No. I never even heard the word used (except in movies and rap songs) until I went to college in the South. There, I heard a few Southern frat boys and a rabidly racist dept. secretary use it freely. Since leaving the South, I have once again never heard it except on TV and in music. And that's the way I like it.

I use it only when singing "Nuthin but a G thang." I respect the artists too much to mess with their lyrics.

Anonymous wrote:Hope no one here ever uttered "Redskin"

'sup my reddie.

Hope no one here ever uttered "Redskin"

Anonymous wrote:I like the word because it is so incredibly powerful, and I use it privately, but not in a racial way, but in an angry way.

for example, when I was zip lining in Costa Rica down a volcano at about 60mph, I was yelling/rapping to myself: F__ing with me cuz I'm a teenager, with a little bit of gold and a pager, searching my car, looking for the product, thinking ever N___er is selling narcotic! Stuff like that. Or maybe old Easy E: I'm a crazy a$$ N---er with my finger on the trigger of an Uzi or an AK. Sorry, I love those songs from my youth and I sing them to myself when I need to fire myself up. But I'd never use the word in anger AT someone else because those thoughts are not in my brain ...

WHY?! It's time to grow up. Easy E was a lunatic. If you need derogatory and violent lyrics to gain self confidence, then you need help. Get fire up about children living in poverty, world peace, education, the crime in DC, our piss poor politicians, etc. There is nothing wrong with having passion and wanting to be secured. There are just more productive things to get fired up about than wanting to use the n-word. Try counseling instead. Deal with your anger issues.

The PP with the grandmother story about the shoes on the couch made me think of the context in which I heard the n-word growing up in the South in the 1970s and 80s. I heard a fair amount of people---white and black ---use the "N" word, but it was usually directed at criticizing behavior associated with a particular lower SES demographic (slovenly, low morals, lazy, thieving). It certainly had a racial component; however---since the same behaviors exhibited by white people were deemed "trashy" or "rednecky".

Actually, I think it is the linkage ---i.e., between race AND a perceived judgment regarding behavior---that makes the N-word the TNT of racial slurs and why it is so inflammatory and painful. It has a double-whammy of both prejudice and negative behavior stereotyping that other ethnic/racial slurs do not necessarily have.

Anonymous wrote:I like the word because it is so incredibly powerful, and I use it privately, but not in a racial way, but in an angry way.

for example, when I was zip lining in Costa Rica down a volcano at about 60mph, I was yelling/rapping to myself: F__ing with me cuz I'm a teenager, with a little bit of gold and a pager, searching my car, looking for the product, thinking ever N___er is selling narcotic! Stuff like that. Or maybe old Easy E: I'm a crazy a$$ N---er with my finger on the trigger of an Uzi or an AK. Sorry, I love those songs from my youth and I sing them to myself when I need to fire myself up. But I'd never use the word in anger AT someone else because those thoughts are not in my brain ...

What is wrong with you? Do you think that you are cool?

I will use it if it's being discussed, rather than saying "the 'N' word," only because I don't think it deserves to be given the power of being unspeakable. I have never and would never use it about another person.

I like the word because it is so incredibly powerful, and I use it privately, but not in a racial way, but in an angry way.

for example, when I was zip lining in Costa Rica down a volcano at about 60mph, I was yelling/rapping to myself: F__ing with me cuz I'm a teenager, with a little bit of gold and a pager, searching my car, looking for the product, thinking ever N___er is selling narcotic! Stuff like that. Or maybe old Easy E: I'm a crazy a$$ N---er with my finger on the trigger of an Uzi or an AK. Sorry, I love those songs from my youth and I sing them to myself when I need to fire myself up. But I'd never use the word in anger AT someone else because those thoughts are not in my brain ...

No, and I grew up in a time and place where it was used frequently. It makes me sick to hear the word, regardless of the race of the person saying it.

I'm black.
When I was eight (1990), I went skiing for the first time. The guy operating the lift rolled his eyes when he saw me and said to the other guy, "Here comes another one of THEM. Don't you belong on a basketball court or something?"
That same week my grandmother got on me about something and said, "Nigga, have you lost your everlasting mind?"

The fact that my grandmother used an "ugly, outdated word from a bygone era" (to quote someone on television) didn't even enter my mind. I just knew she was mad, because I put my shoes up on her couch.

The guy on the ski trip, however, provided me with my first experience with racism, and he used a common pronoun to do it.

I don't care about the "N-word." It's just a word. There are plenty of them used everyday to convey hate.

Why is this going on for 8 pages? I don't know anyone other than crazy old people who use the n word. Is there a single person on this thread who says they use it?

Anonymous wrote:OP, never admitted to saying it, btw. Seems like the question was intended to provoke. I would even venture to say OP may even be from a minority group and wanted to see what the real sentiment was.

I'm in a mixed race marriage and DH has been called the N word by road ragers in DC in 2014. Otherwise, he doesn't hear it.

I shudder to think what I will do if someone ever uses it to describe my children. DH has a pretty good perspective, though, and always says it says more about the user than anything else.

OP here. I'm Black and I don't use the word. I was genuinely curious to see if others used it behind closed doors. It appears as if no one really does which really surprises me. But maybe it shouldn't since I suspect more educated folks don't use the word which is likely the demographic of DCUM. I don't use it or any racial slurs. I used to not mind so much if I heard other Black folks say it but now I pretty much disassociate myself with those who do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! It's horrifying.

so what do you think about reading Huckleberry Finn? Just asking as my 8th grader is doing that now and the word is used about 250 times in the book.

The historical context of the book and the lesson of N*gger Jim's life make it a powerful message for adolescents. On the other hand, my older DD was assigned a chapter from one of the Little House books in which Pa puts on blackface and acts like a "comical darky" to entertain neighbors! I've never forgotten how appalled DD was or how clueless her teacher was to why we might be upset.

OMG! What school does this teacher teach at?

She used to teach 5th grade at Rock Creek Valley. I have no way of knowing if she's still there. The worst part is that it was my daughter's week for literature circle and she was very upset that she's have to discuss the scene so she faked being sick to avoid it. We found out on the tail end of things.

Hell freaking no.