I don't know about you, but I don't really like being called a honkey or cracker. they take more offense because the word was started as a racial slur in the days of slavery and unequal rights.

Essentially the same reason blacks can make racist remarks in movies, TV, radio, etc and nobody minds, but a white person doing the same is condemned. White people dont pay enough attention to what blacks think to care. The white race has never been the underdog, so as a whole it's too arrogant to be offended at what "the other races" think, and are typically more amused than offended. Blacks have an anger and fear of racism, based on what it's done to their people, they therefore take more action to any signs of it. Yes, this anser is stereotypical, but then so is the question, so lighten up and if you dont apply- I'm not talking about you..

Few words in any language can match the "n word" for connotations of hate, fear, racism, and murder. Add violence, cruelty and ugliness, and you start to get the idea. Honky? Honky is nothing, really. Comparing honky to the "n word" is like comparing a cigarette lighter's flame to an uncontrolled wildfire. If honky's emotional impact equals the physical pain of a scraped elbow or skinned knee, then surely, the "n word" carries the pain of deep stab wounds from a dull, rusty knife. Honky sounds almost comical, even stupid. Call someone the "h word" and you might hear, "Are you serious? Honky? That the best you can do?" Have you ever heard "honky" and panicked? Or felt your heart stop when chaos, bedlam and violence rushed in through the front door? Cruel strangers invading your home for one reason - to scare and hurt you and your family, all because of your skin color. Maybe they'd beat your mother and your sisters, or worse, kill your father, your brother - or even your cousin. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9056380/ http://www.duckdaotsu.org/EmmittTill.html Does "honky" bring up images of people who look and sound like you, suffering the heart-wrenching indignity of being bought and sold at a slave auction? How about seeing your family members for the last time as they're led away in chains? "Honky" has no substance and no sting. But the "n word" conjures up a blistering little glimpse into Hell. You might be thinking, "Who are you to try and explain this stuff, anyway? Are you black?" No, but I grew up in 1960's and 70's Memphis and spent summers at my grandmother's in the Mississippi Delta. Discrimination, segregation, civil rights protests, racial violence - all a part of life. I didn't have to see racial hatred first-hand to understand how bad it was - the view from the periphery was chilling enough. Anyone who lived through those events has a pretty good idea of why the "n word" upsets and offends black people. For that matter, the "n word" upsets and offends people of every race. Hate is hate, no matter how the dark side of the force tries to dress it up or make it look legitimate. I never heard the "n word" from my friends, but I heard it, nonetheless. When I was seven or eight, I innocently asked my great-aunt and grandmother, "What's a _______?" I will never forget the reaction - my aunt looked appalled and my grandmother got upset, but somehow, they managed to communicate that the word itself was ugly, hateful, vile. Something only common, ignorant people said, no matter who said it or how much money they had. Incidentally, these two ladies lived in a small Southern town, the kind of town where all white people are usually assumed to be racists. Not always true, though. The South has its share of bigots, no doubt, but believing all white Southerners are racists is as flawed an assumption as wealth automatically meaning class and good taste. The following is a link to The following pictures and articles at the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia can be disturbing, but educational. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/index.htm For information on the almost 4,000 lynchings between 1882 and 1962, try the next link. Warning: you'll see a gruesome black and white photo when the page opens, and the article alone is enough to make you get down on your hands and knees and beg God to save the human race from itself. 1962 wasn't that long ago. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/question/jan04.htm Finally, a transcript of first-person experiences from National Public Radio: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/transcript.html

My answer is more of a question than an answer, although, I was quite impressed with the previous answer given. It is why do so many Black people find the "N" word only offensive if it is uttered by a non-Black person. I would like to consider myself as non-racist, but I am offended when one person calls another person of the same race by a name they would be appalled to hear from someone not of their race. In the same vein, I am curious what readers both Male and Female think of the "C" word(Can't Understand Normal Thinking) I'm well aware that many find it to be the most offensive derogatory remark in the English language, and yet I too often hear it bandied about by both Males and Females about both. It would suprise me if this entry is approved for posting!

To me, it is extremely offensive. Why should I, as a white person, tolerate the very racial harassment that other races try to abolish? Short answer: I shouldn't. And I won't.

