re: #604 McSpiff

Being serious for a moment, and maybe its different in different places…

Outside of polite company, and perhaps in public in general… Is a white person saying the “n” word that uncommon? I don’t use it myself( same with the “c” word for females), but I’ve heard it enough times by guys around my age (16-25) that it doesn’t exactly raise the hairs on my neck…

Seriously, this “gasp, white person using the n word!” almost sounds academic to me. But I’m completely willing to admit that I might be in the minority.

You’re canadian, though, right? The history of the n word in the US has a very specific kind of baggage, and that’s what the haters trade on with their faux-innocent “Black people infringe my first amendment rights when they get mad that white people use the n word” schtick.

Anyway— I will say that I do know a couple of white people in the age group you mention that use the n word— but they’re from a highly urban area in the south and use it in their peer group which is almost all black. In a sense they have ‘permission’ to use it within their peer group, and they would never, ever, use it outside of that group— and it’s significant that they use the word for themselves too, not as a perjorative targeting a group of people by skin colour.

In general though, US white kids using it are suburban assholes, and in general, any white person using that word (rather than mentioning it) is a complete asshole and racist.
In general