An editor for the Washington Post has agreed with colleagues that the term “the N word” is trivializing and demeaning. His off-the-cuff suggestion? “A well known racial epithet.”
The whole issue stems from a desire to tiptoe around racial matters. The WaPo should at least consider doing what many publications do for all profanity — blotting out letters after the first with dashes. “N—–” is a lot more direct than “the N word” without being vulgar, and a syllable shorter, too.
Or, like Editor & Publisher, they could just outright say it. Larry Elder once pointed out a television segment where the journalist rattled off just about every racist term known to man, only to balk at saying the one for blacks out loud. Elder argued it was a form of paternalism. (Can’t find anything about it online.)
Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.
Loading ...
No user commented in " Washington Post debates euphemism ‘the N word’ "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackLeave A Reply