There is an entire blog about this subject from 2 days ago....

I wouldn't recommend it as a way of making friends and influencing people, at least not influencing people in a positive way.  I don't mind calling myself a redneck though, or, more correctly, a redneck with an education. 

I think it is really funny that the term is used among blacks but the minute someone that is not black says it, it is time to get offended. 

It's either offensive or it isn't.  I'm all for it not being used at all. 

Or for people in this country to just get over it and not cry when someone calls you a "name".  I'm going to get offended if I am ever called whitey or cracker. 

Anyone using such a word, regardless of who they are, is only perpetuating the negative.

Not all blacks are down with using the term~ I understand taking a word "back" from those who have used it against you,but after taking it back you should dig a grave for it. 

I find it a rather disturbing trend how young people talk to each other today.  Not just the N word ,but addressing friends as "fool" or "dog".  Or addressing women as "bitch" and "ho".  This words even if used in jocularity are dehumanizing and show a lack of basic respect for themselves and everybody else.  It is just another symptom of a culture that has come to deride the sanctity of human life. 

I agree Wayfarer.

But let's get real, it's all about intent. When my black or Hispanic friends call me cracker, I know the intent is not the same as when you are called a cracker in a disparaging way.

When a black calls another black "my nigga", it is not the same as a KKK member addressing him that way.

Language changes with each generation, and the previous generation is always shocked because the word had an entirely different meaning before.

Intent and how one interprets a word means everything, and if you don't know a person well, you should err on the side of the King's English.

And here i thought the N-word was "NO"...since parent's seem to have a hard time saying that one to their kids these dayss.....

I personally don't use the terms, but I too am a believer in intent. It's a social norm in certain group settings. Forget the particular word, and think of it as purely a social norm...Even if it's not an opposing hate group to that social group; even if it's just an 'outsider' trying to 'fit in' by throwing in lingo from the group's observable social norms...It won't go over well. Regardless of the group...regardless of the unique term...

Depending on each society's social norms, seemingly harmless words can become hate speak. Because of this, intention really becomes a main contributing factor when determining a 'right' or 'wrong'.

Btowntv...

Please...You remind me of the kid in high school that get up in arms over there being a BSU (Black Student Union), and come up with the brilliantly original idea of wanting to start a White Student Union, and not understanding why it's not possible...As if it's even a double standard.

There is a longstanding line of evil folkloric connentation to the N-word...not so much to 'whitey' or 'cracker'. Just because the later 2 are derrogitory terms to whites, and the first was intended as a derrogitory term for blacks does not put them on the same playing field, and anyone with a jr high education in american history would know that.

 PURE AMERICAN

GO AHEAD SAY IT. CALL ME A N*GG*ER. I AM BLACK.....COME ON..... IF YOU WANT TO SAY IT THAT BAD HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO CALL ME THE N WORD. WILL IT MAKE YOU HAPPY? WHAT WILL YOU ACCOMPLISH?  I GUESS THAT DOES NOT MATTER. THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SLEEP TONIGHT BECAUSE YOU FINALLY CALLED A BLACK PERSON THE N WORD BECAUSE BLACKS SAY IT TO EACH OTHER. WE CALL EACH OTHER THE N WORD SO YOU WANT TO...LAME. WE ALSO DO DRIVE BY'S AND throw (thank ob) UP GANG SIGNS....PURE AMERICAN ...GO GET YOUR CAR, DRIVE DOWN LAKEVIEW, ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW, AND THROUGH UP A GANG SIGN, STOP AND BUY A 40, AND WHILE YOU ARE AT IT FORK OUT YOUR AFRO.

WHEN I GET HOME I THINK I WILL LOG ON TO KKK.COM AND PURCHASE A MEMBERSHIP AFTER ALL WHITES DO IT...AND I AM SICK OF THE DOUBLE STANDARDS..

as a Hispanic i don't want my white, African American or Hispanic friends calling me a spick or beaner ... its plain disrespectful. Knowing through the study of history that N***** was meant to be a completely horrible and demeaning word i just cant see how any African American would be OK with being called that. Not only from non African Americans but also African Americans. If you are African American and are OK with another African American calling you N***** you are just slapping your relatives and ancestors in the face. Oh yeah i know my ancestors were treated less than dogs, raped, and tortured but i am OK with my friend calling me N***** ... Its just not the same as when you were called it years ago. I asked some African American employees at my job and they agreed. They hate that term no matter what race uses it. The history of that word is so UGLY using it as a term of "messing around" or "addressing" another African American is just pissing on the memories of all the African Americans that were abused by that word and what it stood for.

my .02 cents

timec, it's throw gang signs, not through. And I'm not sure when the last time you rolled THROUGH the hood was, but it's Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., not Lakeview.

And DON"T join the KKK. Their monthly dues are outrageous!

timec - that was the most philosophic reply to any blog I have ever seen, now when you have something that is intelligent to add to this blog please do, I must take a look and see if I posted this blog as call timec the n-word. BTW I am assuming that you are black so why don't you give me your oppinion about black folks calling other blacks the n-word and why does those that use the term so loosely get so offended when it is used by other races when it is not intended as hatred? I personally feel if black people do not want to be called the word then it should not be used in any manner other than a very offensive phrase.

