Wigger

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The satirical comic character Ali G invented and played by the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

Wigger (alternatively spelled wigga, whigger or whigga) is a pejorative slang term for a white person who allophilically emulates mannerisms, slang, and fashions stereotypically associated with urban African Americans and urban Black British and Caribbean culture, especially in relation to hip hop culture and British Grime/Garage scene.^[1]

The term most likely stems from a portmanteau of the word white and the derogatory term nigger. The word is considered offensive by some because of its similarity to nigger in addition to reflecting stereotypical notions about urban blacks.

The phenomenon of white people adopting stereotypical black mannerisms, slang, and apparel has appeared in several generations since slavery was abolished in the western world. The concept has been documented in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other white-majority countries. An early form of this was the white negro in the jazz and swing music scenes of the 1920s and 1930s; as examined in the 1957 Norman Mailer essay, "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster"." It was later seen in the Zoot suiter of the 1930s and 1940s; the hipster of the 1940s; and the beatnik and rock and roller of the 1950s.

References in popular culture

• The satirical newspaper The Onion sometimes features an accountant/wigger columnist, Herbert Kornfeld, whose columns are written in Black English slang remarkably similar to that of the Staten Island, New York rap group, Wu-Tang Clan.
• In his song "The Way I Am", Eminem lashes out at the "cocky Caucasians who think I'm some wigger who just tries to be black 'cause I talk with an accent and grab on my balls."
• Elvis Costello uses the phrase "white nigger" for unclear reasons in his song "Oliver's Army", it is rarely censored on British radio.
• The song "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)", by The Offspring details how a wigger tries too hard.
• Wigger (1995) ISBN 1-55152-020-6 is a novel by Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite set in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It explores the class struggle, poverty, prostitution, exploitation of youth, desolation and absence of solidarity in a period of new negrophilia.
• The comedy film Malibu's Most Wanted is about a wigger from an upper-class family who is sent off to South Central Los Angeles by his brother's political advisors in the hope that being exposed to the crime and poverty in the area will "scare him white".
• Sacha Baron Cohen used his persona Ali G (whose registered name is Alistair Leslie Graham) to make fun of the then-emerging trend of white British youths to unconvincingly impersonate the black lifestyle.
• Lauren Cooper, a character from The Catherine Tate Show is a white teenager who, along with her friends Ryan Perkins and Lisa Jackson, impersonates various aspects of the black lifestyle, including rapping, extensively listening to various black artists and groups e.g. Beyoncé, Black-Eyed Peas saying various phrases popularised by black street culture e.g. "innit?", "is it?", "well fit" etc [1].
• Havoc (film), 2005.

Footnotes

See also

• Chav
• Cultural appropriation
• Ganguro
• Jafaican
• Racism
• Uncle Tom

External links

• BBC explanation of the term