Ferocious Aardvark wrote:
If you listen to it, there is no clear evidence that Clarkson said the N- word, and unless you believe that despite his normal very clear diction, he suffers from occasional bouts of mumbling and grossly slurring words and phrases, you can work out that he was using the classic "picking" nursery rhyme but deliberately censoring the offending line. Nothing else explains the mumbling/slurring.
I've seen some people say they used to use the N word when they were kids, and I've also seen some people say they used the word beggar.
When I first listened to it he just seemed to be mumbling words because he couldn't remember what the actual words of the rhyme were. I can't remember the rhyme from when I was a kid. So I just thought he was mumbling the sounds of the tune rather than actual words. But when you read the transcript it does seem a lot clearer. But whether that's because of the suggestion of the word and the way the mind works or because he actually said them I don't know.
But I do think is that if a forensic audio expert analysed the audio then they should be able to offer the use of the word in a sound file and making up our own opinions rather than trusting the opinion of a paid expert to provide a transcript.