Sentence:  If I said rightly, “'Niggers' is a seven letter word,” I would be <WSD>mentioning</WSD> the word, and when we write it, we use mention-quotes for this purpose (speech typically lacks quotes, except for the occasional air-quotes). If I said, rightly or wrongly, “Niggers are good athletes,” then I would be using “niggers,” not merely <WSD>mentioning</WSD> it. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To utter an word or expression in order to refer to the expression itself, as opposed to its usual referent.