Legal Commentary

The status of the "N-word" was recently placed in issue by Laura Schlessinger's repeated use of it in a radio broadcast and her subsequent resignation from the show in the wake of the ensuing controversy. Schlessinger did not use the word as an epithet. Indeed, technically, she did not "use" the word at all: In philosophical jargon, she "mentioned" the word, meaning that she referred to the term itself and the norms surrounding its use. (I "use" the term "Boston" when I say, "Boston is the capital of Massachusetts," while I "mention" the term "Boston" when I say, "Boston has six letters").

A word must have almost magical capacity to offend when its mere mention, as opposed to its use, can cause offense. (I exhibit my own awareness of the "N-word's" power by refusing to mention it in this post). Schlessinger mentioned the "N-word" for the purpose of contrasting the different norms surrounding its use by members of different racial groups, highlighting that Black men -- she particularly noted Black "comics" -- use the term routinely in public settings without causing offense. Schlessinger implied that those who were offended by whites' similar use (or, I guess, mention) of the term were being "hypersensitive." She was, one might argue, trying to destroy the magic of the term through repetition, much as the characters in Scorsese's "Good Fellas" turns the "f-word" into a mere form of punctuation.

There is an obvious response and a less-obvious question invited by Schlessinger's complaint and strategy. The obvious response (made by a Washington Post piece) is that a term derogatory of a group will plainly be less offensive when used by a member of that group: I can be self-deprecating, but not other-deprecating, without causing offense. There is nothing anomalous about banning a term's use by outsiders while licensing its use by insiders, on this account -- and no need, therefore, to declare war on the double-standard through a radio diatribe.

But there is a deeper question that this glib response overlooks: When a group embraces an insulting term as a defiant banner of solidarity, should we expect the term eventually either (a) to migrate into the mainstream of language, losing its insulting force or (b) die out? If so, why has the "n-word" not yet moved in either direction?

Consider some contrasting examples: "Chicano" and "queer" both began their lives as insults for newly arrived Mexican immigrants or gay men and lesbians, respectively. They both have since migrated into the mainstream, with "Queer Studies" and "Chicano Culture" (for instance) being utterly mundane phrases devoid of insult. By contrast, Edmund Burke's use of the phrase "the swinish multitude" to refer to plebeians led various advocates of democracy to embrace the term "swine" or its cognates as a defiant badge of honor. (For the definitive history of the controversy over Burke's use of the term, see chapter 12 of Don Herzog's Poisoning the Minds of the Lower Orders). But the fad faded: No one nowadays uses the term "swine" to refer to, say, trade unionists or working-class folks. In short, one might hypothesize that contemptuous terms must evolve into a mainstream noun (as did "Chicano" and "queer") or die as an unacceptable insult (as did "swinish multitude"), at least so long as the contempt that the terms represent has been banished from respectable society.

But the "N-word" seems to be defying this tendency: It represents the most vicious of epithets in the mouths of whites, too toxic to spell out completely even for the purpose of mentioning it to analyze its use, while it is common currency as a jocular term of solidarity (I guess), among blacks. This state of affairs is, at least, odd and, I would think, unstable, at least absent extraordinary levels of racial segregation (which, sadly, this nation seems capable of sustaining).

One might also speculate that such a state of affairs is harmful as well as odd. After all, should a term remain in use as a badge of solidarity for insiders if it also remains a bitter insult in the mouths of outsiders? Is it possible that the term does actually not shed its vitriol in the former capacity, no matter how often it is bandied about -- that behind the solidarity is a message of self-denigration or, at least, self-isolation?

I have no idea, being an expert in neither African-American culture nor semiotics. But I'd be curious if there are any other terms that function as amphibiously as the "n-word," as common currency within one community but toxic insult outside that community.