Nigga

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For the Panamanian singer known as Nigga, see Flex (singer)

Nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger (which is derived ultimately from the Latin word niger meaning the color black).[1]

Contents

Use in language

In practice, its use and meaning are heavily dependent on context.[1] Presently, the word nigga is used more liberally among younger members[2] of all races and ethnicities in the United States, although its use by persons not of African descent is still widely viewed as unacceptable and hostile, even when used without intentional prejudice. In addition to African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latin Americans and European Americans[3][4] have adopted the term as part of their vernacular.

There is conflicting popular opinion on whether there is any meaningful difference between nigga and nigger as a spoken term.[5] Many people consider the terms to be equally pejorative, and the use of nigga both in and outside African American communities remains controversial.[6] H. Lewis Smith, author of Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Affair with the N-word, believes that "replacing the 'er' with an 'a' changes nothing other than the pronunciation"[7] and the African American Registry notes, "Brother (Brotha) and Sister (Sistah or Sista) are terms of endearment. Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect."[8] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns use of both nigga and nigger.[5]

Some African-Americans express considerable offense when referred to as a nigga by caucasian people, but not if they are called the same by other African-Americans, or by some other minority, as a term of endearment.[5] In this case, the term may be seen either as a symbol of brotherhood,[9] similar to the usage of the words dude and bro, and its use outside a defined social group an unwelcome cultural appropriation. Critics have derided this as a double standard.[3]

Cultural influence

Ice Cube, in his song "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It", says he "heard nigga back in 1971." The term "nigga, please", first used in the 1970s by comics such as Paul Mooney as "a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks,"[10] is now heard routinely in comedy routines by African Americans. The growing use of the term is often attributed to its ubiquity in modern American hip hop music.[11][12] Examples include: hip-hop group Niggaz with Attitude (N.W.A.), Notorious B.I.G.'s song, "The Realest Niggaz", The Geto Boys' "Real Negro Shit", Jay-Z's "Jigga That Nigga" and Snoop Dogg's "For All My Niggaz and Bitches". Ol' Dirty Bastard uses the term 76 times in his Nigga Please album (not including repetitions in choruses).[12] This is reflected in the term's wide use in modern American gang culture. According to a Texas Monthly article about Houston gangs, many Hispanic street gang members call each other niggah.[13]

However, its use has spread beyond North America. The Portuguese comedy show, Gato Fedorento, uses the word nigga in an audio sketch, where the four individuals say they are niggas ("I'm nigga, nigga; are you nigga, nigga?"), and end up admitting that they do not know what nigga means, although "people say it's amazing". Da Weasel later sang a song named "Nigga" in Gato Fedorento's last episode of season 5.

Chris Rock had a routine Niggas vs. Black People that distinguished a nigga, which he defined as a "low-expectation-having motherfucker", from a "black person". In contrast, Tupac Shakur in an interview in the documentary Tupac: Resurrection distinguished between nigger and nigga: "Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs."

Use in trademarks or brand names

The Lanham Act does not permit registration of trademarks containing terms that may disparage persons or bring them into disrepute.[14] Registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of terms that are historically considered disparaging to groups of people has been allowed in some circumstances. Self-disparaging trademarks have been allowed in some cases where the applicant has shown that the mark as-used is not considered by the relevant group to be disparaging.[15]

In 1995, two Houston, Texas men filed a trademark application with the PTO for the words "Naturally Intelligent God Gifted Africans," and its acronym. The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of the word nigga. Most recently, comedian Damon Wayans twice attempted to trademark a brand name called Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise."[11] The PTO refused the application, stating "the very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-[ethnic]-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African Americans find the term 'nigga' to be offensive."[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Randall Kennedy. Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Pantheon. 256 pp
  2. ^ Jeremy Cooke. Racial slur banned in New York, BBC News, 1 March 2007
  3. ^ a b Kevin Aldridge, Richelle Thompson and Earnest Winston. The evolving N-word The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 5, 2001.
  4. ^ Kendra Pierre. 'Nigger,' 'Nigga' or Neither?, Meridia, May 1, 2006.
  5. ^ a b c J. Douglas Allen-Taylor. New Word Order, Metro, April 9, 1998.
  6. ^ Alex Alonso. Won’t You Please Be My Nigga: Double Standards with a Taboo Word, May 30, 2003.
  7. ^ Smith. H. Lewis."Why The N-word Is Not Just Another Word." The Black Commentator. January 25, 2007. Issue 214. Retrieved 01-26-2007.
  8. ^ Phil Middleton and David Pilgrim, "Nigger (the word), a brief history!." African American Registry. 2001. Retrieved 03-14-2007.
  9. ^ Kevin Aldridge. Slurs often adopted by those they insult, The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 5, 2001.
  10. ^ Darryl Fears. Jesse Jackson, Paul Mooney Call for End of N-Word, BET.com, November 27, 2006.
  11. ^ a b Darryl Fears. Patent offense: Wayans’s hip-hop line, The Washington Post, March 15, 2006.
  12. ^ a b c Rogers Cadenhead. Actor Tries to Trademark 'N' Word, Wired, 23 February 2006.
  13. ^ Skip Hollandsworth, Southwest Houston After Dark," Texas Monthly, December 2006
  14. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1052.
  15. ^ Anten, Todd, "Self-Disparaging Trademarks and Social Change: Factoring the Reappropriation of Slurs into Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act" (PDF), Columbia Law Review 106: 338, <http://www.columbialawreview.org/pdf/Anten-Web.pdf>. Retrieved on 12 July 2007 

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigga"
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