By posing the question with the assumption that it is not as offensive to White people as the Nigger is to Blacks, and saying White people in as broad a stroke as is often said about Black people, I can see Watergirl's reaction as a natural impulse. I was born in 1959. Philadelphia experienced it's heaviest "white flight" era in the 60s, so I pretty much grew up in a Black neighborhood, I definitely went to 99 percent Black public schooling in grades 1 through 12, and by choice at a predominantly Black college in Virginia. I say all that to say this: I have NEVER heard the word honky used by any of my peers, even in at the height of anger. I agree that it is a silly sounding name that carries no historial venom to give it any weight as verbal artillery. I suspect that it is a largely a "media" word, created during the rise of the "Black Exploitation" films - the films that invented the Black superman. The soul brother who was also often anything from an erstwhile pimp/drug dealer, to former cop that operates outside the law. That covers movies like The Mack, Superfly, and Shaft. The main ingredient is that he stood up and didn't take "no stuff from The Man". It was almost as though things were so one sided, producers had to create a word to hurl back. Popular TV shows ( Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons, etc) adopted it and the stamp of assumption became automatic: this is what Blacks say, as is so much of what we see on TV gets molded as representative of cultures that we haven't been exposed to first hand. I further suspect that when you heard so called Black revolutionaries spew it, like speakers at Black Panther rallies, it is, again, a media word, and was meant to identify the specific Whites that were already engaged in harmful intent toward Blacks. The old southern stalwarts like the early George Wallace that steadfastly resisted integration got labeled with the term "red necks", a term that has morphed over the years into a undeservingly wide swipe at almost any White person of the South. It has even served Jeff Foxworthy and company well, lampooning "low living" lifestyles of the poor and infamous. The sharpest term I remember being popular among my inner city peers growing up in Philly is "whitey", and again, only directed toward those we felt have made hostile overtures to the literal or figurative "us" first. There are any number of other terms that have a bite to them, and many are laced with, I know this sounds strange, but a touch of dark humor to them. Like the authority figure, nicknamed "Mr. Charlie", that was fashioned after the plantation owner image. Not every White authority figure, of course - just the one(s) that pat us on the heads because they actually think we like it - like a politician who tries to make some superficial gestures to look hip for a photo opportunity, but does not value you as a constituency that can either help him or hurt him, unless he makes some drastic faux-pas. "Mr Cha-lee" had weight in historical usage by slaves as a man you have to be leery of, understand that you are never going to be regarded as an equal by this man, yet you still had to deal with, because in the end, the pervasive feeling held onto, even in present times, is that you "need" him - you need to exist in his world, in his culture in order to survive - he doesn't need you (or doesn't feel he needs you). That, unfortunately is a popular self esteem issue with many disenfranchised minorities. It's far more damaging as a misguided perception that it is as a reality. This is just my opinion, and you are bound to hear disagreements if you convene a group of Black people to discuss it. That's one of the biggest points I think is lacking in popular media also - There is a wide range of opinion within our culture on racial matters - everyone does not fall in lockstep behind a Sharpton or Jackson just because they get the media coverage. Okay, I strayed enough!

I can't speak for anybody else on this, but personally I am used to being hated so being called "honky" doesn't faze me. Maybe because it lacks the bad connotations of "nigger", or it lacks the history? Maybe us crackers are so used to being hated that we've just grown a thick skin?

"Honky" is not offensive if you watched The Jeffersons as a child - then it's downright hilarious. The N word is much more insulting. No, I don't like it when blacks say it to each other but I'm also not going to try to put "honky" in the same category as the N word.

I clicked on this question expecting to see something totally different. I don't like the word "Honky" but it doesn't really grind me to the point of serious offense. I have to admit the depth that comes with the "N" word(no reason to even write it) is far past what I had remembered. I think it is never too often or too late to remind oneself of the injustices suffered in recent or past history. Repetition of terrible things. i.e. war, come easier when we as a people forget what really occurs. Thanks for the reminder I am going to look for a book written about Lady Day or others to regain what I have forgotten and learn more.

