"Nigga What? Nigga Who?"

See what had happened was.....I made a list, right? And in this list I cut and pasted the definition of the word Nigger as published in the online version of Oxford's dictionary. I was simply making light of the fact that they basically warned white people that although some of us use the word amongst ourselves, they would still do best to leave the word alone all together. I found that a bit funny. Go see......

http://teejsays.blogspot.com/2006/02/theres-nothing-better-than-love-list.html

So what had happened was.....this particular blog was passed along by and to various people when it found its way overseas to a brother named Neil. Neil wasnt having it!! Yo, he straight up contacted Oxford and gave 'em the business! I aint mad atcha brother Neil. To paraphrase Neil....he basically told Oxford that first of all they were wrong to generalize and state that the word 'has begun to be used by black people as a mildly disparaging or ironically affectionate way of referring to other black people' , when in fact, for the most part it is used by the youth and music culture. Not all black people. Secondly, when the term is used amongst ourselves it is almost always 'nigga' and not 'nigger'. And thirdly, where the fuck do they get off referring to us as 'black people' anyways? We thought the PC term was 'African American'. Get it right punks!

Of course all that was me paraphrasing brother Neil. I must say he put it alot more elegantly. But the tripped out thing is they responded!......and promised to correct it!!!!! Peep........

Dear Neil,

Many thanks for contacting us about your concerns regarding the usage note for the word 'nigger' in the online Compact Oxford English Dictionary, which has been passed to me. I fully agree with the points you make: I think the note does come across as rather generalized and patronizing: in fact, the latest edition of the print Compact Oxford English Dictionary has revised this note to simply state 'The word nigger is very offensive and should not be used.'. Although this latest edition is not yet online, work is in progress to get this entry changed as soon as possible. I would assure you that we always treat sensitive or offensive vocabulary with great care and much thought: it is unfortunate that this note gave the wrong impression, as it was certainly not intended to sound patronizing or petulant. Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine Soanes

Project Manager
English Dictionaries and Thesauruses

Well damn Gina! Sho'nuff on the get down! I damn near started a revolution. Okay not really, but still....this is crazy. Again I aint mad at Neil for taking action for something he believed in. Let it be a lesson to us all.