08-03-2003, 12:09 AM
Grim,
Thank you for elucidating the inherent sensitivity of the word "nigga". I was unaware of any and all etymological origins and racial implications of a term that, I admit, I simply heard once or twice on the Fox network. Oh wait, my mistake, I don't live under a god damn rock.
You see, Grim, there are two sides in the war of lingual evolution: On the one hand is communicative potency â what could be called lexical ideals â and on the other, emotional insulation.
(Since you prefer to argue in abstraction and with thousand-dollar words, I'll happily do the same.)
The communicative side favors a natural, socially-driven maturation of lingual exchange. It's inclusive of any and all recognizable terms, from new technological jargon and revisionist slang to "street speak", jive, perversive spelling, even acronymic word generation. The singular interest of communication is to become more flexible, more flavorful, and more efficient. That is, to become better.
To discover its optimal methodology, we need only look, specially, at ourselves. Nature has produced in us a stunning vocabulary of biological efficiencies. What if I asked you to build an extremely high definition, 70 frames per second, full color light sensor that operates on less energy per day than in a sunflower seed -- entirely out of water and jelly? You'd laugh in my face, and rightly so. But nature, brainless, insensitive nature, did it for us by incorporating any and all variations in its biological lexicon. Every new gene and every new trait gets thrown into this cook book. Why? Because Nature decided that the best, surest way of producing massive efficiency in its children is to try everything. For my part, I'm happy with the result.
Language is no different. And I'm a big fan of language. I spent a darn lot of years studying it, and have grown a conviction or two. One of them is that language is the most powerful tool we have and its growth and evolution should be encouraged. One facet of that growth is flavor. While language is often shaped like a screwdriver, it's oftener shaped like a canvas. Our personalities and uniqueness are heavily skewed by our diction and syntax. And slang, colloquialism, and inventive methods of lingual expression add incalcuably to our humanity. And to culture. And self-expression. The way you speak makes you YOU.
The other side, the emotionally insulated, favor communicative comfort, solidarity, and uniformity. This is the side that wants to sculpt and conform language to a (heavily culturally specific) set of standards imposed by a governing body. Thusly, they are protected from the heart-afluttering effects of words outside those standards.
They are not wrong to do so. If this side prefers to live in a world with a limited lexicon that couldn't possibly insult blacks, jews, gays, women and, to a lesser extent, whites, christians, straights and men -- then fine, they may do so. However, a microcosm, by definition, exists inside a macrocosm that does not use the same set of rules. That macrocosm is the world, and the world uses everything. You may prefer that the company you keep not say words like, say, "nigga", but the rest of the world won't be so obedient.
But, I thought the Lounge IS such a microcosm? And you can't say those filthy, oppresive, insensitive words! Heck yeah it is. And I'm happy that that's so. Expletives are entirely unnessessary to communicate what kind of Necromancer you just built. And, though there are gray areas, such as "bitch" and "ass", we're all very clear on the use, in this microcosm, of terms like the F, S, C, T, S, C, F and, of course, the N word. I have all the respect in the world for Bolty, and wouldn't even bother circumventing the naughty-parsers to use them. A handy symptom of this policy is that it keeps out the undesireables. Also a plus, especially in the macrocosm of the internet.
That said (verbosely, I know), I refuse to apologize or rescind my playful "niggas triangulate". Why?
1. The text parser didn't catch it. The implication is that it is an acceptable term and may be used.
2. I used the term in a way that cannot, by any majority of any society anywhere, cause offense. "Niggas triangulate" means absolutely nothing. It's fun because the two words do not go together on their own, and have such divergent meanings that the result is absurdity. A core component of humor.
3. It was intended to be humorous.
4. Clearly, even Bolty and the other mods make a distinction between "nigga" and "nigger", since the latter gets parsed out. I would therefore not use it even sans parser. Besides, putting the N word next to "triangulate" isn't funny. See point 3.
5. I will not be policed by civilians.
Okay, that does it for my elitist tirade. To anybody who sat through it and regretted doing so, I'm awful sorry. Free punches if we ever meet in person.
Grim, do yourself a favor. Do not waste your life arguing trifles. You'll find, in the end, very little else.
And as a last note: Does it change anything if I tell you that I am black?
