Nigga vs. Nigger: Who cares who says it?!

Do You Know
What Grinds My Gears...

Since when is it okay for ANYONE to use the word "nigger" in any way, shape or form? From what I was taught growing up, the word nigger was a racist word that was used to put black people down back in the day. Even though I always knew it was a bad word, I never really knew what the actual word meant, so I decided to look it up.

After going onto dictionary.com, I noticed that the word didn't only come with the definition, but a brief history of the word, as well. It stated:

"The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile."

After the brief history lesson of the word, it then gave the following definition:

nigger

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a. black person.

b. member of any dark-skinned people.

2. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a of any race or regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.

3. a victim of similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.

The first thing I noticed was in the brief history of the word, it explained each definition of the word. It explains that definitions 1a-2 are the degrading uses (even though African-Americans usually use 1a amongst one another), and 3 is a general term that isn't specifically for black people.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, definition 1a never changed from the first time I read it. It still says that it's an offensive way to say a black person. So, why do black people feel it is acceptable to refer to one another as a nigger? Many black people feel that it's alright to call one another a nigger as long as they use the word "nigga" instead. Dictionary.com's definition of nigga is:

nigga
nigger; Negro. (Streets. Nicca is pronunciation and/or spelling variant. Restricted to black to black use. White to black use is provocative.) : Hey, my nigga!

Now, here's my thing...This definition clearly states that the word nigga is "[r]estricted to black to black use. White to black use is provocative." Even Katt Williams mentioned in one of his jokes in his stand up comedy show Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1:

"White people though, let me say this ya'll need some nigga friends, get you some nigga friends, just don't ever ever call them your nigga friends, don't ever...that'll fuck the relationship up. 'There's my nigga friend.' BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM 'You guys say it all the time what?'"





I agree with the question the white person Katt Williams was joking about. If black people use the word nigga in reference to one another all of the time, how can we expect other races of people not to refer to us as a nigga?

Many black people say that they use the word "nigga" and not "nigger" because "nigger" is offensive. HOWEVER, if a white person or a spanish person or an indian person or an asian person walks up to a black person and says, "What's up my niggas?" in the same non-offensive way that the black people use it on a day to day basis, that person is most likely unknowingly risking either getting severely beaten or shot.




If people don't want the word nigga to be used by certain people, then they should take it out of their vocabulary completely like rapper Chamillionaire did. He noticed young white boys were the people who were buying is music the most, and they knew his music word for word and they would buy out all of his concert tckets repeating his words. He didn't like white people using the word nigga, so he stopped giving them a reason to use it.




So, I have to say that what grinds my gears is this, if you, as a black person, uses the word nigga and you don't want anyone who isn't black calling you a nigga, then why don't you stop using the word completely? Just like a female wouldn't want a man calling her a bitch or a hoe so she doesn't use it or allow ANYONE to refer to a bitch or a hoe, the use of the word nigga needs to stop.