Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - Words of the feather, words of the sword...

- Tilted Philosophy (https://thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-philosophy/)

- - Words of the feather, words of the sword... (https://thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-philosophy/95044-words-feather-words-sword.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redlemon

/ I hate the Wiggles.

The Wiggles are just plain creepy. If I was a kid that guy with no eyebrows would be in my nightmares... no wait. He already is.

"There is no such thing as bad language, only bad use of good language" - Billy Connolly

Quote:

Originally Posted by xepherys

Now I understand that in it's initial creation, [nigger] had a negative intent.

In it's initial creation, "nigger" (and/or "negro") was a geographically descriptive label for Africans from around the Niger River.

It came to be offensive when two things happened:
People started taking offense.
People used it to offend.

Since the Niger River was a major transhipment route for the slave trade, those who initially took offense could have been Free Blacks viewing "nigger" as a synonym for "slave". But "nigger" didn't become "the N-word" until fairly recently... so I don't quite think that reasoning would apply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xepherys

Take the word "nigger". Now I understand that in it's initial creation, it had a negative intent. It was meant to belittle. But that was in a time long ago, generations past. Sure, some people still try to use the word as an insult against blacks, colored folk, african americans... whatever the hell dark skinned people in the US with African heritage are called these days. Maybe the PC crowd will adapt that... "Dark skinned US citizens with African heritage". *sigh* But if black people didn't CARE anymore, the word would have no meaning...no weight.

Words are symbols. What one must not forget is that not using a word can become a symbol as well.

For example the word "nigger" has a deep history of being used in a derogatory manner. Not using it is a show of respect and the admitance of past sins on the race it was used to describe. As such not using derogatory language in certain company is a show of courtesy. And refraining from using certain language around minors is a show of sensitivity towards the way their parrents might want them raised.