 
 
I'm here today to talk about
words and context and how they can affect
us more specifically
I'm gonna talk about what some would consider one
of the most controversial words in the
English language
the N-word now as an african-american
I have used the word and have had the
word used against me
in both pronunciations either the one
ending in -a
or the one ending in -er now I have used this
word and have had this word used against me
but I have lacked the knowledge of etymology
and history of the word
I mean of course I knew that it came
from racist
hatred based origins but that's all I
knew but after some research
I discovered the etymology of the word
the N word is a noun english-language the word
originated as a neutral term referring
to black people
the variants neger from Scottish and Nothern England dialect
and negar derived from the Spanish
and Portuguese word
negro meaning black and the French term nègre
which also is negro etymologically negro
noir and nègre and the N-word ultimately
derived from
nigrum the stem of the Latin niger
Negar was used in colonial america in the 1600s
now the N-Word wasn't always considered to be used with offensive
connotation in fact in the 1800s in America
the word used by some as an alternative to the derogatory term black skinned
that was considered more offensive also in the
1800s
the N-Word was used in a non derogatory fashion as well it was
used in modern times the word was always
pretty derogatory but didn't become the
truly offensive word it is today
until about the mid eighteen hundreds
especially in the southern US
now negro the word
which the N-word is derived from
ultimately is probably from the Proto
indo-european root and the root means to
be dark
which is basically akin to nighttime Negro
was the less
offensive term even used by African
Americans to describe themselves
and was a precursor to the now more
politically correct term
african-american knowing about the etymology of the word is important
but it doesn't take into account the
context so I was recently studying abroad in Sydney
Australia
and me and a fellow student were having a
conversation about the differences between
how Australians and Americans speak
and he asked me a question that caught me
completely off guard he asked me
in america do you guys say what's up
my nigga and that kind of caught me off guard I wasn't
expecting him to ask me that
and I really didn't know how to answer his
question because
if I told just a flat-out yes we do
say that then he can come to America
and he could say that to the wrong person and there could be negative consequences for that
so I had to tell him that yes they say that in
america
but it depends on the context I had to tell him that
who when and how we use the word all
depends on the context and situation
I basically explained to him that it would potentially be acceptable for him to use the
N-word
in a certain context or situation depending on
how he used it
and whether or not the people in the
situation we're OK with or approved of the use
and whether the situation was appropriate for the
use of the word
now the N word and context can be better
discussed
by examining a case study in 2006 at the
Laugh Factory
a Comedy Club in Hollywood California
the actor/comedian Michael
Richards
shouted a racially-charged response to
african-american hecklers in the
audience
shouted he's a N-word multiple times
and also referred to lynching he also said F-you N-word
to one of the african-american members of the
audience Richards apologized and said
that
he was not racist but rather trying to
be outrageous in an effort to stop
the heckling but it backfired on him
the reaction to the Michael Richards
incident itself and the parodies of the incident
brought up very different responses
and conversations which illuminated me
the importance of context
for example the Michael Richards incident itself
and the use of the N-word
were deemed inappropriate and offensive
even though it was done in a setting
meant for humor while the parodies were seen as
funny
and non offensive even though they were
done in a similar setting meant to invoke
laughter
to me this brings up the very important
point of context
In Michael Richards case he seemed to be using
the word with an offensive tone
in trying to hurt african-american individuals that he was calling the N-word
not to mention that he was white saying
a historically offensive term
especially in the reaction to the historical
relationship between whites and blacks in
America
in the case of the parodies they don't use
the word in an offensive manner
but rather poking fun at michael richards and
american society's sensitivity to the N-word and
racism as a whole people thought that the parodies brought to light the power of the N-word and
 
and how it feels to have the language directed
at you not only does context affect
how
we perceive words but the words themselves
actually affect us
Greenberg and Pyszczynski in a 1985 study found that 
an over heard derogatory ethnic label
can lead to a negative evaluations of its target the
study was designed to provide a
conceptual replication
of this effect and assess whether the effect could extend to evaluations of a person associated
with the target subjects read a trial
transcript and were asked for verdicts
and attorney and defendant evaluations whereas the defendant was always white
the attorney was either black or white
when the defense attorney was black a
Confederate posing as a subject
either made no comment or a derogatory
comment in which the defense attorney
was referred to as a N-word
the derogatory ethnic label lead to derogation of the defense attorney
thus replicating the effect found by
Greenberg and Pyszczynski in a different setting
in addition the white defendant received
especially negative evaluations
and harsh verdicts when defended by a black
who was a target of a derogatory ethnic label
in another study Donald B. Moss's work
came to the conclusion that hearing derogatory terms
aimed at us makes us question whether or not we
actually possess the qualities
associated with a derogatory term by
doing so it reinforces the stereotypes
of what is meant to be a derogatory term such as the N word
thus making victims of the term question
themselves and who they are
which as led to troublesome mental
difficulties such as depression
this discussion about the N-word, context, and how the word affects us
as led me to the overall conclusion that the saying sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me
is absurd this is because we live in a day and age where
words are used without the true knowledge about the etymology and history about them and
this lack of knowledge about words as led to  words
becoming more hurtful or being used in a more hurtful fashion
many times unintentionally now not being aware of the etymology of the words
and how the meaning of words changes depending on the context and situation
we are using words in a careless, reckless, and even dangerous fashion
hopefully we will become more motivated and take the initiative to truly learn about the words that we use
and by doing this we will hopefully stop turning words into sticks and stones
