Gloria Naylor's Nigger: The Meaning Of A Word

Why is being called a “Nigger” so hurtful for African Americans currently to date? Being called a, “Nigger” means to be called ignorant, dark-skinned, or of African descent. To this day, we’re still being called that awful word although it is not to be used anymore. It is a racial slur that should never be used and if it is used should be high consequences. This is the biggest insult to Black people everywhere.

Black racism: the hate that dare not speak its name. " The American Enterprise, vol. 9, no. 6, 1998, p. 54 +. In the future, the world will be a better place if offensive words like the n-word and other name-calling can be banished from existence.

Alan Gribben, the editor of the new edition, asserts, “Seems to me I'm doing something constructive by simply eliminating a word that's a clear barrier for many people”. However, the word ‘nigger’ itself does not cause any problems; it’s the intolerance of people exposed to it that makes the word secluded from society. The setting where this issue is most prominent is in high school classrooms. While the use of ‘nigger’ may cause inappropriate behavior by mischievous students, the censorship does more harm than good. It would prevent readers from understanding the word’s prior applications.

The oxford dictionary had much to say about the word “nigger.” The oxford dictionary said, slave masters got the name “nigger” from the Latin word “Niger” meaning black. They also got the word “Negro” from the meaning of the Spanish diction meaning “black” also. They used the word “black” to describe African American’s instead of letting them have their names or giving them an actual name. It wouldn’t be so bad

A path to embrace difficulties Even when we do not notice, words have a huge impact in the culture that’s speaks the language and the culture has an impact in the meaning of the language. Given this, there is certainly a relationship between a word’s intention and the reaction it gets, instead of the actual meaning, we create words and give them the meaning (Rahman ). The n word is one of the most controversial words nowadays, if not the most. These is because of the loaded historical background that it carries with it, this word is seen to be completely ligated to violence and intimidation that happened during the 19th century to the African-American race.

“A Word’s Meaning” was written by author and professor Gloria Naylor to educate others about how and why a word can come to have different interpretations. Naylor gives examples of the various spoken meanings of the word “nigger” to support her claim. She describes different situations in her life where the word was spoken by different people in different situations in different ways, and she delineates how all these shape the meaning of a word that is seen as taboo in the English language. She uses these examples to prove her point that a word does not have any concrete meaning. Naylor explains - in a very intellectual way - the meaning of the word, as if it were a dictionary definition.

The problem with the word nigga is it root coming from nigger which comes off harsh. “ You can’t just change a negative word to a positive word by changing the meaning”. The roots of the word still stand like the roots of a tree. People believe the word should not be used by the black descents let alone another ethnicity. Someone who doesn 't evolve around the suffering pertaining to it.

In the early 1780’s, the phrase “nigger” has created criticism and disrespect which whites have an unwelcome rejection of blacks. The term has spread widely over many decades; the meaning of nigger is extended to “an ignorant person” (Nigger, 2018). In English-speaking land, this word in some cases can be misunderstood as an insult without people consent especially in today’s society. Nigger is commonly used in young generations because there are many jokes into the word. It depends on how people use the term in a positive or negative in black culture (Nigger, 2004).

In the ‘30s people of colour were treated even worse than they are in today’s society. They made crooks sleep separately from the rest of the workers. They discluded him from games and festivities. Worst of all they called him a slur. A slur being a derogatory or insulting term applied to particular group of people, in this case being the n-word directed at crooks.

The words, “nigger” and “faggot,” I feel are being used more often as a counter to the malediction that was placed on this words; either it be during the civil war in the nineteenth century or the modern day. George Carlin said that there are only bad thoughts and intentions that turn the words that we use into ones that may inflict pain: Both nigger and faggot are degrading terms that by themselves have no power, but when there is a meaning behind them that is intended to inflict agony upon the receiver of the word, only then does the word take on its true form. Nigger, was used commonly in the South part of America during the Civil War, where black people were kept as slaves. The word derives from many languages spelling of the word black,

In the dictionary nigger is defined as a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person. During slavery it was used as a way for white people to oppress slaves, and after slavery was ended it was still used to oppress and demean black people. This is why the word nigger is such a loaded word. After the civil rights movement, the black community reclaimed the n-word.

However, people who hasn’t grew up in that time frame such as myself doesn’t necessarily relate the “nigger” to those understandings. Not all, but a lot of people in today’s society use the term “nigger” loosely. We use it on a daily in a friendly manner and not all blacks that offense when someone of the Caucasian race refer to them as a “nigger” or even use “nigger” to refer to themselves. This generation has also changed the term to “nigga” and although the “er” is taking off some people still gets offended by it. For me personally it depends in what content the word is used.

Mario Garza Mr. Izzy Nigger101 5 July 2015 Why Blacks Want to be Niggers For many years now, Africans have referred to themselves as Niggers, or as they pronounce it, ‘Niggas’. For many years it has been a derogatory term used to refer to the Africans, so why would you want to use this slur to refer to yourself and friends? The original definition for this word is a person who is ignorant, now it is used to describe an African American. While the original definition was in effect, many people still address each other as their ‘Nigga/Nigger’, but why?

Gloria Naylor, in her essay, “The meaning of a word” describes language as a subject. We know subject is anything that is generally discussed or dealt with. So Naylor wants to say the language is a thing where it has lots of meaning and perceptions. She writes her own personal experience clarifying how a language could be misleading and misinterpreted. She writes her own experience and tries to convince the readers about different forms of a word. She is affected by a word nigger and tries to find the arbitraries of any word. Her main intention in her essay is to lead her readers think about the words they choose to use and hear and how the context of these words can alter the meaning of them. Naylor takes a word nigger and tries to share her experiences of how she felt when she got encountered with the same word in different ways. She does not take a sharp tone. From her essay we can generalize that she is having a conversation with her readers as her friends. She is trying to educate her readers by sharing her personal experiences. I think she wants her readers to sit and think about the words they use, how others may use them, and how those words affect others around them. Naylor wants her readers to understand how deeply she was affected by a young boy but also by how she didn't really think about the word

Thesis: Both authors in the essay “In Defense of Prejudice” and “Mommy What does ‘Nigger’ Mean?” address controversial topics in the world. While Rauch tackles the idea to protect minorities, Naylor discusses the power of language; however, they both hit on the different stereotypes presented to them throughout their own lives. By successfully using their own personal stories, both authors are able to justify their arguments and create credible personas for the audience.