Your thoughts on the word "niggardly"

Originally posted by Lord of Alcohol: I havent heard about the teacher incident but I remember a couple years ago a Washington DC city councilman(?) or higher-up used the word and was nearly fired. What crap. I actually knew what niggardly meant before I knew what ■■■■■■ meant when I was a kid. They say ignorance is bliss, but apparently its not lol

Not nearly fired..he was fired....well publicly he "resigned" after the Mayor Williams "requested" he do so. This teacher may yet be fired. Apparently in a recent interview the lady leading the charge said that "The meaning of the owrd is not important, what is important in this issues is how I feel" I was totaly shocked to hear this ignorance being kowtowed to by the school board.

Just as a reminder about this issue led me to post this thread.

The teacher did not call anyone niggardly, she didn't use it in any other context except as a "VOCABULARY word" Vocabulary classes are classes where children are taught the meaning of words. Does it not make sense that people have a large vocabulary and know the REAL meanings of the words of their native language? Sorry for my use of the word native, I did not mean to degrade or offend anyone who may be of native origins.

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[Tancred]

I can't stand people trying to be 'correct'. People who try to be 'correct' use words like 'actually' and 'in my humble opinion' in pointed, superior ways before they know it. No-one asks about courtesy or good will, as long as it's correct. PC is just like that. It started out as a protecto, but as usual it's fast becoming a tyrant. I love the English language, and I can't stand to see it in the hands of such idiots.

Think about it this way. If people offend others simply because they are using a word that the present company does not understand or that sounds like a derogatory term but is infact correct English and used in the correct context and not ment to insult then it is surely upto the ignorant to educate themselves so that they aren’t so easily offended. If people feel inferior around others then they have a problem ...they are probably quite insecure or just have a damn great chip on there shoulder or even just looking for a fight or any chance to take someone to court and screw money out of them. Perhaps the so called ethnic minorities, politically correct and the generally ignorant should stop bleeting and start learning and getting on with life...you only get one afterall.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Moni: If you had ever lived in a house, community, town or county that hated African Americans and used the "N" word in its proper context and with heart behind the meaning you might understand people's reaction to hearing the word niggardly being used. Not that I am against having the word niggardly around, I just think people ought to think about what they are saying (as in where they are saying it) before they open their mouths. Its not like they couldn't have said stingy to begin with. There are occasions where PC should take precedence.

Miss Moni Ma'am, I have to disagree with you on this for the following reasons.
1) The teacher used the word Niggardly in a lesson(sp?) asking the students for a synonim (SP?) for stingy? It was perfectly in context, and the teacher was DOING HER JOB, to teach students English.
2) If we let the PC crowd take away real words because they sound like or are missused in slang. Then everyone MUST quit using the word cracker, after all that is a slang word for southern white rednecks. Just think you have to have "small baked flat wheat products" with your soup. No one can ever say they have been stung by a "wasp", because WASP is slang for White Anglo Saxon Protestant(sp?). We all must change the sounds our car horns make , because "honky" is slang for white people. We must also change our colors, and NO LONGER have the color "red" because it is used in the term "red neck" and that is a racial/ethnic slur to rural southern farmers. No Longer can we use the word man, because the term "The Man" is slang for any one in power. Nor can we pull our boats on trailers, or throw out the trash. Both words are used to make up the slang "trailer-trash" an economic/ethinc slur. I could come up with many more but a long day at work and a few "pearly pops" (beer for the PC crowd) make it hard to consintrate.

John d Harris, Sir,
You completely misunderstood me.

[Azred]

Am I a Native American because I was born here?
I once knew a girl named Souhad from Morocco; is she an African-American?

I apologize for my momentary distraction....

I can see that the central point here over the word "niggardly" arose because of someone's misperception of the word and what that misperception meant to them emotionally. Although I would never condone purposefully hurting someone via racial epithet, I am not going to edit or censor my own language because of what someone else thinks I might have said. Were I to be asked to clarify, I will gladly do so.

I cannot be insulted verbally, because nothing anyone says will cast doubt on my self-image and my self-worth. People who get insulted by words have inferiority issues.

[Chewbacca]

We should make those African countries Niger and Nigeria changed their names so they don't offend any morons, um, I mean the under-educated. Puhleeeease!

Originally posted by Azred: Am I a Native American because I was born here? I once knew a girl named Souhad from Morocco; is she an African-American? I apologize for my momentary distraction.... I can see that the central point here over the word "niggardly" arose because of someone's misperception of the word and what that misperception meant to them emotionally. Although I would never condone purposefully hurting someone via racial epithet, I am not going to edit or censor my own language because of what someone else thinks I might have said. Were I to be asked to clarify, I will gladly do so. I cannot be insulted verbally, because nothing anyone says will cast doubt on my self-image and my self-worth. People who get insulted by words have inferiority issues.

I would not have even made the thread if once she learned the meaning of the word she had backed off..but NOOOOooo she boldly states that what the word means is not important. What is important, she says is how she feels....and that is just too much for me to take without comment. This lady actually wants a person to loose their livelyhood over how she personally "feels" about a word that has no apparent connection to her fears or prejudices.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Moni: John d Harris, Sir, You completely misunderstood me.

Miss Moni Ma'am, glad to hear it. It wouldn't do this Ole Southern Gentelman's heart any good to argue with you, knowing it not good to piss the women folk off