By Robert Bailey, December 4, 2018 — Having participated for a time in the Toast Masters, I’ve become hyper-sensitive to the spoken word – particularly the spoken word in public speaking. During a typical Toast Masters meeting all of the participants were required as a rather rigorous exercise to actually count the number of errors that occurred during a given member’s speech.
We were directed to count the number of fillers as they were called; the number of “you knows,” “see what I’m sayin’,” “ahs,” “ers” and extended pregnant pauses. As a result, I’m extremely sensitive to words and phrases that go against good grammar or upset the flow of a speech. I’m still amazed at how often President Obama lapsed into “you know” and in some instances a simple “y’all” but that’s another discussion.
During the course of my listening to television News Commentary, I’m taken aback by how often my keen discerning ear is inflicted by the term “N word.” If we as a society are moving towards a more post-racial inter-personal discourse, why is the term “N word” so often used? If derogatory reference to African Americans is no longer the norm, it appears the politically correct, dare I say it; no, I will refrain at the risk of being redundant, it appears that the politically insulting “N—” word has been gratuitously replaced by the term “N word.”
All this begs the question, why do we as a society need the word/phrase “N word” in all of its interactions?