nyiaga

[rufian]

Re: nyiaga

ok pan a serious note me ress me case. this was all very interesting.
none a ayu can prove to me wa mek nayga derogatory. aparrently de word crop out a nowhere in patois, dialect and creole [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] if mean niggah as a few people pan ya did tell me as well, me could understand. an since nobody can tell me wa people mean in patois. to me it mean people an so me shall use it, from now on. me done talk

[rufian]

Re: nyiaga

and ahm fe all who see niggah as cool, have a look

http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/caricature/

[BakYaSoh]

Re: nyiaga

Originally posted by sukuna:
[qb]

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] ...

I don't understand your "Getting down" paragraph. [/qb]

Hope you don't get offended I am just demonstrating something. Maybe because we both are black, the point that I am making is not clear enough. So brace up [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If I say to you "you are gay". Your mind start to run and yu get uncomfortable. You feel discriminated because I am implying that you are different than myself and therefore I don't find you fitting enough for whatever instance we have at hand. However, if I were gay, and I said "you are gay", it would become a welcome and mean the opposite. This is how the brotherness in the word niggah developed. The same thing applies to niggah, black, christian, whatever. [/qb]

Very good explanation -- I got it right off. And no, I found absolutely nothing offensive in what you wrote. Your concern for my feelings is greatly appreciated.

--
Btw, I stand corrected on Quashie. True, a dunce mi dunce, fi mi DONE know dat! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[BakYaSoh]

Re: nyiaga

Originally posted by Donnika:
[qb]

Originally posted by sukuna:
[qb]

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] ...

I don't understand your "Getting down" paragraph. [/qb]

Hope you don't get offended I am just demonstrating something. Maybe because we both are black, the point that I am making is not clear enough. So brace up [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/qb]

I thought his claim is jewish and not black... [/qb]

I am a JAMAICAN Jew. My family has been in Jamaica for centuries. I do not KNOW if we are of African descent, but most of my family members believe we are -- even if they don't admit it publicly.

As a Jamaican of many, many generations, regardless of my actual bloodlines, I am still an African, just like every other Jamaican. Afterall, Jamaican culture IS African culture -- our music, language, attitudes, comportment. I have as much right to it as every other Jamaican.

And guess what, as far as most white Americans are concerned, I'm just another niggah. Go figure.

[BakYaSoh]

Re: nyiaga

Originally posted by sukuna:
[qb] ok pan a serious note me ress me case. this was all very interesting.
none a ayu can prove to me wa mek nayga derogatory. aparrently de word crop out a nowhere in patois, dialect and creole [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] if mean niggah as a few people pan ya did tell me as well, me could understand. an since nobody can tell me wa people mean in patois. to me it mean people an so me shall use it, from now on. me done talk [/qb]

The important thing to remember is that language is time and place specific. In Jamaica, and I speak of nowhere else, calling someone nayga is like telling them they are the lowest person on the planet. The fact that it may not actually mean that is irrelevant. All your talking isn't going to change the Yahdie's mind and make him love you for calling him nayga. In fact, the more you try to explain the true meaning of the word, the more irrational and unreasonable the average Jamaican is going to become -- we are not a nation of reasonable intellectuals, last I checked. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

No matter what you think nayga means, the majority of people in Jamaica are going to react with extreme prejudice if you call them that -- and I think that's the point we're trying to make.

As for me, I would be offended if anyone called me nayga. It is unlikely I would ever talk to them again -- mi noh cyare if dem is mi husband, frien, or whatevah, mi wi done wid dem! To react in any other way would be a total loss of face to me. The same goes for the word niggah.

However, if an African American, or a foreigner (who's first language is not English) were to call me a niggah in a comraderly fashion, I would take it in stride. If they did a second and a third time, I would politely ask them not to call me that. If they persisted, I would figure they are too low class to do any better, and put up with it while I have to deal with them.

The difference is the African American that calls me niggah is being comraderly, recognizing the sameness in that we're both people of color. He's making a connection.

A Jamaican who calls me a nayga is insutling me, and there's no other way to take it.

[rufian]

Re: nyiaga

Jew, no problem, there is always white nayga if yu like [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]
alrighto, all dis explanation na necessary, the only thing is nobody have no arguement why dem na nayga. and ayu kyaan answer me three questions neither. yu can see that you are insistant on niggah a comrad even though me prove to you that this is not always the case. Even wid time an space, white man dead out a Jamaica but white man till deh a Merica. Jamaican tek offence, African-American laugh it off.
nobody know where the word nayga come from [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] So why dem a tek offense me na know. Normally dictionaries provide the origin of words. A wa a gwaan?

According to your definition of nayga, are you saying that nobody exist that fit into this definition? or a you saying nayga exist but it is impolite to tell them to their face who they are as in my "gay" example?

Here is an example of how you will see nayga used by me [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
you kyaan tell nayga yu business tall tall.

replacing it wid people would weaken it cause is nayga people me refering to. That is where me feel me na ha no right to express meself [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

me naa even a address nobody in particular, so why would anybody get offended? Anybody who get offended by that statement a take de word nayga pan demself and attach dem own meaning to it. Just like if an African-American call a West Indian niggah, he could be applying the original definition of the word, because he could very well proof his distance to being a Niggah by nationality alone. Just as the word niggah can mean extreem similarity, it can also mean extreem difference.

