Birk and Genevieve B. Birk by Gordon Allport explain how the way we use words can have a huge effect on people simply by saying it a certain way or placing emphasis on the word itself. As Birk and Birk point out, words that are extremely loaded for one person may be less loaded for another person (230). By adding affect to a word when describing a person's ethnicity, people can easily view it as rude or a joke. If a white person calls another white person the n-word, it's a friendly gesture to them, but to an African-American it can be harsh. Communication problems often occur when using biased or loaded language, because nowadays a word can have different meanings (230). Ethnic discrimination plays a big role at Birk and Birk