Jeremy Clarkson

[grumpy01]

Have not seen any comment on this one today.Firstly may I say I cannot stand Jeremy Clarkson but have we become that thin skinned that a nursery rhyme we have taught children for generations causes offence.Guy Gibson's dog would be turning in his grave.

[sp1814]

I have never heard a black Briton use the N word.

It's just not currency over here.

I am sure that others may have, but to understand how infrequent it is as a salutation here, perhaps it would it instructive to compare Jay-Z and Lil Wayne's last three albums with Dizzie Rascal's and Tinie Tempah's.

You see the difference, right?

It's just not a thing that black Britons do.

Anyone who tells you that it's a commonly used word here is mistaken.

[ummmm]

I've never heard it used, sp.

[Brenden]

I worked in local government sp, and can assure you it was common practice - a sackable offence if a white employee used it though.

[sp1814]

Brenden

I simply don't believe you.

I'm not saying you're lying. I just don't believe you.

[sp1814]

Brenden

Let me clarify...I have (obviously) grown up with black people, went to a school which had about 40% black kids, have worked (in a voluntary capacity) on a number of youth projects and for a long period in the 90s, worked with up and coming R&B acts in South London.

Never, ever, ever heard the N word being used.

I find it astonishing that you have...perhaps it was a very localised demographic.

I'm trying to imagine it ever being used amongst my. Contemporaries and peers...I can't. It would be as shocking as using the 'C' word in a meeting at work.

Actually, perhaps that's the key.

Maybe I've never been in a situation where the use of that word would go unnoticed?

[sp1814]

Brenden

It would be a sackable offence if a black person used it too, surely?

Which branch of local government are we talking about? I bet their mandate states that 'the use of racist language is a sackable offence', rather than 'the use of racist language is a sackable offence, but not if you're black, so have it it mate!'

[flump1]

I loath the word, however down here it is commonly used greeting between youngsters of any race. I hear it frequently when waiting for buses. It tends to go something like " Hey *** " whereby it would be answered " Yo *** " even between two white kids. I don't think they realise they are using racist insults...seems too friendly. I like the main of my companions ignore them !.

[Brenden]

sp, I do not lie sp and I swear this is the Gospel truth - albeit - this was 15years ago, around the same time as a transvestite was allowed to use the ladies toilets even though he still had male genitals and a stubbly growth on his chin. Also all photos and joke etc had to be removed from peoples desks and pillars - except one - a print depicting slavery. The threat of dismissal was never far away if one complained. I am still in contact with many of these people I worked with, and they are of all colour and sizes and are considered my friends.

[joggerjayne]

If someone says the word in an offensive way, or a derogatory or insulting way ... that's different.

But when it just slips out?

And then, realising that the words of the old rhyme are no longer accepted, he makes sure it isn't published.

But then someone ...

Someone goes out of their way to publish a clip including that word.

Why would someone deliberately publish such an offensive word?

It's not Clarkson who should be punished. It's whoever thought that it was acceptable to publish that word.

Whoever dug out and published the video clip should be dismissed.

[flump1]

Spot on JJ .

[sp1814]

Brenden

Actually...I take it back about not believing you.

Just thought about it...

These chaps you worked with...what was their language like?

Did they ever swear?

[anotheoldgit]

ummmm

/// Lol AOG. You got offended when someone called you 'Git'...You got offended when I said you were being silly...so I don't think you are qualified to
comment! ///

I have nothing against them taking offence, or persons apologising if they are offended (of which I was never given that courtesy) I just do not think that certain words should be banned from our language or people losing their positions etc if they happen to use these words.

[Brenden]

Yes to that sp they did swear and spoke very often in Jamaican Patois. I also called an 18year old Jamaican girl "a good girl"(typical cockney) and she reported me for insulting her as she considered herself "a woman" and saw this as patronising. I could write a book on how management dived in the deep end on PC, this is why I keep on about a level playing field and equality.

[sp1814]

Thank you Brenden.

You've clarified something I suspected.

The an word is rarely used amongst black Britons. We simply weren't brought up with it.

I suspect your colleagues from their description were actually West Indian?

[joggerjayne]

Have we stopped looking at the intention behind what people do?

(1) Some people genuinely dislike black people, purely because of their own personal prejudice. But everyone ignores them if they go through the motions of equality, and they get away with it.

(2) Jeremy Clarkson makes a completely non malicious slip of the tongue.

(3) Someone, with the sole intention of making mischief and being malicious, publishes a rejected video clip.

Why are we focusing on (2) (nice person) and ignoring (1) and (3) (horrid people)?

[jno]

as to whether Clarkson is a liar... well, he denied using "slope" as a term for an Asian... then his producer admitted "Er, well, yes we did, it was a play on words".

So it doesn't pay to take his every word as the gospel truth.

lol, ummmm, aog doesn't like being called Git, he doesn't like being called Brit...

[anotheoldgit]

/// “They want to control people with anti-racism laws.” And he continued: “Just cos someone doesn’t use the word 'n----’ doesn’t necessarily prove that they’re not racist” – a point he fleshed out with some tried and tested material about that cringe-making liberal line “I don’t see colour”: “Colour is one of the most obvious things about another human being – it don’t mean you’re not racist, it means you’re not observant.” ///

Reginald D Hunter:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/04/29/article-2316289-05C598B80000044D-269_609x533.jpg

[whiskeryron]

I do not & would never use the word, but as a real & genuine question, how did the word actually originate ( I suspect that maybe slaves who were taken from Nigeria were called the N word to differentiate them from some other poor unfortunates.) What do other ABers think ?

[Frank97]

From Wiki
The word originated as a neutral term referring to black people, as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun ***, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger ("color black").

[jno]

*** is Spanish for black, isn't it? It mutated by normal linguistic processes