New Version of Huck Finn Elilminates N-Bombs

Schadenfreude said:
what are they going to revise next, textbooks that use the n-word in context - revise history to remove the word or other offensive words to pretend that they did not exist or move it all to the college level

what nonsense

twain was no racist, he was against racism - read huck fin or tom sawyer or his other works

damn those censors
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The point of many of his books was to point out the immorality of slavery and racism.

Seriously. You take the point away.

Twain is turning over in his grave. He hated editors. One of his quotes (paraphrasing here) was that the only people who should use the word "we" are "Kings, Editors, and men with tapeworms".

Imagine if we "translated" all the works of Tupac to clean it up like this. It's gross.
 
cawacko said:
Damn Yankee, my high school was private and I think they say like 98% of the kids go to college. So I'm not trying to paint a picture that my classmates were just ignorant people off the street. These were people that went on to college. I don't think their talk is different than other major urban cities but the n-bomb was a part of the lingo among themselves or as I said on occassion towards me or other whites they really liked. I'm imagining in the town you described where there were maybe three black families is probably wasn't used much if at all.
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No, the only time I heard it used was when the black kid who lived across the street accused me of calling him a "black (something)". I put "something" in parentheses because I couldn't hear what he said over his rabid, foaming speech. What I actually said was to my friends walking down the street seeing the MOST AWESOME CAR EVER was "hey look at that black Mustang".
 
cawacko said:
Wow. Can't believe this.


New edition purges 'n'-word from 'Huck Finn'

For years, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" - arguably Mark Twain's greatest novel - has been disappearing from classrooms because many school districts consider it racist.

Why? Mainly because Twain uses the "n"-word 219 times.

Bans of the classic tale about a 13-year-old's journey down the Mississippi with a runaway slave didn't sit well with Twain scholar Alan Gribben. Rather than have it go unread, Gribben and NewSouth Books decided to sanitize it for 21-century tastes.

In their upcoming edition, the "n"-word vanishes from the book's 1830s Missouri vernacular. Replacing it is the safe, non-controversial "slave." ("Injun" also is expelled.)

Literary purists will be appalled, of course. But so may casual readers. There's a strong argument to make that the elimination of the word neuters the novel.

"The word is terrible. But it's a linchpin of this book ... It lays bare the inhumanity of slavery through the power of satire." says the Washington Post's Alexandra Petri. "... If we keep updating things to reflect our current sensitivities, where do we stop?"

On the other hand, a politically correct "Huckleberry" removes a hurdle for public school English departments.

So what do you think? Is this a reasonable price to pay to get kids to read a classic?


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hottopics/detail?entry_id=80299
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Every few years, a bunch of fools start up with stuff.

If they actually READ the books, there's a preface where Twain TELLS you that he's sorry if the language offends, but in order to keep the authenticity of the era and the HONESTY of the characters, the language must be kept!

And when you READ the book, it sure as hell isn't an indulgence for a bunch of sheet wearing yahoos to get off seeing the word "nigger" in print. If anything, the books are an indictment against prejudice and racism.

The books weren't meant for grade school kids....they were meant for adults. We had to read them in high school....I survived, as did my brothers my Mom, and my grandmother.

C'mon people, get it together!
 
Damocles said:
The point of many of his books was to point out the immorality of slavery and racism.

Seriously. You take the point away.

Twain is turning over in his grave. He hated editors. One of his quotes (paraphrasing here) was that the only people who should use the word "we" are "Kings, Editors, and men with tapeworms".

Imagine if we "translated" all the works of Tupac to clean it up like this. It's gross.
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how did i take the point away?

aside from that line, i agree with the rest of your post
 
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