"Honky" is not a word that's been around for literally hundreds of years, and doens't incite the same amount of....racial outrage, if you will, that "Nigger" does. It never will. I can understand where it may be offensive, but it's not on the same level. I would actually go so far as to say (and I'm bracing myself for the backlash, but here goes...) that White people don't have a word that generalizes their race, period. Black people, on the other hand...we have so many variations it's not even funny: Porch Monkey Coon Colored Nigger Jiggaboo The list goes on. Honky, redneck, trailer trash - all these things came into play within the last 50 years as a means for black to "get back" at "The Man" - and while they're not right, they're also not nearly as detrimental to whites as "Nigger" is to a black person. (video is HILARIOUS scene in Clerks 2)

In theory both should be just as offensive as each other. The problem arrises when you take into acount the history of the word. White people done plenty of extreamly terrible things to black people in the past and they used the N word to describe them. The word Honkey is a much newer word and does not have the history of slavery and punishment that the N word has. However both words are extreamly racist and should be considered just as offensive to the individual as the other IMO. Afterall, racism is racism is racism

Were comfortable with who we are , I could care less what they call me.

I don't like either but one is alot weightier than the other.

the word nigger carries more history behind it. it also bothers us more. calling a white person a honky is like spitting at them, but calling a black person a nigger is like peeing on them. its just worse.

Whites are not as offended because, in the past, they were the masters, not the slaves.

This is good reading. http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2420/Nigger_the_word_a_brief_history That word hurts everyone. The one that uses it as well as the one its used against, no matter what the color.

"Honky' is a term that started in the 50's or 60's to mean a white person who went into black neighborhoods and honked their horn a lot (what that was meant to accomplish, I don't know). It doesn't mean anything worse than that. The "n" word was created by white people who were too lazy or ignorant to use the proper term at that time, which was "Negro," and that name came from "Negroid." It is offensive because it is the same as calling someone out of their name, as if you don't care enough about the person or think they aren't worthy of being called the proper name or term.

Being black that word just offends me, I didn't grow up in the times of my grandmother but I know that it has negative connotations. I think people should be ashamed to say words like that but who am I to judge them? I'd rather just avoid people like that but it's hard to if you don't know who they are. I just put my faith in the lord because on judgement day that's what they have to answer to.

First Time I was called Honky was in Mississipi. I was walking along and these kids drove by and said"go Home Honky" I laughed it off. The next time was about 2 minutes later andthey were driving down the sidewalk trying to run me over.Honky wasn't such afunny word after that.

Because Honky refers to honky tonk music which was generalized term for counrty western and southern folk music. Nigger on the other hand is a corruption of the word "negro" used by whites to make black people feel less human.

because we have thicker skin. I think the word nigger was derived originally because blacks at the time were from nigeria

Just because something isn't as offensive to YOU doesn't give you the right to think its ok to say it. I know black people themselves who are NOT offended by the word nigger, so if they said it doesn't bother them then it shouldn't bother you? That's ridiculous. It goes both ways. Just because something has more history doesn't mean ppl on a personal basis aren't offended or gives you any more right to be offensive. These are the things that keep racism alive today, and You have no one to blame but yourself.

Black people have been treated so badly. Talk to me when you are being beat by someone who owns you. They have every right to reject that word.

Black people as a whole weem to be more easily offended about all sorts of insults and often refer to a lack of "respect" whereas white people are less likely to be concerned about the opinions of random strangers.

ehemmm it not honkey anymore it's cracker and i can still find the in the dictionary, funny huh?

i guess you have to walk in their shoes to understand that one if you have to ask.

I am sorry, but this is hogwash. The word honky is racist. If there is to be black and white equality then it should be classed in the same context as the word nigger. On another point, why is it acceptable for a black person to say the word nigger in whatever spirit (friendly or not) and not a white person to say the same word, even if it is said in the same spitrit as the black person said it? If the word nigger is classed as racist it should be classed as racist whether a white person or black person says it. There is no ifs and buts. So to that end if a black person can say the word nigger, then I as a white person can say the word. (why is it always white women that write this rubbish?)

Maybe because black people were widely used as slaves and seriously mistreated in the name of inequality and white people (not on as extreme a scale anyway) weren't.