Why is the N word the only racial slur considered offensive enough to have it's own letter of the alphabet? I mean, I'm a Scotsman, my ultimate racial slur is 'Jock'. Can I demand it now be called 'the J word'? Please discuss.

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• In the U.S., that word is generally used to describe someone as athletically inclined and talented in that area. In other words, it doesn't have any ethnic connotations and is actually a compliment most of the time.
  
  Could you educate us Americans about the meaning of the term in the U.K.? I had a roommate from Edinburgh when I was in college and he was on the soccer team. I'm worried I might need to get in touch and apologize or something.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• Yeah i know it means that in America, i think most people do, which is why i don't think it would carry the same impact because its not really known as an insult anywhere else but here i don't think. Its really just a derogatory term for a Scottish person i think. Maybe the same as foreigners calling Americans 'yanks' or the French 'frogs'.

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  by anonymous on March 28th, 2009

• Got it. Thanks. What's that old saying about two people divided by a common language? LOL.
  
  I've done some negotiations with the Canadian government from time to time and had to educate my fellow "yanks" that the phrase "tabling a proposal" has exactly the opposite meaning in Canadian and U.K. parliamentary usage as it does in U.S. English. (To table a proposal in the U.S. means to drop it/kill it/withdraw it.)

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• There are more things which have the completely opposite connotation between uk and us. Clothing, slang for body parts, many phrases, the list is longer than you would naturally expect.
  
  In the UK "How the other half live" was initally used as a derogatory term for the poor, but now means how the rich live.
  
  I think its just a case of words and terms evolving seperately, usually because of popular culture.

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  by CesareBorgia on March 28th, 2009

• Yeah Chris i'll bet they have some problems at times, especially with the difference in that particular phrase!!
  
  I know what you mean CesareBorgia, Theres so many differences between U.K and U.S terms. The usage of the word "fag" for example. My friend Alan was in the states with his girlfriend and her father, he turned and said i'm just going out to smoke a fag, obviously meaning to smoke a cigarete, her father just gave him this weird look as if to say, why you going out to shoot a gay person lol.

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  by anonymous on March 28th, 2009

• LOL. I'll hint around at this since we're talking euphemisms. Let's just say that the act that likely occurred to her father was not shooting a gay person, but like "smoking a fag" in U.K. parlance, the act in question also involves oral contact with a cylindrical object. If you know what I mean.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• Haha yeah i know that one too, too smoke as in to.....ye know lol. In fact it was probably more that than him thinking he was going to go shoot one now that you mention it.

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  by anonymous on March 28th, 2009

• Given the potential linguistic pitfalls, it's actually rather impressive that we're coming up on the 200th anniversary of the date that we finally stopped shooting at each other.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• Thanks for answering, and I agree with what your saying. I wouldn't be offended if someone I knew a little bit called me Jock, only if it was something like 'you fucking jock bastard', so there is a context behing how the word Jock is used. I don't understand how the N word is the only racial slur where it's context is such that my question has to say 'the N word'. The irony of course, is that if I was allowed to say the word, (that is the word that is 'the N word'), I wouldn't need to ask the question in the first place! Does that make any sense? The whole thing confuses the hell out of me!

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• Well, like I said in my answer below, it's not the only word. In the U.S. the "J-word" refers to a racial slur against Japanese Americans. I've also heard the term "C-word" with regard to people of Chinese ancestry.
  
  I do understand how it can get confusing. But I'd urge you to ask yourself what exactly is it that you need to say using the "N-word" that you couldn't say using the word Black?

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• How did the term "Jock" evolve as a slur for Scottish people? Usually there is an evolution of the words and I am just curious.

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  by Arisztid on June 2nd, 2009

• ChrisDC: the "C Word" is also used for, a degrading letter word against females; cunt.
  
  Maybe it's best to fully say what ya mean, rather than to just intial your expletive word? ;) hee

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  by Anonymous on June 2nd, 2009

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• During the Highland clearances some were forcibly deported.

