Interesting. "Nigga" wins out online.



https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=nigga,nigger

Odd spike around 2014.

(Of course, that's searches rather than frequency in online text.)

Thanks for that search result. The results for on-line searches should be quite different than appearance in print, since on-line searches represent the ripples of current interest/confusion/outré-wish fulfillment, and so on. For the same reason, searches for "flu symptoms" have been shown to match (more or less) upticks in ER visits for acute influenza symptoms.

Presumably (but I wouldn't be too sure) Google doesn't have detailed demographics on the searches -- age, race, economic status, education level, and so on. That would be interesting.

No, it only has by region.

The phonetic difference between "nigger(s)" and "nigga(s)" probably has its origin in the AAVE tendency to drop the final 'r'. — Bitter Crank

AAVE isn't non rhotic like New England, British, or old South (I do declaa), but it truncates most all final consonamts. "Where are you going" becomes "Whe you goin" eliminating all final consonamts, including the entire single syllable verb "are."

It's verb usage is also distinct, with the to be verb used differently. The above sentence is often spoken as "whe you be goin?"

Whether "nigger(s)" and "nigga(s)" is one word with two racially inflected pronunciations or one word (or two) with racial inflections and two separate meanings seems to me unsettled. Time will tell. Lots of words have had decades of popularity, then disappeared (and sometimes, lamentably, have refused to go away. — Bitter Crank

Meaning in a living language is fluid. All sorts of connotations can swirl around the very same word.

Good point. The overabundance of 'schwa' sounds and liquefaction of ending consonants makes AAVE difficult for Anglo-Saxons to understand. From all the "What?"s I hear in black on black conversations on the bus, I don't think AAVE is working all that well for the primary users, either. Couple AAVE with mumbling, and it's incomprehensible.

But then I couldn't understand a good share of the dialogue in "Trainspotters" which was a film made in Scotland. There are dialects that appear on Masterpiece Theater (usually BBC sourced) that are tricky too. The midwest should probably send missionaries to the UK and help them learn how to speak their own language. The stupid slobs!

Ah gonna ge me som smahz lie tha honky gah. Ah be lauyah lie hi."

Right.

Right (conservative)
Right (correct)
Right (in the direction of most people's dominant hand)
Right (I totally agree)
Right (verbal insertion without meaning)
Right (proper -- as in "Meet, right, and salutary")
Right (a bishop)
Right there, right here, right now, right away, etc.

and many more.

AAVE isn't non rhotic like New England, British, or old South (I do declaa), — Hanover

You are not the first person to use "rhotic" on TPF; that honor goes to andrewk, but you are 1 of the first three. You are the first person to say "I do declaa" here.

I think that distinction should be easier to spot for Americans than for other British speakers, because most varieties of American English are 'rhotic', meaning they pronounce terminal 'r's, whereas British and Australian English do not, instead pronouncing the ends of words ending in 'er' as 'ah' or 'uh'. So that distinction is lost on we Poms and Aussies. — AndrewK

Now, what pray tell is a "pom"? Pomeranian (a variety of German)?

Those aren't cases of the same word.

Now, what pray tell is a "pom"? — Bitter Crank

Old Australian slang for visitor or immigrant from England. The etymology is lost in the mists of time. Two explanations I have heard are:

1. It used to be POME, and the E was later dropped. POME was an acronym for 'Prisoner Of Mother England', written on the identity documents of the transported convicts that were the majority of the original european settlers (invaders) of the Australian continent.

2. Refers to pomegranate, a red fruit, as a joke about the fact that English visitors get sunburned and go bright red under the Australian sun, which they are not used to. Not so relevant since supercheap air travel made sunny Spain a major holiday destination for Brits of almost all classes.

I like the pomeranian idea. That sounds as plausible as the others. It is well known to students of history that the British are soulmates of the Germans, and are unified against the real traditional enemy - the French. The two wars in the 20th century were a curious aberration.

I also want to apologise to @jamalrob for triggering one of his pet hates, making generalisations about all inhabitants of the British Isles, as if they were monolithic. I acknowledge that those islands are one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world. I was aware that Scottish, Irish and some regional dialects of England (West Country perhaps. Certainly not Cockney or RP though) are rhotic. I should have said English English, which would have been closer to correct, although still with some exceptions.

Southerners always say that they declare before they declare in order to not startle anyone. I do declare, It's a most genteel society.

It's well known that Scottish English inserts gibberish as every third word just so they can roll their Rs. Native Scots are able to filter out the filler sounds seamlessly.

The Welsh, on the other hand, fuck sheep.

The Welsh, on the other hand, fuck sheep. — Hanover

I thought it was the Australians that were the sheep shaggers. :joke:

All shepherds are sheep shaggers. Where men are men and the sheep are nervous.

My question is whether this social convention of never uttering the N-word is a reasonable act of respect or whether it's simply a politically imposed rule that can be used to divide and destroy? — Hanover

If the word is to become a thing of the past that is unknown to the present then everybody would have to stop using it. The same people that it was meant to refer to use it all the time, they just don't want to be called it by other groups.
The same has happened to nearly all of the smaller groups that had been named by the majority in some derogatory way. A couple of gays I know still call each other queers. Nearly all groups have names that they use among themselves that has been used by others as insults at some time. Talking to some nurses a while ago( male and female) they happily called each other butt wipers. But when a smart-ass doctor used the name they were ready to lynch him.

Over time people will start to use the now acceptable words that refer to these groups as insults and then they will also become unacceptable.

If not using the words was a reasonable act of courtesy or respect then there would have to be respect for the persons being referred to. The only way that is going to happen is when everyone is considered equal to everyone else. Do you think that will ever happen.
If it is a politically imposed rule, I doubt that the intention is to divide and destroy, more along the lines of sucking up to possible new voters by the ruling or wanting to rule parties.

Odd spike around 2014. — Baden

Not sure what it would be, but it's surely correlated to some popular media usage--a song, something some media personality (entertainer, TV presenter, etc.) said, etc.

This is a possible culprit, or at least one of them. It came out in later 2013:

Serves to emphasize the way the different variants/words are used. And the evidence suggests the divergence will continue.

making generalisations about all inhabitants of the British Isles, as if they were monolithic. I acknowledge that those islands are one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world. I was aware that Scottish, Irish and some regional dialects of England (West Country perhaps. Certainly not Cockney or RP though) are rhotic — andrewk

You basically just called me British. I demand an apology too. :grin:

My question is whether the N-word specifically has become a word that is per se insulting, regardless of context, where its mere utterance is a sin. — Hanover

A sin? Maybe not. But unacceptable? Yes. The so-called N-word was used for centuries in an intentionally pejorative way. And gratuitous insults help no-one and nothing.

My question is whether the N-word specifically has become a word that is per se insulting, regardless of context, where its mere utterance is a sin. — Hanover

It depends on who you ask and even then you will get contradictory answers from the same person who claim to be offended by the word, yet they use it themselves to refer to "friends".

These same people get offended when a caucasian uses the word, but not when blacks do. This is where it becomes a way to divide, like you said. To say that one group of people with a particular skin color can't do something where another group of a particular skin color can, is the definition of racism.