I heard that it originally ment a lazy person of any race.
User Detail :
Name : Tena, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 31, City : Grand Rapids, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : dental assistant, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, Use it freely? I don't use it freely. I can yell F words and all kinds of profanity, but if I say the N word someone will get on my case. Then again, I'm white. I have no idea why black people say it- I don't call my friends 'cracker'... which would be much less degrading, or maybe much more, since blacks will use the N-word all the time so it doesn't seem so bad. Hmm...
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Name : Brett-B19429, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, City : Tucson, State : AZ Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I hear lots of people (black, white, Somali, Asian) use that word; which is pretty ridiculous. I think to many people it's still the degrading racial slur it always was. None of the black, white, or rainbow people I know would use that word; but I hear both little baggy-pants white boys & little baggy-pants black boys (mostly teenagers) drop that word like it's a compliment or something. Maybe using it a lot is supposed to take away its power to hurt, just a thought. It's still ignorant slang that no educated person should have in their practical vocabulary.
User Detail :
Name : Mandy, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Irish, German, Norwegian!, Religion : Catholic, Age : 25, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : clerical, student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, In the past the word, nigger was used to inslut African Americans because people thought they were a lower class than whites. The word nigger is still being used today but not exactly the same as te past. I think its more of a joke now, for example, I'll be walking done the hallway at my high school and you'll here a kid say to their friend, 'What up nigger?' Not meaning in a bad way its just something kids are saying often. The word nigger is also used in alot of rap music today and you know music evoles around most teens lives. Just because years have past and things have changed with African Americans I still dont think its right the way its being used today. That word still has an effect on African Americans and I think other races need to take that into consideration.
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Name : Molly-McKay, City : St. Charles, State : IL Country : United States, This is what I found out from a website about word origins: This most offensive of words in American speech dates back to the late 16th century, although the modern spelling doesn't appear until two centuries later. The OED2's earliest cite of the modern spelling is from 1786 in Burns's Ordination. (The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, however, claims that this is an editorial error and Burns's original manuscript uses the older niger.) The obsolete spelling niger dates to 1574. It derives from the Latin niger meaning black. It shares this common root with negro. The offensiveness of the term has increased over time, especially in the 20th century. Two 16th century quotes that are commonly cited in dictionaries are from scholarly tracts. A 1700 quote by judge Samuel Sewall uses the term in a denunciation of slavery. Gradually, however, polite discourse increasingly used the term negro (which dates to at least 1555) and nigger became relegated to the vulgar tongue, increasing in offensiveness over the centuries. So for instance, when Mark Twain uses the word in Huckleberry Finn, by the standards of his day he is not being especially offensive (although even then it was a term that would not be used in polite society), but is using the term as a marker of class and socio-economic status of the characters who utter it. In the 20th century of course, it has become extremely offensive. It, along with cunt are just about the only taboo words in American discourse today (it's interesting that the most offensive terms have strong racial or gender discrimination components). About the only acceptable use is in Black English when African-Americans use it to refer to themselves. (There is a similar reclamation of the word queer among homosexuals to rob the term of its offensiveness of the term by using it to refer to themselves.)
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Name : Kimberly Cook, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 24, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, The word 'Nigger' means ignorant. plain and simple. The african americans I have seen say 'Nigga' and they say they feel like they are removing the initial meaning of the word and changing it to something else. Like 'Gay'(the Old meaning)-meaning happy, to 'Gay'-Fag...
User Detail :
Name : David Rogers, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Nigerian, I don't consider myself black, Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 19, City : Upland, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, I wrote a paper on this particular topic for one of my english classes and I learned that the word 'nigger' was actually a phonetic mispronunciation of the spanish word 'negro' that southern whites adapted. This was often used in a derogatory sense and soon became a put-down, racial slur, and later a name that many blacks would use with each other whether in fun or offensively. What bothers me is that now that so many white people listen to hip-hop/rap, many feel that it is now OK for them to use it, too. Being young and black, I don't agree with the use of 'nigger' by whites or by blacks. The history of the word is just too powerful to use it so flippantly and people need to understand that NOT ALL BLACK PEOPLE appreciate and/or use this term.
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Name : Cassandra-S32405, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 18, City : Cambridge, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Middle class, The word nigger has taken on a different meaning than the word nigga. Nigger is a derogatory word which was used by white people to degrade and insult blacks. Black people especially older black people called their own children these names during slavery as a way to protect the child using it as a crutch. Over the years black people have taken the power of the word nigger from the white people and use it as a slang term 'nigga' to represent everything from that's my friend, to that's my enemy, with no racial insult intended. If you pay attention to urban black males they will call any person nigga regardless of race.
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Name : Deana, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : Muskegon, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, This word has NOT evolved. I consider it the ugliest racial slur ever used against African-American people. It is not used in my home, and I've taught my son that it is a dirty word and not to be used. I will always be offended by this word, and the people who use it. Just a friendly warning to my fellow African-American Brothers and Sisters: When a white person yells, 'My Nigga' at you, remember, you all made it acceptable to use the word.
User Detail :
Name : RhondaOutlaw, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 41, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Account Representative, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Heres a link that explains its horrible origins and its misuse by young blacks today. http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/caricature/
User Detail :
Name : Bruce, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 27, City : Sterling, State : VA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
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