African American women and men, are you offended by the word “nappy?”?

November 29th, 2008 | by admin |

  1. 18 Responses to “African American women and men, are you offended by the word “nappy?”?”

  2. By Priscilla Mason on Nov 30, 2008 | Reply

    If Black people like their hair nappy, than it’s not an insult, and there’s a difference bewteen stylish nappy and nappy as in, dirty, rough, dry. Nappy hair doesn’t apply to me either way. And many people think of nappy as the dirty, rough, dry hair, instead of the stylish form.

  3. By heavenlybeauty2006 on Dec 1, 2008 | Reply

    not at all.

  4. By Roman Soldier on Dec 3, 2008 | Reply

    It’s not “nappy” that’s offensive, it’s combining it with “hos” that is. It’s one thing to say a marine has a shaven haircut, it’s another call a marine “shaven + (whatever insult you can think of). Same thing applies with anybody. I wouldn’t like being called “Roman Imperial Scum.” Although “Roman” and “Imperial” are not offensive.

  5. By whatwouldyodado2006 on Dec 4, 2008 | Reply

    Not if the person i am speaking to at some point in their life had nappy hair.

    White people just shouldnt go there. Look, people might say thats racists, but so is Virgina waiting 150 to say sorry for slavery.

    It actually can be used as an affectionate term, but white folk just need to leave that word alone.

    Its a black thing.

  6. By blest and favrd on Dec 5, 2008 | Reply

    I guess it would depend on the context in which it was said. As far as Imus, I don’t think it was so much the nappy as to the wh-res he called them. I know it would be for me. With so much that other races use to try to berate blacks, these are children. And not just any children, to be professional children who are trying to make something better of themselves. May God Bless U.

  7. By ChocDream on Dec 5, 2008 | Reply

    No, I’m not offended by it. Like you though, I don’t refer to myself, nor my hair, as “nappy”, but I’ve had people refer to my hair as nappy, and they don’t mean it as a derogatory term, so I don’t get mad. Hell, my own sister calls me her “happy and nappy” big sister. That doesn’t offend me at all.

    But that’s not to say the word can never offend me. If, like Imus, someone called me a “nappy ho”, I’d be offended and probably fighting mad too. So, the word itself is not offensive; it’s how you use it, and the intent behind its use.

  8. By Butterfly on Dec 8, 2008 | Reply

    I am not offended easily first of all. I consider the source and the intent of the messenger. I was taught and truly subscribe to “If you don’t get over folks you will never make it”.

    There is a “great” difference though between being publicly and privately humiliated (don’t let anybody lie to you and tell you different). And professionally you should always consider if what you are saying would be considered offensive (not just to your friends. Your friends would pratically let you get away with anything as long as it’s not toward them). You should always remember the Golden Rule. Some people work in unorthodox professions and have more of a curve, but you should be more mindful.

    God made my hair I think it’s beautiful, I think that I am beautiful. I don’t think that straight hair automatically means pretty and definately not “good”.

    What is wrong with being different? Nothing. Somebody has straight hair. Somebody has nappy or shall I say coarse hair, Somebody does not have any hair.

    So what?

    The “nappy hair” simply is not the problem. I believe the world is evolving and as those who truly carry life from one decade to the next keep standing we will all get along and forget about race but I’m sure we will find something else to argue about $$$$$ :-)

    What I mean by the dollars signs of course is money. I believe there will be a time when race does not matter only how much money you have.

  9. By Brewer80 on Dec 11, 2008 | Reply

    If the hairs nappy, well then its plain nappy. Its a descriptive word, don’t get pissed off about the truth. You should like yourself for the way you are. By the way growing up I had some nappy hair and thought it looked cool.

  10. By canielany on Dec 12, 2008 | Reply

    Nope it does not offend me ,but being called an H>O>E or a B>ITCH or a stink H>OE i would say is very offensive .

  11. By xxprotein on Dec 13, 2008 | Reply

    I am not offened by the term “nappy” at all because I know it does not apply to me to. What would/did upset me is the non-chalant attitude and ease that we use the terminology greet and refer to our brothers and sisters.
    It is not a fact of if a person chooses to leave themselves that way but how are to going to address each other that way and then expect respect within our selfs and further more from others.
    Life has it’s funny angles and we must begin to look at the entire picture prior to making moves or making statements that not only hurt the person they are about but also our culture and race.

  12. By manoman on Dec 13, 2008 | Reply

    NAPPY USED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY
    NO PROB BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE SAME HAIR

    white strangers use it in play (basketball foot, cards etc)
    NO PROB
    WER’E TALKIN NOISE

    But as an insult anyone is victom or prey

    We professionals prefer the phrase “over curly”
    ech hem! “coily” you must be from Boston or… lol

  13. By rogue_angel2000 on Dec 16, 2008 | Reply

    Words have different connotations in use. You can say the same word with a different tone and/or context and infer something completely different.MY hair is natural, kinky, coily. I love me and my hair.Because I know there are negative connotations for other people associated with the word nappy I do not usually describe my hair that way.
    For some people saying you have nappy hair is the same as saying “you have a rat on your head or you have an aweful unsightly disease”–hide it..
    It did not sound to me like Imus’ use of the word “nappy” was simply a descriptive- the same as calling someone tall with brown eyes.He meant it as an insult but I was not necessarily insulted by it–just mainly the ho part…even though he was not speaking to me.
    PS if someone calls you nappy headed and starts laughing at you–then it is an insult in their opinion.

  14. By NINA_KNOWS on Dec 17, 2008 | Reply

    I love it. I wear my hair naturally. It’s not rough, dry, or ugly. I’m not mixed or have “good hair” I just keep it up and take care of it. We all should invest in our own hair and stop letting the Asians make millions off of us. Imus said that to down grate us, but I’m only offended by the “ho” part. What does he know about nappy hair. He’s just a stringy headed ho!!!

  15. By Ms-trustme on Dec 20, 2008 | Reply

    I don’t mind the term; it’s all about the context that it is used in

  16. By Diamond in the Rough on Dec 21, 2008 | Reply

    Its not the word “nappy” its in the way its use…until the phrase “happy to be nappy” was coined a few years back, nappy was always used in a derogatory way….so it just depends on who, and how its said….

    As of this week I want some nappy hair, I’m thinking about braiding mine down and buying some really nappy pretty brown hair, sewing it in and……………they are going to Love my nappy headed behind!!!!!

  17. By Nigerian_Samirah on Dec 24, 2008 | Reply

    No, but I prefer my hair to be called tightly curled or kinky/coiled. Nappy to me has such a negative connotative behind it, because of the past.

  18. By impact_player419 on Dec 27, 2008 | Reply

    Hmmm…Nappy? Nah ,not offensive to me.Theres a chain of black hair salons with the word Nappy in its title.bNappy to me is another word for messy.

    I thought the word jiggaboo was MUCH more offensive than nappy. Thats basically slang for the word ni99er.

  19. By PLD on Dec 28, 2008 | Reply

    I am not offended by the word, but it was the context used by Imus that was offensive along with the fact that he has a record of ****** remarks. That said it was taken way out of hand by the media ( and a lot of people on this website). I like the fact that Oprah and others are trying to address the disrespecting Black women by this society and hope that something positive can come out of this situation.

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