OK, I'll admit it...I USED to use the n-word (but NEVER in a derogatory fashion or with malice) back when I didn't know any better (think mid 70s). I was born in 60, and Richard Pryor was one of our comedic icons in the early/mid 70s. 'Nigga please' was one of his trademark lines, and often repeated by me and my white friends (even amongst our black friends), without even thinking twice about it (...it IS all about setting, and the intent of the word imo). Several years later (I think it was after his lighter incident), I saw a Pryor interview where he displayed remorse for his proclivity with using the word in his comedy routine, and vowed never to use it again... I haven't either.

If we resort to Orwellian "newspeak" by purging words from our vocabulary (even offensive ones), we run the risk of losing a part of our history and the lessons taught by it.

As distasteful as it may seem, slavery, oppression, racial predjudice and bigotry are part of our history. If we engage in revisionist history through this kind of P.C.-gone-amok stuff, we'll inevitably make the same mistakes again.

Words are purged from our vocabulary all the time. Compare Shakespearean leanguage to modern. Does that mean we engaged in revisionist history when we quit using "thou" as well?

I am usually staunchly anti-PC, however I don't think the idea that racial slurs should not be part of common language is necessarily PC. I think that the "n" word is very hateful and damaging and it should be placed on the scrapheap of useless and outdated words, no matter what the color of the skin of the person using the word happens to be.

i think it was saturday night live that did a skit about a cereal or something called 'nigga please'.

It's already on the scrapheap, but there's always people digging around in the garbage, using what they find

That's evolution of language - we're talking about deliberate exclusion of words for the express purpose of writing something out of history. Entirely different. Undoubtedly the "n" word will eventually fall into obscurity all on its own, but we should let it run its own course rather than trying to artificially bury it.

Think of the scary precedent it sets if we're allowed to "Disneyfy" our history. . .

I didn't even realise the N-word was an offensive name, probably until I was close to my teens. I remember looking through photographs at my Grandma's and seeing pictures of my Dad as a kid with a black dog. Both my Grandmother and my Dad told me about his dog and there was no shame what-so-ever in his name, which was N***er. His dog was named after Guy Gibson's (of Dambusters fame) dog, and the dog's name is clearly mentioned in the movie.
This was perfectly acceptable then. Imagine my Dad as a kid, standing in the middle of a field and calling his dog. But I doubt a kid would be able to do that now. So when was it decided, and by whom, that this word is suddenly offensive?

To me, if someone uses the word in an offensive manner, it just shows their ignorance.

The problem seems to be that some folk just refuse to let anything die. For goodness sake, it's history and there is nothing that anyone can do about it now, so just let it go and move on.

I see the same thing down here in the South with the civil war. For some reason there are people who can't let that go either. On one side there are the Southern born and bred who still think they're confederates and they want their flag, and on the other are the people who equate the confederate flag as a sign of oppression. I understand both sides, but again why can't you just let it go? Let the folks have their flag if they want it, but if you have it use it with respect, not on bumper stickers. It isn't that difficult is it?

I agree with Jeff, that the word should not be banned, it's part of history after all. But it should be used in context and with respect, no matter whether you're a comedian, a rap singer, or a news reader of any color.

If I choose to call someone N, it would be Jesse and his Frodo sidekick.
Both cause more seperation than Richards ever did, or will.
Rika

I don't think if people stopped using the word it would suddenly write slavery and oppression of black people out of history at all. It would simply help to stop some of the continuing discrimination against blacks and perhaps help move the black community more into the rest of America.

Right now every group wants to be separate. They are more concerned about the African or Mexican or Cuban part of the hypenated term than the American part.

No one is going to "stop" using the word. The entire Jesse Jackson et al proposal to do so is ridiculous. Why doesn't Jesse just declare his candidacy for '08 and get it over with (because that's probably his intent), instead of attempting a political platform by calling on people to slice and dice obscenities from the American dialect?

"Negro" morphed by southerners to "negra" morphed to.....You get the idea. Words are simply words. It is the relevance we give them that makes all the difference.

One of my old hunting buddies had a female black lab. We spent a lot of time standing in a field hollaring her name. She went by "Oprah".

Did you see that now the victems are suing Richards:mad:

Pair of punks don't deserve a dime, here is a quote by one of them. http://www.buzzhumor.com/videos/4781...urst_Speak_Out

i feel hurt, too..actually more than just a little. i want my money, too.. :( i have many black friends..we want to join the money parade. :)
ryan

30 years ago, my grandfather used the "n" word exclusively when talking about a black man. He didn't seem to use it as derogatory label, it is just what he called them. I can remember as the years passed, my grandmother would start correcting him by saying "negro" or colored's. Last time I heard him, he used the word "blacks". Is "afro-american" now the only PC correct way to refer to someone who is black? Are the words: negro, black or colored acceptable anymore in many parts of the country or is afro american the only correct way nowadays?

My grandpa grew up in the midwest and I respect him more than anyone else I know when it comes to morality, so please don't make any assumptions that he was a hood wearing KKK member. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. :)

I just got to wondering what the concensous was on acceptable terminology around the country.

I have never understood why blacks refer to each other as "nigger" in the first place. I'm white, but I don't call my friends "cracker", "honky" or "whitey".

Can one of you well-informed "crackers" clue me in on this?

It might be different 'cos the rappers spell it nigga. But what would I know, I'm a vanilla faced limey!
:)

Sorry....

Can one of you CRACKA'S clue me in!

I remember years ago reading a story in a hunting magazine about a gentleman that had fled Kenya and taken up residence in Texas. He was a professional hunter, or "white hunter" as they were known. His family had been in Africa since the mid 1800's. He rather cheekishly described himself as an "African-American" at times, asserting he had just as much claim to the title as some one whose family had been here, rather than in Africa, for the last several generations.

So is john kerry's wife