[BakYaSoh]

Re: nyiaga

Me, a white nayga? -- don't let my mother hear that! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

You've made some really good points, sukuna, and given me a lot to think about. I personally don't believe in bad or dirty words -- as if the word didn't bathe regular or went on murderous rampages, or something. Words are simply sounds that we give meaning. Though I feel there are some words, due to the divisive bigotry associated with them, that are best avoided.

By the way, I'm never offended at someone calling me gay, any more than I am by someone calling me Jamaican, American or Jewish. All four cultures play an equal role in my identity.

[mari]

Re: nyiaga

The origin of the word is not what is important, it is the meaning! I have never heard this word used in a polite way in all my born days. Growing up, the worst insult used by my mother for someone was Nayga in many forms: (Lowdung) dutty nayga, naasi nayga, and when someone's behaviour was particularly bad, he was described as being nigrish.

As far as I know, Nayga was/is only used in an insultive way. Nice people were e.g. "di Simmmit dem", prpblem people "di Nayga dem". this was the same if the person was dark black, light black or purple. It was naturally only used for Negroes, since all the people we knew were negroes.

I do not know an insultive word of equal weight for a white person. Do you?

[rufian]

Re: nyiaga

thanks mamatun, me nearly figet
de dutty and naasi nayga dem [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

In practical usage, of course the origin of the word is not important, dat is why me say nobody walk bout wid dictionary.
As of this thread it is important if smaddi use niggah and na want nobody use nayga de counter part. The discussion is also about the word in different places and used by different black people, the same word as yu know it, as me know at and as we hear it pan Soul Train [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Even your two example naa point pan nobody in particular.
Would you be insulted more if me say
"You is one nasty smaddi" or if me say "You a one a dem nasty nayga"? How do you feel insulted when me say "Me kyaan stan nayga people atall"?

How to equally insult a white person? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Well, you have to know who you are dealing with. De question is if a white smaddi can feel de same pain when you tell him an insultive word like a black person would, because this is based on the compound black experience. In other words, the weight would not be based on the word itself but the history and personal experience that you can attach to it.

You can hurt a prostitute by cursing him/her "prostitute". That could hurt even more than if yu call smaddi nayga, de person could even buss dung bawl fe days because it is dependant on what he/she links to it in terms of personal experience and even identity.
Now tek hunky, if you call a maaga white smaddi so, it naa go be effective because it naa affect all as it would when dem say niggah to us. If is a white person dat a suffer from fat in a painfull way an yu call him pig, e go tek dat on.
In the end, you can find words to insult a white person equally to niggah but you can't find none to insult them all effectively, everytime because dem na have de history where dem loss to us and it never even out.

[BakYaSoh]

Re: nyiaga

The word niggah, as used by white Americans, is an emasculating word intended to reveal the total powerlessness of a black person. As someone that has been called a niggah in America, let me assure you that it is very effective at putting one in their place -- and if you're a niggah in America, it's not a very pleasant place at all.

There is no comprable word for whites because they hold all the power in society. The reason the word has so much power over people of color is precisely because it highlights our real powerlessness in this culture, despite the veneer of equality and prosperity we may enjoy.

[Tropicana]

Re: nyiaga

dutty nayga, naasi nayga, and when someone's behaviour was particularly bad, he was described as being nigrish.

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

How about low down, dutty nayga, naasi nayga?

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[blugiant]

Re: nyiaga

Originally posted by sukuna:
[qb] man i read blugiant thread, read Evanovitch thread and read your thread. if yu never noticed one African on ya did ask that blugiant change the title of his thread and that was ignored. now there is more of it.

me say it is all a matter of context. now how do i use nayga out of context? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [/qb]

sukuna fram mi see de title aff de tredd mi wass sukunaffended bye itt. ann yu kno itt tekk a latt fii offend mi. mi tredd dat yu refferinn too wasss bout sum uninformed eediat african woo lissen too de ediat p diddy woo tinkinn imm wass representinn by cawlinn imm bizness de n-wurd. dat affended mi dat y mi poas de ting raw. now ween mi ear de use aff jjamaican n-wurds iff affended mii cause yu kno itt wass used bye lazee mzungu woo gawn like dem slave woo neva waan fii wukk was lazee. tink pon diss de swaticha sign wass a good african symbol beefour dem mzungu nazi mess itt upp cah dem wass fraid aff blakk people

[rufian]

Re: nyiaga

mbakra say yu is not to use that word mzungu on this darn bulletin board here. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

You were the author of the title of your own post and niggah as you used it did refer to the people in the picture.
If you argue with me that these idiot Africans as you see them in the picture should by right be refered to as niggahs then you should not be offended by nyaga 'our' counterpart. That is why me start this off.
An African woman was offended by the title and you didn't change it, so why this a offend you?

[neochin]

Re: nyiaga

di whole a unnu is naaigah. andme is naiigah tuh. unnu a some real yankee in yah...

[neochin]

Re: nyiaga

quashie is a dunce or a simpleton...maybe even a country cruff. quashie used to be a ghanan name used to name pickney dat born on friday(not sure o the day) in jamaica way back when.

IT CAN ALSO BE A NORMAL TERM FOR A BLACK MAN...the fellow in yah was telling the truth. although most people nuh know dat one. i think it became negative over the years...