I laugh at the "n" word. We can say the "f" word in the States but Heaven help you if you say the "n" word! The blacks in the States us the "n" word to each other all the time and in my circles in Michigan, with blacks and whites that socialize as friends, both use it. It is only not okay for whites to use it but okay for blacks. First, I would never use language deliberately that is offensive to those present and people have been made to consider it offensive by the media. The "n" word isn't even what it is made out to be. It has nothing to do with slavery and was often used when I was a girl without a second thought. It was never, in my experience, used as a derrogatory term. It is nothing more than a mispronunciation of the word "negro." (Oops, am I allowed to say that?)