Hi there, complete stranger!
What it do my nigga?
You know, unless you happen to be black, that's not really something you can just appropriate to be edgy, because it doesn't make you sound edgy, it makes you sound like a pathetic bleach-tipped suburbanite trying to sound edgy.
At the risk of spattering my privilege all over the place: Isn't it unpleasant for anyone to say nigga? Regardless of skin color?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling anyone what to do, I'm just confused when linguistic-norm segregation is not called racism.
I understand positive discrimination when it improves the quality of life of an underclass, but in this case it only allows selfdestructive behaviour without any benefits i can see.
I don't think I like this "linguistic-norm segregation" concept. You don't see any benefits to an oppressed group using the language of the oppressors in an empowering or humorous way in order to discharge the power of words that have been used as slurs for centuries?
How about linguistic subgroups within ethnicities... should Jews not perform their ceremonies in Hebrew? Are Catholics OK with that Latin thing they do?
Let's put this in a religious perspective, since Nigel opened the door for it. I was raised Catholic as is common knowledge. If a Catholic or a former Catholic makes an otherwise extremely offensive joke about what being Catholic entails, that's acceptable. It's our suffering to make fun of. If you're a Baptist or a former Baptist and make the same joke, I am immediately going to go wtf, why are you picking on Catholics? I knew that you Baptist heretic fuckers sometimes joined the KKK and hate the shit out of Catholics for no fucking reason, but I didn't think you would be part of that sort of shit.
It's an imperfect analogy, but the most accurate one I can give.
I did some thinking (before i read these) and realised I was wrong.
You both explain it quite well though. Co-opting a word that is meant as an insult is a time-honoured tradition.
This made me realise I had forgotten one of my favourite bits of history:
The leaders of the nobles who signed a solemn league known as the Compromise of Nobles, by which they bound themselves to assist in defending the rights and liberties of the Netherlands against the civil and religious despotism of Philip II of Spain were Louis, Count of Nassau, and Henry, Count of Bréderode. On April 5, 1566, permission was obtained for the confederates to present a petition of grievances, called the Request, to the regent, Margaret, Duchess of Parma. About 250 nobles marched to the palace accompanied by Louis of Nassau and Bréderode. The regent was at first alarmed at the appearance of so large a body, but one of her councillors, Berlaymont, allegedly remarked "N'ayez pas peur Madame, ce ne sont que des gueux" (fear not madam, they are nothing but beggars).
The appellation was not forgotten. At a great feast held by some 300 confederates at the Hotel Culemburg three days later, Bréderode in a speech declared that if need be they were all ready to become beggars in their country's cause. The name became henceforward a party title. The patriot party adopted the emblems of beggarhood, the wallet and the bowl, as trinkets to be worn on their hats or their girdles, and a medal was struck having on one side the head of Philip II, on the other two clasped hands with the motto Fidèle au roy, jusqu'à porter la besace ("Loyal to the King, up to carrying the beggar's pouch"). The original league of Beggars was short-lived, crushed by Alva, but its principles survived and were to be ultimately triumphant.
In the Dutch language the word geuzennaam is used for linguistic reappropriation: a pejorative term used with pride by the people called that way.
