Dear Friends: I have been biting my tongue for a couple of weeks now reading the discussion of Twain's use of "nigger." It is a significant issue, I think most would agree, but it did seem to go on a bit. I wonder if it wouldn't be refreshing to end the discussion by looking at the matter from a radically different, though I hope both edifying and amusing, perspective. It comes in a chapter from a novel I am writing. In the chapter Sam, to whom Huck plays alter ego, challenges Huck, as author of the "Adventures," on his excessive use of "nigger," triggering in Huck a typical Huck Finnian response. Please drop me (do we need a new idiom here?) an email if you would like to see the chapter -- at dshkrh3@hotmail,com david hoopes _________________________________________________________________ Get reliable access on MSN 9 Dial-up. 3 months for the price of 1! (Limited-time offer) http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup&pgmarket=en-us&ST=1/go/onm00200361ave/direct/01/