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Comment by saagarjha | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps I'm simply naive, but I've never encountered the term "w-word". What is it?

In the context, mentioning Hispanic individuals, probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetback_(slur)

How is wetback as a slur even remotely comparable to the N-word.

Are you serious or just trolling? Both are used by white supremacists to describe the respective ethnic minorities as a dehumanizing put-down.

"Both are used by white supremacists", except in this instance it's Blacks and Hispanics using it against each other, so I'm not sure why you brought whites into it.

A point of history, per se: in this case, the terms were originated on the white side as slurs, and later they are used by each group to offend the other.

I'm assuming its "wetback" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetback_(slur)

Yeah, I've certainly never heard of it referred to this way, and I had to backtrack a bit to figure it out. I think they did this to extend the same courtesy (hoping the context would be enough) to "wetback" as is afforded to "nigger", which makes sense if fairness is what they're going for. If they just make one of them "$INITIAL-word" but print the other in full, it might seem like they don't take the two slurs as seriously.

You're being downvoted because only I am allowed to say that word in full.

Now now, people have a right to put that opinion in the click of a button. I don't think I have any reason to shrink in the face of these strings, but it's alright for people to think I do.

It's best not to comment on voting if it can be avoided; I have made exceptions in the past, but I don't think I would make one for this.

Look at the parent poster's username, he is making a joke based off of an American pop culture reference.

I can't believe the pulp fiction reference went over my head. I didn't read the username, and I have heard things in this ballpark said both satirically and seriously, for what it's worth.

It's a shame the account will [probably] be put to rest so quickly, there's probably room for q_tarantino references elsewhere, as long as they are accompanied by further content to satisfy the "substantive" requirement.

I'll see what I can do.

Yeah, I want to see some "substantive" comment lest HN devolves into Reddit with novelty accounts and puns crowding out discourse.

I was wondering the exact same thing when I read that part.

I thought it meant "whore". Wikipedia has a redirect from "w word" to "prostitution": https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=W_word&redirect=n...

When I read the article, I thought it would be 'wog' but (after a quick google - hope that won't put me on any watch lists) it seems that's not really a word in the US.

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