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  by Sid on March 28th, 2009

• qualitatively different

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  by CesareBorgia on March 28th, 2009

• True - but their families were not broken up, women raped, men flogged to death etc. And the deportation was done by fellow Scots - the landowners and the lowlanders.

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  by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 28th, 2009

• Thanks for answering. You're quite right in what you say, and I personally wouldn't be offended being called a Jock, only if it was something like 'fucking jock bastard', there is a context to consider. Wether one race has suffered more or less than another is pure opinion, the suggestion of course, is that 'my race has suffered more than your race'. If anyone in the world can claim that it should surely be the Jews, but there isn't a 'Y word', or whatever letter you wish to use is there? I just can't understand why the N word has a context different to other racial slurs in that I can't write the N word, even in a sentence such as this where there is obviously no racial slur involved.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• There is indeed a "Y word" - Yid - or Kike: both highly derogatory words for Jews.

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  by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 28th, 2009

• I think you've just proved my point! Indeed there is a Y word, Yid. And there is also an N word................ but we can't say it.
  I'm trying to understand why it is, within the structure of this discussion, that we can say Yid but not the N word, after all, we're not trying to slur anyone by using those words, just trying to get to the crux of the paradox.
  Explain to me why, within this discussion, we can say Yid but not the N word.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• If you notice, in my original answer, I did say "Nigger" in full. It, like "Yid" and "Kike", is a hate word which has been associated with appalling cruelty. I do not regard them as qualitatively different - I can never imagine using them except in a linguistic discussion such as this. This makes it qualitatively different from relatively mild epithets such as "Jock", "Frog", "Kraut" and so on. I could imagine using those as jocular insults, though even then I would regard them as pretty bad taste.

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  by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 28th, 2009

• "True - but their families were not broken up, women raped, men flogged to death etc. And the deportation was done by fellow Scots - the landowners and the lowlanders."
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  Do you even know what the Highland Clearances were? If you can say that, you do not know anything. Educate yourself before you spout garbage.

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  by Keysha on March 29th, 2009

• Well, I have just read the Wikipedia article on the subject, and it agrees with my memory: the initiators and prime movers of the Clearances were the Scottish clan chiefs and semi-feudal overlords wanting to get rid of the inefficient crofting and replace it by by more intensive cash-yielding farming, particularly livestock. They got the agricultural ideas from England, but it was the Scots landlords who put them into practice. Families were expelled from their homes, and suffered greatly as a result. But the were not sold as chattels, flogged as beasts, or systematically used sexually. I am not denying that there was not great suffering, including starvation and deaths, caused by the Clearances. But it was nevertheless nothing compared to the suffering of the slave trade.
  
  Or can you point me to better sources? I have visited Scotland and toured museums with sections on the Clearances, and that is the story they told me.

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  by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 30th, 2009

• There were Scottish slaves in the US, as well as black. They came from the Highland Clearances. That makes it equal to the blacks. Here is one link: http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/articles/cries.htm there are others.

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  by Keysha on March 30th, 2009

• I do not think that website is factually correct. As to the actual Clearances, yes, there was such brutality. But the families were not sent as slaves but as forced emigrants or as indentured labourers. Which, while cruel and restricting, was not nearly the same as slavery. An indentured labourer still had to be paid, though he could not leave his employer until the term of the indenture was up. He could not be flogged or imprisoned except by court of law, his wife and children could not be sold to another owner from many miles away, all of which happened with slaves.
  
  The Clearances were brutal and inhuman, but what happened to the Cleared was *not* slavery, except by debasing the meaning of the word. They still retained what we would call basic human rights, including appeal to the law. A slave was property, without any human rights at all. The difference is huge.

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  by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 30th, 2009

• Wrong. Back then, the only difference between an indentured servant and a slave was that a servant was usually freed after so many years. They did NOT get paid (their wages went to pay off their debt).
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  And they WERE sent into slavery.
  http://www.electricscotland.com/history/clearances/22.htm
  http://www.cranntara.org.uk/clear.htm
  I can give you other links. Just because you don't wish to believe it, does not make it true.

