[33girl]

When I was 12, I pronounced Arab as Ay-rab in class and everyone laughed at me. I honestly thought that was the pronunciation and had no idea it was derogatory. I'm glad I was corrected! Not that we had any Arabs anywhere in our town, which of course is why I was ignorant about it.

I don't think the n-word and the c-word are in the same category. TNT can show a Law & Order rerun where the n-bomb gets dropped multiple times and nothing happens. (It was an episode where Courtney B Vance was accused of killing his white boss and he was the one who used the word.) If they had an episode with the c-bomb, I doubt they would get away with that no matter the context, they would probably get fined.

The only reason that racial terms have become as offensive as they have is because the country as a whole has changed. The c-word, however, has been offensive I think pretty much since its creation.