Nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger (which is derived ultimately from the Latin word niger meaning the color black).^[1] African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE), or Jive (JVE), is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. ... Eye dialect is a common name for the writers practice of using nonstandard (or incorrect) spellings to indicate nonstandard pronunciation in dialogue. ... Nigger is a term used to refer to dark-skinned peoples, especially people of African ancestry or Negroid, and is regarded as an offensive slur. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Use in language

As of 2007, the word nigga is used, without intentional prejudice, among all races and ethnicities in the United States, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Caucasian Americans.^{[2] [3] [4]} In practice, its use and meaning, when used in reference to another individual, is heavily dependent on context. ^[1] This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... This article or section should be merged with ethnic group Ethnicity is the cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... An Asian American is a person of Asian ancestry or origin who was born in or is an immigrant to the United States. ... The Hispanic world. ... Caucasian-American (also known as White-American) is a term that is used to describe Americans that are of the Caucasian race, who have origins in the original people of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. ...

Like the term nigger, many people continue to see the word nigga as pejorative and its use both in and outside African American communities remains highly controversial.^[5] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns use of both nigga and nigger^[4] and bought the rights to the website nigger.com to prevent online exploitation of the term.^[2]. This is the spelling rappers use in songs as well. A word or phrase is pejorative if it implies contempt or disapproval. ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, generally pronounced as EN Double AY SEE PEE) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. ...

Some African Americans express considerable offense when referred to as a nigga by white people, but not if they are called the same by other African Americans, or by some other minority.^[4] In this case, the term may be seen as a symbol of fraternity,^[6] similar to the usage of the words dude, bro and queer, and its use outside a defined social group an unwelcome cultural appropriation. Critics have derided this as a double standard.^[2] Look up fraternity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up dude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The word queer has traditionally meant strange or unusual. Queer is currently often used in reference to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities. ... Speech community is a concept in sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves. ... Cultural appropriation (also commonly refered to as cultural misappropriation or cultural theft) is the adoption of elements of cultural expression of one societal group, such as forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art, religion, language, or behavior, by an external group, who often ignore the underlying purpose and... A double standard, according to the World Book Dictionary, is a standard applied more leniently to one group than to another. ...

Cultural influence

The growing use of the term is often attributed to its ubiquity in modern American hip hop music. ^{[7] [8]} Examples include: Notorious B.I.G.'s song, The Realest Niggaz, The Geto Boys' Real Negro Shit, Ice Cube's The Wrong Nigga To Fuck With and Snoop Doggy Dogg's For All My Niggaz And Bitches. Ol' Dirty Bastard uses the term 76 times in his Nigga Please album (not including repetitions in choruses). ^[8] The term "nigga, please", first used in the 1970s by comics such as Paul Mooney as "a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks,"^[9] is now heard routinely in comedy routines by African Americans. Stand-up comedian Chris Rock had a routine Niggas vs. Black People that distinguished a "nigga", which he defined as a "low-expectation-having motherfucker", from a "black person". Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in the 1975 comedy, Lets Do it Again), but best known as The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game). ... The Geto Boys are a gangsta rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. ... Ice Cube (born OShea Jackson on June 15, 1969 in Los Angeles, California) is a rapper, actor and film director. ... Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus (born October 20, 1971 in Long Beach, California) is a rap musician and actor. ... Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004) was an American rapper known by the stage name Ol Dirty Bastard (often shortened to ODB by mainstream media). ... Nigga Please is a hardcore rap album by American hip hop artist and member of the Wu-Tang Clan Ol Dirty Bastard, released on September 14, 1999. ... Paul Mooney Paul Mooney (born in Louisiana in 1940, USA) is an African American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. ... Chris Rock (born February 7, 1966 (sometimes given as 1965[1]) in Andrews, South Carolina) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. ... Niggas vs. ...

Tupac Shakur defined the NIGGA as an acronym: "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished" in the lyrics to his song Words of Wisdom, on his 1991 album 2Pacalypse Now. It later served as a title of a track on his posthumous 2004 album Loyal to the Game. In 1995, two Houston, Texas men filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the words "Naturally Intelligent God Gifted Africans", and its acronym. The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of the word nigga. Most recently, comedian Damon Wayans twice attempted to trademark a brand name called Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise".^[7] The Trademark Office refused the application, stating "the very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-[ethnic]-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African Americans find the term 'nigga' to be offensive." ^[8] Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rap artist, actor, and poet. ... 2Pacalypse Now was Tupac Shakurs debut album, released in November 1991. ... Loyal to the Game is an album containing previously unreleased music recorded by Tupac Shakur before his death in 1996. ... Nickname: Space City Location in the state of Texas Coordinates: Counties Harris County Fort Bend County Montgomery County Mayor Bill White Area    - City 1,558 km²  (601. ... The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. ... Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle alongside Tisha Campbell-Martin on My Wife and Kids. ... This article is about brands in marketing. ...

References