Books Blog: books.elliottback.com

Here’s the cover of JK Rowling’s grande finale to the Harry Potter series.

One book you absolutely have to read is Paul Coelho’s Portuguese masterpiece The Alchemist. At its core is simplicity, the urge to follow your own dreams wherever they might take you.

For just $12 at Amazon it’s an experience you’ll never quite forget, magic infused with naivete, curiosity and adventure.  Perhaps after reading it you’ll be motivated to leave your home, begin selling trinkets in a foreign country, optimize the business you work for, fall in love, fight a war, and return to home to live the “life ever after.”  If ever there were a movie candidate in a book, this would be one!

Now YOU won’t be able to open your brand-new Hip Hop Thug shop:

Seriously, the city of NYC has banned the use of the word “nigger,” thus preventing schools from teaching Huck Finn, and the homies in the hood from saying hello. Reuters has a hilarious quote from Chris Rock on the issue:

“What, is there a fine? Am I going to get a ticket?” Rock mocked in a Reuters interview when asked about the City Council move. “Do judges say, ‘10 years, nigger!’”

As a linguist, I think all words are useful tools for expressing ideas. What if you want to express a distasteful history of slavery and modern linguistic rebellion and rebranding? Then it’s the perfect word.

Update: The hip-hop/rap music link to the revitalization of this word is well known and controversial enough–I’m not interested in discussing it here. What is interesting though, is that I just realized that rapper (unfortunately) Jay-Z calls himself “Jigga Man.” Of course, Jigga is only a slightly more corrupted form of the N-word, and he’s taken it as his name. I’m not going to draw conclusions.

Update 2:  Here are some others’ opinions on the matter:

“I used the word nigger to defuse its negativity,” he told us by phone. “When Puerto Ricans call each other the Spanish word ‘negro,’ it reflects feelings of love. I think New York blacks picked up ‘You my nigger’ from Puerto Ricans.” writes NYMag

“The word word originates from the Latin “niger,” meaning black, to its first documented written use in 1786 as a term slave masters used to label their African slaves.” writes A Welsh View

“Sorry, banning words you don’t approve of is infantile at best and fascist at its worst. Forbidding the use of a word usually only gives it more power. Besides, racism is a complex cultural and historical issue that goes far beyond a two syllable word.” says Cynical-C

“My fantasy is that I could have made a citizens arrest and then tortured him for hours upon hours, tied up in my apartment, by recounting every act of racial hatred and discrimination that I have ever endure…” writes Black Looks

“How would we feel if the city had been Memphis, Tennessee, and the word had been “Jesus Christ!” (when used as an expletive). Most of us here would agree that both expletives are a bad thing, but would we want both of them outlawed?” says World Views

“Perhaps dialogue encouraging the black community to hate using the word ‘nigger’ as much much as they hate other people using it would be far more productive.” notes Amy Proctor who I remind does not need so many italics