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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

As a kid I heard it as a place name, Nigger Joe Hill (absolutely scary hill
that everyone raced down and then popped it into neutral to see if they
could coast up the other side).  Clearly a designation of color, not a 
derogatory term.

It probably would have been Joe's Hill if we didn't seem to have an excess
of Joe's, so each had their own designation.  We had Drunk Joe Creek and Old 
Man
Joe's corner and Poppa Joe's (gas station and cafe) and China Joe's (dry
cleaners).  We seemed to have a Joe on every corner.

The only time I heard it as derogatory was from my nanny and it was usually
prefaced by "lazy no good."

Of course, all the names have been changed now.  The road was moved so the 
kids wouldn't go racing down it anymore and the name of the street changed 
to, of all things, "A" street.  Don't know why.

Drunk Joe Creek is now Little Creek.  Old Man Joe's is now 3 Corners.  Poppa 
Joe's is long gone and China Joe's is now Landry's.

All that said, if my nanny were still alive, I'm betting she'd still be very 
vocal about who is and who isn't a lazy good for nothing regardless of race, 
color or religion <g>  She pulled no punches!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com>
> 'Nigger' is a creole anglicizaton of the Spanish 'negro' or perhaps the
> French 'niger' which both simply mean 'black'.  In the old parlance of the
> South,
> it is not a pejorative word.  A species of pine here is called 'nigger
> pine"
> because the wood is streaked in black and what is scientifically
> classified as a
> Black Oak is in the vernacular a "nigger oak".
>
> Knowing that the word has become offensive since the time of the old
> South,
> most people don't use it.  But it is a bias on your part to think that the
> person who named the crossing 'Nigger Ford' had anything but its color in
> mind.   </HTML>
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