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  by Keysha on March 30th, 2009

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• Your point is well put that there is no positive connotation to the word, but doesn't explain why it can't be used in the context where it isn't being used as a racial slur, i.e. in my question, or in some of the comments I have left. You also make a very good point regarding the word paki, but doesn't satisfy me why that word, can't be used in the context where it isn't being used as a racial slur either.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

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• I take your point, but I don't live in the US.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• Not everyone can be so lucky!!!!....LOL.....

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  by Teri on March 28th, 2009

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• Thanks for answering, and I find this a really good answer. It doesn't explain however, why I have to write 'the N word' in this very sentence, even though no racial slur is involved.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• I guess people say the "N" word because it just feels bad to use the actual word. At least it is that way for me.

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  by sidewalkchalk on March 28th, 2009

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• lol, thanks.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• My pleasure! :)

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  by justmesuzanne on March 28th, 2009

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• Are you kidding?

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  by CesareBorgia on March 28th, 2009

• No, why do you think I am?

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  by Sid on March 28th, 2009

• Thanks.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• I have heard the n word used in jest many times, I have also seen the j word used with offence. Although I agree with you thats its used more often in such ways, I just thought I would clarify

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  by CesareBorgia on March 30th, 2009

• I personally have never seen the n word used in jest without an underlying element of racism, and I have seen the j word used offensively, which is why I put "often" in there, as it can be used in a disparaging manner if you choose.

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  by Sid on March 30th, 2009

• I have seen the n word used in jest more times than I've heard the j word. I suppose its don't to personal perspective, but I've probably not seen that much aggressive use of either word.

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  by CesareBorgia on March 30th, 2009

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• That's OK, I'm not offended. Only if you said fucking jock bastard.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

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• I take your point, but I don't live in the US.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• Good point -- sorry I missed that. I'm kind of new to AB.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

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• I don't often downrate, but I've got to. It's certainly a racial slur where I live. It's also not really a question, it's last 2 words are 'please discuss'. I'm trying to get to the bottom of why that one slur is so much more offensive than all the rest? Please discuss.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• I thought I had done that. Ok, a few things off the top of my head. The Scots have been on the receiving end of British imperialism, as have the Welsh and the Irish. But in general they are respected and amired throughout the British Isles for their many achievements. Ask an American who invented television, and then ask an Englishman, and you will get two different answers, the Englishman proudly claiming John Logie Baird.
  
  When I was young, black Americans were still being lynched in the Southern States. In the 19th and early 20th centuries they were regarded as property, on the level of animals. That particular word has a hideous history of bloodshed and suffering. Where I live the word 'jock' is hardly heard, but its meaning is pretty much on a level with 'yank', which could be used insultingly, but is generally a term of familiarity and affection. To compare the two terms in your original posting seems to be wrong to me.

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  by Prunesquallor on March 29th, 2009

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• Hi Chris, me again. In response to your comment on another answer, I like all those arty farty programs on TV where there are people of various ethnicities, black, white, Asian, talking philosophically about war, religion, racism, politics, etc. (You get a lot of them in the UK, usually on a Sunday morning). And I hear it a hundred times, 'the N word', 'the N word', I don't get why people feel the need to refrain from using the word itself, when there is no racist meaning in the context of the discussion.

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  by Captain Birdseye on March 28th, 2009

• I think we're probably talking about a cultural difference here. I'm a white Southerner (originally from Louisiana). Where I grew up, it's not a word that's used casually. And if I were to use the word with my accent in a casual conversation, I'd be sending a message that I didn't want to send. It's probably just more culturally "loaded" a term here given where I'm from and where I live.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

• And actually, you generally hear the term "N-word" in the United States only when something racist/violent has happened and a journalist is trying to accurately report what's been said.
  
  Within the African American community, it's used pretty widely, most often in humor. As a white guy with a Southern accent, I've got cultural baggage (not personal baggage) that I've never thought about a situation where I would use the word.

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  by ChrisDC on March 28th, 2009

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