farm nigger
- noun
- Slur
:
[término racista y ofensivo]
- Historians warn against repeating language like farm nigger because of its racist legacy.
Examples
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The use of the phrase farm nigger is universally condemned as hate speech.
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He was horrified by old records that included the term farm nigger.
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Using the term farm nigger is completely unacceptable.
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No one should ever refer to someone as a farm nigger.
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The use of the phrase farm nigger is universally condemned as hate speech.
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Historians warn against repeating language like farm nigger because of its racist legacy.
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No one should ever refer to someone as a farm nigger.
Surface Forms
Morphology
farm + nigger
The phrase combines 'farm' (a place/occupation) with the derogatory noun 'nigger' (referring to a Black person), so its referential meaning — a Black person associated with farming or a farm worker — can be directly inferred from the parts. A B1 learner who knows both constituent words would therefore readily deduce the intended referential sense. The expression is extremely offensive, but that pragmatic quality does not change its compositional transparency.
Etymology
Farm nigger is a cruel phrase from times when people used the slur nigger to insult Black farm workers. By adding farm, the insult tied a person to farm work and treated them as less than human, so the phrase is a racist slur that is now deeply offensive and should not be used.
