the "N" word.

while perusing one of my long-time favorite blogs (curlynikki), i came across a post about the word "nappy." now, a lot of Black women feel some type of way about "nappy," esp. when people who are not Black (Don Imus, for instance) use it. iiiiii used to be one of those women.

as a Black child, there are SEVERAL things that you do NAWT want to be called, for many ignorant reasons. "UGLY." "nappy- headed." "African booty- scratcher." (as the child of a Ghanaian father, i already had one strike against me.) to me, nappy hair= ugly hair. & ugly hair= bad hair. therefore, nappy hair= BAD hair, & iwanted no parts of it. to be on the receiving end of such an insult was enough to end ya wholeeee elementary school career-- which my father had already done by singing onstage in front of the entire school when i was in kindergarten.

in one of my nightly "look up random things on wikipedia" sessions, i discovered that the dictionary defines "nappy" as being "in small, tight curls; downy, kinky." & ithought about it. that seemed like a pretty accurate description of my hair. mattafact, that seemed like a pretty accurate description of most Black people's hair. nothing in the definition said i was an "African booty- scratcher" or "UGLY" or any other schoolyard insult. so why are Black women so against the word "nappy"?

upon doing further research, i learned that "nappy" was first used to describe the wool of a sheep. &ithought about it. sheep's wool-- before it is shaved & combed & woven into ya favorite Ralph Lauren sweater-- is thick... & curly... & fluffy. it's of a desirable texture. people like wool because it's soft & it keeps them warm. nobody ever says "ugh, look at her in that soft, warm, wooly-ass sweater!" nobody hurls it as an insult. people generally like wool. (unless they are allergic. &that's a whole nother argument.)

so personally, i am not offended by the word nappy. i use it quite loosely &it only has positive connotations in my mind. inotice that when i refer to my own hair as nappy, sometimes people try to "soften the blow" by saying things like "your hair's not even nappy... iLiKE your hair texture," as if there is nothing likeable about soft, downy, curly, thick, kinky hair. however, i am quick to correct them. this is one African booty- scratcher who is alll the way down with the "n" word. *