The Nigger Poll

[Martinus]

I certainly wouldn't use it in real life communication. I think the "trickiness" associated with the word and its proper use comes from the fact that there is a self-depreciating/"trashy" sub-culture within the black community that also uses it, which probably confuses the outsiders - it's similar to certain queens using the word "faggot" or "fag" in the same way. This is obviously an attempt to reclaim the word and thus can be empowering - but has the side effect of making it seemingly acceptable in some contexts.

Minorities with no such subcultures do not seem to have this problem (e.g. Jews - noone really considers the use of the word "kike" funny or appropriate - it's just a slur).

[garbon]

How is it that sometimes Martinus shows up with cogent analysis*?


*the caveat being that I'm drunk off my ass after a night on the town and possibly...nay likely, no longer the best judge of anything

[The Brain]

How is it that sometimes Martinus shows up with cogent analysis*?


*the caveat being that I'm drunk off my ass after a night on the town and possibly...nay likely, no longer the best judge of anything

I don't know which word to choose when addressing you.

[Tamas]

The poll sucks. None of the options describes my opinion.

Which is: "the word should only be used when it positively describes gays"

[Neil]

The poll sucks. None of the options describes my opinion.

We're not going to start adding a 'has nothing to do with gays;  who gives a fuck?' option to every poll.

[Eddie Teach]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RvRdF2YRNc

[Razgovory]

The poll sucks. None of the options describes my opinion.

We're not going to start adding a 'has nothing to do with gays;  who gives a fuck?' option to every poll.

[Josquius]

Only to be used when mocking gangsta.
And never with a black person present.

[Sheilbh]

I certainly wouldn't use it in real life communication. I think the "trickiness" associated with the word and its proper use comes from the fact that there is a self-depreciating/"trashy" sub-culture within the black community that also uses it, which probably confuses the outsiders - it's similar to certain queens using the word "faggot" or "fag" in the same way. This is obviously an attempt to reclaim the word and thus can be empowering - but has the side effect of making it seemingly acceptable in some contexts.

I don't think this captures the difficulty.  It's one of those words that we've become wired to not say.  I find it physically difficult to say, 'fag', 'fuck' and the rest trip off my tongue.  This is like 'cunt' but even more offensive.  And my response to it is like I think people 30 or 40 years old saying 'cunt'.  It's become a swear word.

Although fag in this country isn't that bad.  We've our own perjorative terms for gays that have, more or less, been reclaimed (because gays used them from the start), while fag's a very recent import.  It's only really been around for about 3-4 years and people use it ironically a lot.

[garbon]

I don't think this captures the difficulty.  It's one of those words that we've become wired to not say.  I find it physically difficult to say, 'fag', 'fuck' and the rest trip off my tongue.  This is like 'cunt' but even more offensive.  And my response to it is like I think people 30 or 40 years old saying 'cunt'.  It's become a swear word.

I say cunt all the time.

[Sheilbh]

I say cunt all the time.

Yeah I'm pretty liberal with it too, but I think people more than 20 years older than us are very different.

[PDH]

I had a girlfriend in the olden days who hated anyone using the word "Cunt."  Of course, when she was driving she used it repeatedly, loudly, with gestures toward female drivers.

She took a dim view of my pointing out the dichotomy of her actions...

[Barrister]

I say cunt all the time.

Yeah I'm pretty liberal with it too, but I think people more than 20 years older than us are very different.

My wife isn't 20 years older than you but she takes an incredibly dim view of that word.

[Martinus]

The poll sucks. None of the options describes my opinion.

We're not going to start adding a 'has nothing to do with gays;  who gives a fuck?' option to every poll.

Alright, bitch. That was funny. 

[Martinus]

I certainly wouldn't use it in real life communication. I think the "trickiness" associated with the word and its proper use comes from the fact that there is a self-depreciating/"trashy" sub-culture within the black community that also uses it, which probably confuses the outsiders - it's similar to certain queens using the word "faggot" or "fag" in the same way. This is obviously an attempt to reclaim the word and thus can be empowering - but has the side effect of making it seemingly acceptable in some contexts.

I don't think this captures the difficulty.  It's one of those words that we've become wired to not say.  I find it physically difficult to say, 'fag', 'fuck' and the rest trip off my tongue.  This is like 'cunt' but even more offensive.  And my response to it is like I think people 30 or 40 years old saying 'cunt'.  It's become a swear word.

Although fag in this country isn't that bad.  We've our own perjorative terms for gays that have, more or less, been reclaimed (because gays used them from the start), while fag's a very recent import.  It's only really been around for about 3-4 years and people use it ironically a lot.

Yeah, consider what I said about "fag" to be applicable to the US, rather than the UK. In the UK, the similar word would be "queer" or "fairy".