of the states in the deep south of the USA said it, it would carry one meaning. If a black man says it to another it means something entirely different.

[ludwig]

//At the trial in 1977 Judge Neil McKinnon ......etc etc //

Exactly jno. Australia are about 30 years behind us in that respect. It wouldn't happen here now. If you can find a recent case in Britain though I'll stand corrected.

To all the people who aren't sure whether it's offensive, there's a sure fire easy way to find out - next time you see a black person, just go and call them a ni66er - if the reaction isn't positive, it's safe to assume they were offended.

[naomi24]

Yes, I understand that Sandy, but I can't see why people expect the use of certain words to be restricted solely to one section of society. Surely they would prefer the word to be stricken from the language altogether.

[Carol Anne]

My gay colleagues at work frequently use the P and Q words (and some others, that I would have considered highly offensive) when talking about their pals and their escapades.

[jno]

TheTruthHere, it definitely happened - I remember it and I was as surprised as anyone. (Well, anyone not in the National Front, anyway.)

[mike11111]

Please elaborate Carol Anne - I'm becoming interested now.

[naomi24]

Carol Anne, I know gays who do that too. Same sort of thing in a way - except the 'N' word has such horrendous connotations attached to it. I really can't see how anyone finds it acceptable in whatever context it's used. Maybe a lot of them are ignorant of its history.

[sandyRoe]

If a word has the power to insult, hurt, or belittle someone. Like the n-word in a racial context, or the q-word in a sexual one. Then those people who are targeted by it might use it, and by doing so, lessen its power.
But when someone outside the group uses it, it's still offensive.

[jno]

ludwig, yes, you're probably right. Alternatively, both cases might just have been the actions of rogue judges hopelessly out of line with the majority of the country, in which case it's harder to draw useful parallels because the sample is so small. Racism in Australia seems to have received a bit of a boost from the arrivals of refugees from the black South African regime - so there have been reports of cricket crowds in Perth (the first stop for South Africans) jeering Indian players as 'kaffirs', which simply isn't an Australian word.

[sp1814]

sandyRoe - that pretty much sums it up perfectly!

[birdie1971]

Naomi – I agree that sp1814's recent answer makes no logical sense. I too have never heard men use the 'c' word to routinely refer to women and I have never heard women use the 'c' word to describe other women in anything other than a deeply disparaging way.

I don't agree that any particular social group should have the exclusive use of any racial or sexual epithet. If a word is insulting, it's insulting. The colour of the skin, the sex or the sexual orientation of the person saying the words shouldn't be a factor.

I honestly believe that in the case of the 'n' word, the black people who are using it to casually refer to one another are displaying a staggering lack of judgement. They are slowly bringing back into common usage a word that optimises oppression, cruelty and injustice.

[ttfn]

back to the op - I have in my sewing box both elephant grey and n..............brown sylko's. As a child I had a black sambo money box and a black doll - and I haven't even started on the Robertsons gollyw.o.g. badges

[jno]

mike1111, in jno jnr's childhood it was 'catch a tiger by the toe'. And the Agatha Christie book is filmed as 'Ten Little Indians' I think.