Igging the N Word

 
 Play On Language: 
 Iggin' the 'N' Word

I have decided, once and for all, with your generous assistance, to put that irksome n-word in its place. I figure that we, well-read erudite linguists all, are best equipped in resolving the niggling conundrum posed by a word so rich in content. So I am asking you all to submit resolutions to the N-word problem. Be creative. Be thoughtful. Be universal!

For so long, many have found profit, street cred, camaraderie or comfort from this national obsession. Rest assured, I am not one to profit from this malediction. Let's put it to rest once and for all, I say. Let's un-charge its charge.

Please submit your resolutions, addressed directly to the publisher of this magazine, on large denomination bills. I promise to personally handle each one. The buck stops here. And please, don't be niggardly. Consider it your contribution to both language and literacy. All right, all right...email will do.

Here are two that I have heard: One New York City politician suggests its use be banned for the month of February and have school children write essays on the matter. Is it me, or does this strike anyone as oxymoronic? Or there's comedian Paul Mooney's novel tack: "I say the N-word one hundred times in the morning while brushing my teeth. It helps keep my teeth white!" lampooning another cultural obsession. "It's your word", he says to his white audiences, playing to their guilt. "You created it. Now you have to live with it."

The best suggestions will be printed in the next issue of QBR and winners will receive a personal copy of Slang and Euphemism: A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Ethnic Slurs, Sexual Slang and Metaphor by Richard A. Spears from which to choose a word to take the place of the soon-to-be-verboten N-word. (That will be our next contest!).

Some will think me cavalier in light of so dark a matter. Not so. We're talking culture wars and within the parameters of war, the use of the word might fall under the crime of providing succor and comfort to those who might be considered enemies, intended or not, regardless of color of skin.

We continue...

Max Rodriguez
Publisher