What is socially acceptable?
It really isn’t socially acceptable. I think that many of us Blacks have just fallen into an unattractive path of using a word that was created as a derogatory insult much too freely. Some blacks are highly offended by the use of the word, while others aren’t. I think we get more angry when a white person says it, because it was a way that whites showed that they looked down on blacks during slavery and times of segregation. I hope this helps!
It appears to be socially acceptable because interviews with some celebrities, and random public surveys, revealed the “N” is OK to use within the Black race. I know some Blacks who do not condone use of “N” word at all. They don’t use it; and will admonish others who do so in their presence. I marvel at how it is referred to as if it is profanity— the “N” word. It is no less profane than calling somebody stupid to their face.
The same reason why it is socially acceptable for gays to call each other queer and *** and when anyone else does it is a homophobic remark. It is socially unacceptable to demean a person. The word ****** derives from niggard, meaning to act in an ignorant way. It is socially unacceptable because it was used in a demeaning manner by whites to classify a whole race. Blacks use the word, some knowingly and most unknowingly, as a form of sarcasm amongst one another and to show camaraderie.
