We hear it all the time, yet for some reason when I hear it it makes my ears burn, and I think I know why. First allow me to say that the pronuciation means nothing to me, reguardless of it ending with an A, ER, or UH, it's still the same word. The reason I am so bothered by it is because people throw it around now a days as though it just means "buddy" or "dude", but that fails to change the origin of the word. It still means to me what it meant when it was first spoken.

That being stated, the political side of this word is even more irritating than it's use. "That's our word! You white boys can't say it!" Implies that somebody has more of a right to free speach than someone else. I find this unacceptable, I don't believe that the "n-bomb" has a place in modern society for this major reason.

The word is used openly throughout our society, white people hear it, and as children hear it spoken so freely, they don't believe it to be a bad word. So in reality, what we have here is a case of shooting ourselves in the foot. Little white children hearing it and thinking, "That must not be a bad word, that person just said it about three times in the same sentance."

The word was created with a bigoted agenda in mind, and to me that's how it will always be, if you wish to erase the hatered of this word from the American memory, the first step is to stop using it all together.