What's In A Name? -- A Hated Racial Slur Finds New Currency - And Controversy - In Popular Culture

Its use in polite conversation was once verboten.

And it can still ignite controversy: Recently, the nation's best-known dictionary maker, Merriam-Webster, agreed to revise entries for more than 200 offensive words after a public outcry over the dictionary's definition of just this one word.

Despite all of that, the racial slur "nigger" peppers conversations these days in every venue from films and rap music to comedy and casual banter.

"Its just a part of everyday conversation," says Alexis, a sophomore at Garfield High School.

The n-word now resides in the lexicon of the cool.

Cool as in the edgy comedy of Chris Rock. Or in the confrontational lyrics of rap music. Pop-culture cool as in the political satire "Bulworth" where the word volleys back and forth between a threat and a declaration of love.

For many decades, it has been a conditionally acceptable term between African Americans, kept safely in the family and used with discretion in relative seclusion. But the powerful sweep of popular culture has moved the term into the mainstream.

Use of the n-word is still dicey. In "Bulworth," the character played by Warren Beatty commits a dangerous faux pas by using the word at a black nightclub. But later, Beatty's love interest, played by Halle Berry, cements their relationship when she declares him her "nigga."

The n-word has been in use in America since the Revolutionary War but it was last year's hit cult movie "Jackie Brown" that set off renewed debate over its growing mainstream usage. The film's maker, Quentin Tarantino, argued that the word has artistic merit. But filmmaker Spike Lee argued that the n-word, in all its variations, belongs exclusively to African Americans. And, after all, using the word is a privilege that should only be given to those who have paid the price of true oppression.

In pop culture and everyday language, we hear two forms of the same word - one, the most volatile word in the English language; the other, hip. The less-hateful meaning of the word has even acquired a new spelling, "nigga," to make clearer what is not always an obvious distinction.

Thirty, even 20 years ago such use was unthinkable in polite conversation. To use the word, even in a joking manner, was cause for reproving stares, maybe a fistfight. Not any longer.

"Japanese, Samoan, white and Chinese kids are calling each other nigga; they're not afraid to use the word," says Al Black, who teaches race relations at the University of Washington. "It's all part of the hip-hop culture."

But that argument confuses some whites who don't understand the double standard - blacks can say it with impunity, but whites who use the n-word in any context are considered racist.

Rock, the comedian, had to answer the double-standard question after using the word in his routine.

"White people are ticked off because there's something they can't do," Rock said in the New York Times. "That's all it is. `I'm white, I can do anything in the world. But I can't say that word.' "

Actually, they can, and do.

Step down some evenings into the basement of the Madrona Presbyterian Church and you will hear that unholiest of words bandied about as casually as an amen on Sunday. In conversation and in the songs they record, this multiracial group of musicians enrolled at the "Everyone has a Song Youth Program" let the words slide casually from their lips.

The fact that the n-word can be spoken at all by whites and other nonblacks is a testament to how time can heal even the ugliest of wounds.

"I feel as though it's lost its (racist) meaning over the period of time it's been used," says Marcus, 16, who is of African-American and Caucasian heritage. "It's become like lingo."

Rob, a junior at Garfield and dressed in the gear of his favorite rappers, Wu-Tang Clan, says he is careful about when he uses the n-word. He has to be. He's white.

But there are times, Rob says, when he's on a roll, pontificating on his favorite topic, music, and to be true to a song or an artist the dreaded n-word exits his mouth. It is then, he concedes, that he first looks over his shoulder to ensure that only his closest and most understanding friends are within hearing distance.

But not everyone is so respectful, Rob and Marcus agree, and the n-word can sometimes fly across high-school campuses like the most casual of greetings.

"Some white people say `whassup nigga' like they're black,' " Rob says, shaking his head in disapproval. "They think they're being cool."

Intimacy, not coolness, is what many young African Americans say they are trying to convey when they use the n-word. For them, it is an in-the-family thing and those not in the family - whites and other nonblacks - should not use it.

Alexis has called her boyfriends her "nigga" before, meaning it in the most loving way. Others use it as an adjective to pay the highest of compliments.

To describe someone as a "real nigga" is to define them as down-to-earth and trustworthy, says Daryl Preston, a 20-year-old African American.

But let that same word be spoken by a white person and it would be the "insult of the century." Deadlier still if the person erred in saying "nigger" while meaning to say "nigga."

Adults who understand and even tacitly support the word's usage by young people worry that the distinction is too thin to always make carefully.

"We know that people are carrying firearms," says Charles Jefferson, who runs the Madrona program that helps youths market their musical talent.

"If they hear that word they're not going to rationalize, `Well, is that person saying nigga or nigger?' No, they're going to just blow them away.' "

Bottom line, most urban youths agree, is to use the word sparingly and never in anger. And never confuse one form of the word with the other.

"I don't think it will ever be free of its bad meaning," Rob said.

And that's the problem, critics of the word's growing usage say. Rather than making the word more acceptable, it should be made more clear that the word is unacceptable, they note.

A community group in Flint, Mich., sent signed petitions to dictionary maker, Merriam-Webster and demanded that the word be removed from its dictionary. The group's goal was to remove the word from the English lexicon by removing it from dictionaries.

The NAACP took up the cause, not going so far as the Michigan protesters but demanding a redefining of the word from "black person" to a definition that immediately acknowledges its derogatory meaning.

Among Merriam-Webster's definitions of the word are "a black person - usually taken to be offensive" and "a member of any dark-skinned race - usually taken to be offensive." The dictionary also notes that the word "ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English."

And the American Heritage Dictionary, quoting the author James Baldwin, includes this entry: "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger."

At Merriam-Webster, located in Springfield, Mass., senior editors are "reviewing all words deemed offensive and minor changes in their definition could be made in 1999," says the company's public relations officer, Alicia DiLeo. But major changes, such as eliminating a definition, can only be made in the dictionary's next edition, scheduled for 2003 or 2004. New editions are issued every 10 years, although minor changes can be made annually.

It is the first time in the 150-year-old publishing company's history that it has had to assign a task force to consider whether to change the practice of listing definitions historically, with the oldest - and often the most objectionable - uses coming first.

Efforts to remove the word from the dictionary are misguided, says Roz Woodhouse, the outgoing head of the Seattle branch of the Urban League.

"It is important that there be a documented record of some of the less attractive parts of American history," Woodhouse says. "What is more important is the definition that acompanies the word. It should be real clear that the meaning is racist."

Some linguists attribute the word's resurgence to the fact that many people believe the social and political conditions from which racial slurs emerged no longer exist, or exist only marginally.

The logic behind mainstreaming the word is that by routinely using it, they say, you strip it of its power. Gay men have attempted the same by adopting the words "queer" and "fag," women by adopting "bitch."

But others, including Oprah Winfrey, vociferously argue against rehabilitating a word that has been used to perpetuate historical stereotypes and ugly generalizations about African Americans.

Truly disabling the word, probably means disabling the attitude, something far more complicated than overusing or for that matter ignoring a word.

"By not using it, the word does not go away," said Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California's film school. "The word makes sense if it's used in conjunction with the world it makes sense in. But just like violence and sex, you can use it gratuitously."

Lynne K. Varner's phone-message number is 206-464-3217. Her e-mail address is: lvar-new@seatimes.com

Hugo Kugiya's phone-message number is 206-464-2281. His e-mail address is: hkug-new@seatimes.com