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by kube-system 1822 days ago
It definitely depends on the context, along with thousands of other words in the dictionary.
2 comments

Yeah, I can't even really hear the whole word in the linked video, to be honest, but that sounds like a "hard r" to me... scrolls the thread yeah she definitely didn't say "nigga."
So we should probably update and clarify that this is a word that can be used as a derogatory racist slur but it can also be used otherwise.
Who needs to update or clarify what? Even English dictionaries explain this.
Well cool_dude85 claims it is a racist slur, when the reality is that it can be a racist slur, which I would argue (and you seem to agree) is not the same thing.
That claim was a child comment to a specific usage of the word, which contained the context necessary for that commenter to come to that conclusion.
The context being the video in that linked article? Certainly wasn't enough context for me to make such a determination. I have no idea if she was using that word to talk about black people in general, her black friends, her white friends, herself, or something else entirely. Much less if it was being used in a derogatory manner.
That, objectively, is enough context to determine the usage given the usage notes for that word in both Websters and OSX built-in dictionaries.