Taboo words exist in all cultures and have been referred to as magic words – power words with strong connotations that evoke equally strong reactions. The most powerful words in use today are words referring to race, minorities and gender. The aim of this paper is to examine the origin of racial epithets and in particular the word nigger and furthermore, to investigate whether a change in spelling from nigger and niggers to nigga(s) and niggaz is a new trend, indicating a change in connotation. By using a corpus study with material from the newspapers The Guardian, The Observer and The New York Times, I gathered information regarding the frequency and context of use of the word nigger(s), as well as the new forms of spelling nigga(s) and niggaz. The results indicated that within the contexts of music, film and entertainment, there has occurred a change in spelling and connotation and the word nigga is now used in a new way and with a positive clang. However, for many people both black and white, the racial epithet nigger is still a derogatory and insulting term of racial abuse.