Is "macaque" the equivalent of the N word?

[spooky3]

Hey Olney Blue (and anyone else who is interested),

As promised, I asked my tennis friend, who is Tunisian, and his wife (who is not)--both of whom recently returned from a long visit there and to France, about the word "macaque." As we are all now Virginians they were very familiar with the Felix Jr. incident. J said he had never heard it used in a way analogous to the N word and seemed surprised that anyone would interpret it that way. His wife hadn't either. He said that it simply referred to a type of monkey and that the term might be used to kid someone with whom one was a close friend. They agreed the incident was appalling, because clearly Felix knew what he was saying since his mother was Tunisian; given the context, he was not kidding a good friend, and it was a racially/ethnically based put down, etc.

Felix Jr. has GOT TO GO!!!

[Gogi]

1. Did you ask them about 'macaca'?eom

[spooky3]

2. Sorry to be unclear--I basically started the conversation by

asking them if they had heard about the GA incident, which of course they had. At one point I asked whether what Felix Jr. said was the equivalent to the N-word, as I had heard someone speculate about that. So I don't think makaka/macaque, etc., made any difference.

Technically, the word in French is "macaque" (as my friend pointed out). It can probably be pronounced (and mispronounced, in the case of people like Felix Jr., the Chimperor, etc.) in different ways. Also, as I recall from French class many years ago, when sung, the ending syllable of "que" is often pronounced separately, so the word would sound like "makakuh".

This may also be of interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaca_%28slur%29

[Kire]

3. Who's Felix Jr.? nt

[spooky3]

4. George Felix Allen Jr., (R) Senator from Virginia

Here's one of many threads about him and his latest offensive remarks:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2786083