This is more of a cultural question.
A little while back, I was playing basketball at my pickup league - a friend of mine who is white (and from New Hampshire) got whacked pretty bad in the face by a different friend who is black (and from Georgia), it was a hard foul but I don't think the guy was trying to cause injury - it gets fairly competitive.
The guy who got whacked - out of pain more than anything yelled "Motherf**er!" - it didn't seem to me that it was directed at the other guy. However, the guy who hit him - who is usually very easy going - flipped out thinking the swear was directed at him. Then the other guy got pissed off because he was, after all, the one who got whacked.
I guess my NH friend was confused at the reaction and it got to the point where they had to be separated. However, they did cool off after a minute. Afterwards my friend from GA said something like "where I come from you don't call people that".
It got me wondering if Motherf**er is more of an insult in certain parts of the country or if there are racial connotations in the South? I grew up in a fairly diverse area in a northeast city and that word was thrown around fairly casually and nobody ever took too much offense to it.
I'd feel comfortable asking the guy from GA, but I haven't seen him that much in the past few weeks.
Sorry for the odd question.