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The caption "Le Pape a Paris: Les Français aussi cons que les nègres" from Charlie Hebdo's cover of issue n°498 (24 mai 1980),

cover of issue n°498 (24 mai 1980)

allegedly translates as follows:

The Pope in Paris: The French are as stupid as n*gg*rs.

The English edition of Wiktionary describes “nègre” as equivalent to “negro”, rather than the n word, and doesn't warn about it as being offensive.

How racist is the word? Is it really on par with the n word in English?

Stéphane Gimenez
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Golden Cuy
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    What do you mean about "nggrs, I need to replace * with 'e' to find the complete word ? Why don't write the entire words ? – IndianJo Jan 20 '15 at 09:13
  • This is (has become) really racist although black people use it to call themselves... it was already considered racist back in 1980 so this quote was deliberately provoking (implying the pope being racist from where I see it...) – Laurent S. Jan 20 '15 at 10:41
  • @IndianJo the translation came from https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/553615451860008960, which used asterisks to avoid the n word. – Golden Cuy Jan 20 '15 at 11:41
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    Yes, this whole 'avoid-to-write-the-word' hypocrisy is a great way to solve all racism problems. Everyone knows that if one just doesn't use the word, he can't be racist. if he does, he automatically is. Such a simple world. – Romain Valeri Jan 20 '15 at 11:49
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    Many people seem to misunderstand this usage of the colon. On this cover “Les Français aussi cons que les nègres” is not meant to be a quote from the Pope. “Le Pape à Paris” is just a context introducer. – Stéphane Gimenez Jan 20 '15 at 14:11
  • For what it's worth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Niggers_of_America – Brennan Vincent Jan 20 '15 at 18:51
  • @Amphiteóth I asked this question hoping to refute that person's statement. – Golden Cuy Jan 20 '15 at 23:09
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    By the way, "une tête de nègre" is the french expression for Marshmallow teacake. – Omar Elfada Jan 21 '15 at 23:07
  • See also this, which contains unusual references; not French but I noted other references to words which may be derived from the pastry name you mention. There is also a debate surrounding the use of such pastry name and similar, as evidenced in something like this. –  Jan 21 '15 at 23:57

2 Answers2

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Nègre was a popular word during the colonial empires time to name African indigenous black people.

Nowadays, it is extremely outdated (unlike the N word). In the very rare cases it is still used, it is usually deliberately offensive unless used by black people themselves, especially in in the Négritude movement (Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor).

It was used without being offensive in arts (Art Nègre, now usually called Arts traditionnels africains) and shouldn't either be taken as offensive in the cover you cite being offbeat / satirical humour.

Nègre was also used to name a ghostwriter.

jlliagre
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Nègre est un substantif masculin (négresse au féminin) et un adjectif, désignant les Noirs.

En français, le substantif a pris avec le temps une connotation péjorative et raciste

"Nègre" is a masculine noun ("négresse" to female) and an adjective, designating blacks people.

In French, the noun has taken over time pejorative and racist connotation.

IndianJo
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