Pardon me if these questionings are offensive in any way. That is not my intention. I am merely curious on the intricacies of the N-word and its uses.

It is commonly known, I think, that white people oughn’t say it, something which doesn’t extend to Black people. I wonder, though, if white people think of the word, in their head (assuming the person has some sort of inmer monologue). I would imagine thinking the word might increase one’s propensity to utter the word aloud. Or perhaps not. Certainly further exposure to content that features said language must increase one’s likelihood of using the term, no? Even if one never makes use of it aloud, surely the chances hypotetically increase, no?

Race is a social construct anyways, so what exactly are races? What defines a race? Is it from a 'Murican perspective? Asian is a race, innit? Is Latin American a race? If so, do white Latin Americans, or those with European descent, is that part of such race? How does the usage of the N-word apply to other races, assuming such thing?

Edit: I imagine race doesn’t just boil down to skin colour, right? There’s more to it than white = light skinned and Black = dark skinned, innit?

Edit 2: Maybe this was better for NoStupidQuestions. I may have mistankenly gone too soon for Ask Lemmy, seeing it is a question.

I’d like to add I am not questioning the N-word itself. I would not say it. I comprehend it is offensive. Seeing as it gets used by Black people, and it’s not to be used by white people, I was merely wondering on how this goes exactly. Whether it boils down to Black vs. non-Black, and what exactly defines being Black. (And also the part about thinking the word)

To add, I am not 'Murican, so no need to assume that. English isn’t even me first language.

Edit 3: to be very clear, I DO NOT WISH TO USE THE N-WORD. And I am not looking for some sort of loophole. I am merely trying to better understand things. I apologise if this is of any offense to Black people, as it is not my intention to harm anyone

Edit 4: mods, if needed be, you can safely delete this post. Not that you needed permission. I’d just like to let known if this is any problem, deletion is fine by me. I don’t intent on causing issues

  • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    142·
    16 hours ago

    For me, the only grey area where it might be acceptable for a white person to use it in any circumstances is if they’re reading or quoting a very old work of literature. What if you’re reading Huckleberry Finn aloud? You can say, “N-Word Jim,” but that seems off. Or you be reading historical accounts. If there’s some Jim Crow-era newspaper that just openly says the N word, censoring it may actually take away from the impact of the word.

    But even in these cases, there’s probably a better way to handle this than to just outright say the N word. I’m just not sure what that way is.

    • TVA@thebrainbin.org
      12·
      13 hours ago

      It might help to know that Mark Twain was satirically using that word to juxtapose its offensive nature with Jim being the ONLY good adult in the book. It wasn’t simply “a product of it’s time” or anything like that.

      I’m not saying to belt it out loud and proud while reading the book, but at the very least Mark Twain was being deliberate on his usage of it and it wasn’t to be malicious and was in fact to highlight the humanity of Jim in the face of his oppression. Some will say that Twain fumbled on his execution by making Jim a characature of stereotypes, but, at least it was just mindless racism, for what that’s worth.

      ETA: To actually answer your question though “n-word” gives all the context you need, no need to say the word, it’s history is strong enough to be fully conveyed by “n-word” in almost all contexts when being spoken by a white person especially.