The "N" Word?

Question

What exactly does it mean to you? Because people say it means "ignorant black person," though some people take it in another way. Also, why do YOU feel black people don't appreciate it when "certain" people make use of the word.

By the way, I'm black myself, and I feel like no one should use the word. But, I'd rather just black people use it than any other race.

It seems as though a lot of people say it to be cool. I hear mexicans/hispanics say it more than black people at school sometimes, and it irritates me. Not to offend them, it's just, stop saying it.

Answer 1

Actually, The N word means Ignorant Person, there is a such thing as a White N****. I believe that it is a horrible word that should never be used.

Answer 2

Well there is a difference. There is the n word that ends with "gger" and the other ends in "gga".

The first is what whites called us to try to break up down and feel inferior to them by giving us a different name besides human, or man, or person.

So I think the word ***** was us putting a remix on the insulting word slave masters gave us. Instead of it meaning your an animal we have changed the word as well as the definition. Now calling someone "*igga" means friend or brother.

However "*igga" is still to close to that other word for them to say it without getting a serious beat down.

For hundreds of years we were slaves, our women were raped, and we were treated like less than a dog.

then there was segregation which lasted another 100 years.

So us a blacks have a right to call each other that because there is no way another black man will call you a *igga cause he is one too if he looks at black in the light.
it doesn't matter what you say, it's the meaning behind it.

Answer 3

Originally it meant one from the Niger region or a Nigerian. At one point in our history blacks were called Negroes and it wasnt a derogatory term, that became everyday slang into the word and that root word can still be found in the dictionary today. It also can be found in literature as dialoge that is period correct. Huck Finn would have never called Jim an Afro-American or Black Man because those terms simply were not used at that time, they were unknown to Mark Twain.

The word is offensive if it is used offensively. People of all colors use it the wrong way. Some blacks feel by using the word as a "brotherly word between friends" it takes away the stigma. I agree with you, I would prefer if it were not used at all. Unfortunately as it has shock value, that is unlikely to happen. When society refuses to be shocked by it, when the reaction to the word becomes boredom, it will stop being used.

Answer 4

I am a white woman from the Deep South and I was a student radical during the 60s. I think of the man my mother found lynched in her front yard when she was 10, and how the sheriff didn't think his death was important enough to open a case. I think of the signs marked "colored" on bathrooms and drinking fountains. I think about having my friend Cheryl stay the night with me in the 6th grade and finding that word followed by "lover' painted on our house the next day. I think of the angry black kids that don't like me because I am white.

People should use the word to remember how bad it was, instead of as an inside joke to set themselves apart again.

Answer 5

The "N" word is just slang. There are atleast 15 different racial slurrs for black people. From the "N" word to tar baby. I disagree with all slang racist words for any color. I believe that if the word were not used by the race it was talking about, it might die down quicker. now adays, I hear the "N" word by balcks 100 times more than I do from any other race. I hardly ever hear slant eye, or kike, or cracker cause those races don t use it on themselves. I think that most slang words including racial slang just shows a lower evolutionary scale of person with a lower IQ. People are people, one species!

Answer 6

i really hate when people of all races use the word... NOBODY should use it, even if they are black. but it throws me off when i hear people of all races using the word as a greeting... as in " hey n^&&@" i guess in todays lack of respect and honor it all depends on the way it is said. if it is said nicely, it is good.. but when something wrong is said, its bad. ive also heard it used as a general term for all black people. and i think it does make a difference if a white person ar a black person says it.... another word becoming more involved in our language is cracker, for white people. if it is said by a white person it is a joke, but when said by a black person an insult. i hope that helps you find the answewr to your question

Answer 7

All races have their low lifes and some people including blacks refer to each other this way, it's not always used in a negative connotation, however. I have several friends that I would even call them the N word jokingly and they really would not mind but I understood it better when one of them explained the negative and positive connotations.

Answer 8

I've been taught it means 'trash', from my grandparents and dad. It doesn't matter what the outside color of the person is, inside is trash.

I'm what you call 'The Prairie Mix', Native American & white. Believe me, I've been called some horrible things in this life. But you just shine it on and carry on.

Answer 9

I think i have to agree with you i'm black to and i have white friends not to judge people like that but when they come up to me and say what up my N and stuff like it gets on my nerves and when people try and act like gansters that annoys me a bunch to most of them are white and middle class they just wanna be cool i think its dumb

Answer 10

If you are comfortable with who you are ;then what people say is their problem, they are the ones looking and sounding stupid