Ignatz
Thank you for elucidating the inherent sensitivity of the word "nigga". I was unaware of any and all etymological origins and racial implications of a term that, I admit, I simply heard once or twice on the Fox network. Oh wait, my mistake, I don't live under a god damn rock.
You see, Grim, there are two sides in the war of lingual evolution: On the one hand is communicative potency â what could be called lexical ideals â and on the other, emotional insulation.
(Since you prefer to argue in abstraction and with thousand-dollar words, I'll happily do the same.)
The communicative side favors a natural, socially-driven maturation of lingual exchange. It's inclusive of any and all recognizable terms, from new technological jargon and revisionist slang to "street speak", jive, perversive spelling, even acronymic word generation. The singular interest of communication is to become more flexible, more flavorful, and more efficient. That is, to become better.
To discover its optimal methodology, we need only look, specially, at ourselves. Nature has produced in us a stunning vocabulary of biological efficiencies. What if I asked you to build an extremely high definition, 70 frames per second, full color light sensor that operates on less energy per day than in a sunflower seed -- entirely out of water and jelly? You'd laugh in my face, and rightly so. But nature, brainless, insensitive nature, did it for us by incorporating any and all variations in its biological lexicon. Every new gene and every new trait gets thrown into this cook book. Why? Because Nature decided that the best, surest way of producing massive efficiency in its children is to try everything. For my part, I'm happy with the result.
Language is no different. And I'm a big fan of language. I spent a darn lot of years studying it, and have grown a conviction or two. One of them is that language is the most powerful tool we have and its growth and evolution should be encouraged. One facet of that growth is flavor. While language is often shaped like a screwdriver, it's oftener shaped like a canvas. Our personalities and uniqueness are heavily skewed by our diction and syntax. And slang, colloquialism, and inventive methods of lingual expression add incalcuably to our humanity. And to culture. And self-expression. The way you speak makes you YOU.
The other side, the emotionally insulated, favor communicative comfort, solidarity, and uniformity. This is the side that wants to sculpt and conform language to a (heavily culturally specific) set of standards imposed by a governing body. Thusly, they are protected from the heart-afluttering effects of words outside those standards.
They are not wrong to do so. If this side prefers to live in a world with a limited lexicon that couldn't possibly insult blacks, jews, gays, women and, to a lesser extent, whites, christians, straights and men -- then fine, they may do so. However, a microcosm, by definition, exists inside a macrocosm that does not use the same set of rules. That macrocosm is the world, and the world uses everything. You may prefer that the company you keep not say words like, say, "nigga", but the rest of the world won't be so obedient.
But, I thought the Lounge IS such a microcosm? And you can't say those filthy, oppresive, insensitive words! Heck yeah it is. And I'm happy that that's so. Expletives are entirely unnessessary to communicate what kind of Necromancer you just built. And, though there are gray areas, such as "bitch" and "ass", we're all very clear on the use, in this microcosm, of terms like the F, S, C, T, S, C, F and, of course, the N word. I have all the respect in the world for Bolty, and wouldn't even bother circumventing the naughty-parsers to use them. A handy symptom of this policy is that it keeps out the undesireables. Also a plus, especially in the macrocosm of the internet.
That said (verbosely, I know), I refuse to apologize or rescind my playful "niggas triangulate". Why?
1. The text parser didn't catch it. The implication is that it is an acceptable term and may be used.
2. I used the term in a way that cannot, by any majority of any society anywhere, cause offense. "Niggas triangulate" means absolutely nothing. It's fun because the two words do not go together on their own, and have such divergent meanings that the result is absurdity. A core component of humor.
3. It was intended to be humorous.
4. Clearly, even Bolty and the other mods make a distinction between "nigga" and "nigger", since the latter gets parsed out. I would therefore not use it even sans parser. Besides, putting the N word next to "triangulate" isn't funny. See point 3.
5. I will not be policed by civilians.
Okay, that does it for my elitist tirade. To anybody who sat through it and regretted doing so, I'm awful sorry. Free punches if we ever meet in person.
Grim, do yourself a favor. Do not waste your life arguing trifles. You'll find, in the end, very little else.
And as a last note: Does it change anything if I tell you that I am black?
Ignatz
![[Image: ignatzsig.gif]](http://www.stillinger.com/ignatzsig.gif)