i never call you my bitch or even my boo there's so much in a name and so much more in you. i have some issues with people using the n word. but yet i'm okay with people using words like bitch or ho. well, not okay with it. i would rarely call a woman a bitch or a ho but i would call my guy friends that. cuz you know, they're guys. but then i had a talk a while back with a friend about the use of the word nigga or nigger. so am i being hypocritical by calling him out for his nigga use while i use words like bitch or ho?



i don't think so. here's why. bitch and w(ho)re have actual definitions aside from the slandering. a bitch is a female dog, a lewd woman. a whore is well, a whore. when you call a man a bitch nowadays, you are pretty much calling him a woman. the dictionary defines it as such "a man considered to be weak or contemptible." to bitch is also to complain. now, all these definitions of bitch are deragotory in a sense. because you are calling someone weak, contemptible, complaining. and all these traits are negatively associated with the female. which is not cool. however, isn't using bitch in this manner the same as calling someone dumb? i mean, some people, are actually dumb. or some people, actaully are just whores. or some people, are actually just bitches. this in my head is one explanation for why bitch and ho, and other words i can't even think of right now, are "acceptable."



"oh, so now we should celebrate bitchy, vicious, deceitful, manipulative behavior, just because it's a woman perpetrating it? you aspire to be a real bitch, a 'difficult woman,' do you?"



but i'm against the use of the word nigga. a few articles debate the merits of using the word as a part of pop culture. hip hop and rap have popularized the word and now you have little kids of all backgrounds, colors and ages screaming nigga this and nigga that. i'm not against anyone's freedoms to say whatever the hell they want. but i don't have to like it. my friend told me that in a sense he uses it as a term of endearment. "when i say, 'what's up, my nigga?,' that's kind of like 'what's up, my brother?,'" says joe plaskett, a 23-year-old from new york. that's basically my friend's explanation. nigga as a word is now part of pop culture, slang, and it is no longer offensive.



i would have to dis-concur.



nigga is in our tvs, our music, our generation as a slang term. but it is not the same as "dawg" or "homie" or anything else. there is a long and oppressive history behind the word. if you knew and understood what the word stood for, or how it's been used, i don't understand how anyone could still use it. "n-i-g-g-e-r — 'nigger' — is a term coined by white supremacists and slavemasters who intended to harm the psychology and the social standing of black slaves." btw, nigga, niggaz and nigger are the same thing. u can't separate words by mere spelling formalities. nigga is not the lite and fat free version of nigger. they are the same. in my humble opinion.



the question arose among us of "who owns words? who owns what? who owns anything?" if as a fan of hip hop, you see your favorite hip hop artists say "nigga," why can't you use it too? i'm a little in the gray about who can use the term, because right now i'm probably biased because i'm like, "ok, you might use it if it's a part of your culture or if you're black." but i'm not sure if that is quite right. but i do know very clearly who shouldn't be using the word. people who are using it flippantly. without an awareness. people who wouldn't use it in the company of african americans. people who do it to be cool. or with it. or because it sure sounds fun.



specifically, i'm very against it when little asian boys use it. by little asian boys i mean anyone between the ages of fifteen and thirty. i know this is my bias. because it's "my" community, i presume to know everyone's backgrounds. and i presume that for the most part, if you're asian, you did not grow up with nigga as part of your everyday slang or as a part of your culture. if you did, cool, sorry, use it all you like. but i make the assumption that when a group of little asian wannabe thugs get together, that not a one of them is using it as part of their cultures. i could be wrong. but if i am, i'm willing to apologize for my overgeneralization.



i don't think anyone should really use the word. period. but i understand that i don't know much/enough about the world, about cultures, so i can't say that it should never be used. i think that people should be aware and educated about words, all words, and then decide for themselves if they want to use them. because after all, we do live in a free country. this talk could go on forever. and i'm trying to avoid hypocritical land mines so i really need to think through the dynamic of my thoughts on the n word as relating to words like bitch or ho or who can use what words in what context.



one dude said this, "my name is jimmel williams, and that's what i want to be called. i don't care if another black person calls me it; i don't care who calls me it. it's offensive. "i'm not your dawg; i'm not your homey; i'm not your nigga. i am jimmel."