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I know this sounds too crazy to be true, but a few years ago, some poor guy working for the DC government was fired for using the word "niggardly in a staff meeting. Obviously, he was white. I suspect most of those present didn't know what it meant, but didn't like the sound of it. I think the justification for firing him was lack of "sensitivity."
'Niggardly' (Function: adjective; Date: 1571): Provided in limited supply. Isn't it strange how definitions of words change over time?
I think people were more polite back in the 16th century because they relied on each other for survival quite often. Today we just call it like it is. We don't need nobody!
The Senator chose his words poorly even though technically the word does not conote any racial meaning. You think the 16th century was polite? Hmm maybe. Back in the old country people hacked each other to death with longswords or stabbed one another with a dirk over an impolite word or gesture. Perhaps that meant that overall people were more polite...out of self-preservation. Its like Los Angeles. Drive in heavy traffic in LA and you won't hear a single automobile horn. Not a toot. Totally the opposite of NYC or Boston or DC. Out here if you beep your horn you stand a fair chance of being shot or beaten on the spot. We don't beep the horn out here lol.
Actually "niggardly" has no etymological connection to "nigger", the latter being a corruption of the Spanish word for "black" and the former being of Scandinavian origin. But Americans are far more politically correct than literate, so are easily alarmed and horrified by one man calling another a miser.
A quick google and reminder of something similar a few year back covers all this. Right? Definition of NIGGARDLY 1 : grudgingly mean about spending or granting : begrudging 2 : provided in meanly limited supply â nig·gard·li·ness noun â niggardly adverb See niggardly defined for English-language learners » See niggardly defined for kids » c
To avoid a sword in the chest or a bullet in the head it would pay to be polite. As you say, better keep your words polite and respectful. That's funny about honking horns. In the Phillippines they use it as a code because the roads are mostly winding two lane afairs and without any sidewalks. One beep means (to a pedestrian) watch out I'm coming up behind you. Two beeps means watch out you need to move. One solid beep means too late you're dead.
"...The word originated as a term used in a neutral context to refer to black people, as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger, meaning the color "black"."