I agree with you that Anu both mentioned that some people were offended enough to cancel their subscriptions as well as the earlier decision to run with the "Words that appear offensive but are not" I also applaud.

I do disagree with the line in the reply to the comment just prior to the one you mentioned... "Your observation that three out of five words have negative connotations to blacks may be correct..."

the 3 words mentioned do not have negative connotations to blacks... Tar Baby may be looked on as it was adopted as a racial slur, but "niggle, niggling, niggard, niggardly" or any other word that happens to "n", "i" or "g" (in that order, other then the "N-Word") should not offend people, their poor education should be more offensive, and it will haunt them longer.