 Thanks for your 2 cents..but

I think if blacks want to call themselves Ni**ers let them ...who cares. White, Hispanics, Asians or anyone else for that matter should not care....If whites want to call themselves rednecks, woods, oakies, or anything else.....I don't care..I am not going to say it.

sorry timec but whites, asians, hispanics are not on the news upset because they are being called names that only they are allowed to call each other. Sorry but if you have been watching the news MANY MANY prominent african amercians are condemming the use of N***** under any circumstance or by ANY race !!!

 You must be talking to me...I am the only regular "N" blogger....

It is stupid for blacks to call blacks the n word. Read the other blog from a couple of days ago...I don't agree....it is just a terrible word......and I hate the word.

I will speak with intelligence when you post something intelligent....but when you post ignorance I will reply with ignorance...you know what they say... you are making me act my color...

Please give me a scenario where a non black can call a person a ni**er in a nice way......whenever a black is called a n by a non black it is with hate.

the word is derrogatory no matter who uses it.

 it is an ugly word. i dont know why people even speak it. yes there is a bad crowed out of every race, but that doesnt give ANYONE the right to use those profain words. I dont agree with any of it. So NO i dont think the "n" word is ok to use..

Call me beaner , spic, mojado, boarder brother, and whatever other colorful name I left out. I always remind people Im American first. I dont get offended easily, people are ignorant no matter what the color.

I always liked Lubricano

How about Spic-exican-indian. (Spanish, Mexican, Indian)?

It's a politically incorrect word that I've been guilty of using a time or two. If one group can't say it then no one should be able to but the reality is that people say it and it's unacceptable to say it in public or professional circles. I say it around my buddies when I'm in Bako and I use it around some of my army buddies since we are a little more crude and desensitized around each other. I would never say it in public because I wouldn't want someone to feel comfortable enough to say it to where someone walking by might be offended. I've been called the "N" word when I was younger and it hurt and I've said some not nice words to people of other groups in my younger years.

Just don't call me  "Late For Tacos!"

ChicoEsquela - HAHAHAHAHA Good [edit.]

timec, I can give you an example where a white person can call a black person a "N" in a nice way. I know a white gal, a VERY large, overweight white gal, who LOVES black men. Whenever she has one in her bed, and during the thoes of passion, she loves to scream out, "OH YES YOU BIG "N", GIVE IT TO MOMMA!!!" She means it in a VERY nice way.

OldBlue you crack me up!!!

I dunno timec. Years ago I used to call my black room mate the N word in a kidding way. This was a guy who was

sensitive if someone did it in a demeaning manner. I had traveled with him playing ball in places where when they say it, they mean it.

Considering that he was 6'9 and weighed in at about 280, I better be his friend when I called him that. LOL

He called me cracka too, but I took it for what it was, being able to rag on your pals. We never did it in front of anyone who might take exception. In the traditional sense, using it is not very highbrow no matter what the circumstances, but neither one of us can be described as racist. If I called him gay for something he did or said, it didn't mean I was necessarily homophobic either. It's just the way young kids interact.

Chico, I had a Japanese/Mexican girlfriend I called my lil' Chinkana.

Okay before the PC police hangs me, she laughed about it and that's what's important. LOL

Ack!  I'm going to agree with Wayfarer on a point - shall we note the date? ;)

I refuse to allow my children to address each other, or anyone we/they know, with "fool", "dog", "Bitch!",  "Beyotch!", "Dude" or the like.  Words are words...I realize this.  And, I don't think any of the above are horrible awful words that need censoring.  I simply don't think it's a good move to allow children to use terms that devalue a person.  It's first names, "Mrs. Doe", "Mr. Doe", or "Ma'am/Sir". 

That said, the "N" word controversies always amuse me.  I don't understand how a word can be demeaning and prejudicial or racial when said by one race, but a term of endearment amongst another.  If African-Americans don't want to be called Nigga', then maybe they should stop making the term so common place.  Maybe they should take some ownership for the double standard.  I loathe when African Americans say things like, "Well...your people enslaved my people and "nigger" was derogatory and represented power of the whites over blacks."  Mmmmkay.  Guess what?  I never enslaved a black person.  I don't feel that they are anything less than equally human.  And, whenever I hear an Af-Amer' say the word to someone else, I cringe and wonder how using the word is taking power back.

Most people think of it as a insult to a race of people but it`s the type of person not the color, I know a lot of white N.....ers also.  

Good point Lana! ;)

That's okay MrLo, you guys just take the robust blondes. I can live with that.

Lana

I disagree with that statement....It is the size of the boat...because rafts don't make motion.......

Amazing how this discussion got to where it is now.

I so want to make comments, but they're way too graphic for this kind of site.

possum and maggie I agree with all said.  Boy that was easy.  Mrlo, nevermind. 

When one of the black women on The View said that it was okay for her to say N, but not a white person, that smacked of control to me.  I wonder how she'd feel about the control a white person would have by saying "I can drink from this fountain, but you can't."   Anything that separates us by race is WRONG to me.

I learned a new term the other day.  I occasionally read a blog by an African-American who goes by the name of Abagond.  This is one of his posts:  http://abagond.wordpress.co... .  The "W" word doesn't sound very good either.