British Greetings

btw, not every redneck is a bigot. just thought you should know. redneck frequently just means "country folk of lower economic background." i guess there it means something different, but should you find yourself in the desert southwest of the usa, careful how you use it.

 

My apologies mate, no harm intended!

 

none taken.

 

Well good

 

Fair play Nay. I think your point has to suggest that maybe this thread should be left for the archives. I guess even with the best of interests in how its implied the word or expression still cut deep. I suppose even when its used to jest with it stings.

 

Actually American TV has always been worse quality than European / most of the rest of the world, with 525 lines and an inferior colour system compared to our 625 line/PAL system. They were much quicker to get into High Definition TV with resolution of about 1080 lines I think, perhaps because the quality of NTSC was always so shit!

Sorry, yet another

 

some things just kinda give you an unpleasant jolt. seems to me there's nothing political or meaningful about being a dick just because you can.

 

Maybe not?

 

Well obviously, several of us feel very differently about the word, but I understand entirely the problems some still have with it, and apologise for any offense I may have caused.

 

*plays some happy music*

 

Sorry Jon, but I disagree. As a white person I don't think you/we can possibly understand what it's like, and what the exact problem some people have with it is. I don't think we could ever comprehend the meaning of the word in a black context. I don't get, therefore I don't use it due to the fact that it's offensive, not only to black people but to the very instinct of equality. Perhaps I'm thinking too deep into it...

However, I think it's an important issue to discuss and should be encouraged. How can we possibly achieve this equality without understanding that we don't understand? What's more offensive, saying '******', or saying '******' and asking why?

 

well, i suppose it would be rather a lot like me referring to my girlfriends as bitches and hookers, but if anyone else did, i'd get mightily annoyed. especially the bitch part. it's sort of a bland, watered-down version, but just kind of a hint perhaps. i'm not close enough with my father's side of the family to feel upset about the continuing native american stereotypes, but my dad, as i recall, was pretty sensitive about it. especially being one of those true "redskins" or "red indians." my eldest brother is red, too. i got lucky, as did my middle brother, to inherit a more golden tone.

 

Why lucky? What's wrong with dark skin?

 

Well my "entirely understand" meant I was aware that people dislike or are offended by its use, as demonstrated in this thread, not anything else. It won't stop me using it for all the reasons I've already said, I think its use is important and creative, but it's not like I go out of my way to offend people just for the hell of it.

I don't buy into this idea that there are some words or ideas which only certain people can have access to, I think that in itself is discriminatory - the idea that only gay people can joke about the use of the word gay, only black people can use the n word, etc. Why should I have to be gay in order to appropriate the word "gay" for something new, why should I have to be black to borrow an idea or a word from black culture? That's discrimination based on sexuality or colour! Words and ideas exist in a public realm and are available for us all to use, abuse and stretch to our own meanings, that's how English has always evolved and developed, by things being used out of context and with total disregard for fixity in language. Borrowing the n word and using it in a positive context is one of the least racist things I can possibly imagine...

 

.

 

Nay, sorry if I offended you. However, you have to realize that I have lived in the inner-city in an Urban American culture where I have known and hung out with many black and hispanic people. I was even married to a black guy for nearly 6 years. I've known proper gangsters and the like as well. No matter what walk of life they were from, all of them would use the term "nigga" quite liberally. Whether it be as a greeting, telling each other off, or in a comedic Paul Mooney (a black comic btw) sort of "nigga, please" way. It was never derogatory, it was part of their culture and in a small way my own even as frequently I was just one of them (though not by colour). I have definitely heard the "n-word" used in a very derogatory manner. Hell, when I was married to my ex there were places in the country we dared not even travel because we both would have been targetted because of our inter-racial relationship. So it rather offends me and my sensibilities that anyone would possibly construe my saying "sup nigga" as a friendly greeting to mean that I'd want anyone to be in chains, etc. I guess you haven't ever listened to a rap song that used the term "nigga" or listened to N.W.A. (niggaz with attitude) or even heard a comedy routine by leading black comics such as Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, or Dave Chappelle. But then again, maybe they are all just self-hating minorities which is why they so frequently use something that is so apparently obviously derogatory no matter what context it is in.

Again I apologize if I may have offended you, but ultimately in the right context I see nothing wrong with the term, as most of my life the only way I have heard it used is by people of colour in a light-hearted manner, and not by card carrying rednecks with confederate flag bumper stickers.

 

When my friends phone I might say
"Oh for fucks sake are you still alive"?

 

y'all actin' like a buncha nuggas in this thread

it's unforgivable really

 

Oooooo no need for apologies matey, no offense was taken.

I know what you mean about words and semantics though... KC and I came across a similar thing when I mentioned "redneck"

 

lol ... that was bizarre.


i have to post this though as i kept thinking about it last night when i was talking about the whole "nigga please" thing as well.

a new cereal