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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2 |
Sadly, the offensiveness of terms such as tar-baby lies with the beholder. You use the word in one context, you use it correctly - but the less skilled user of language misunderstands (or chooses to); I suggest it falls in the same category as the golliwog; no longer acceptable in this PC world (which is why I prefer Apples).
How could niggardly be offensive? The etymology has nothing to do with negroes and to jump to conclusions of racism implies a sad failure of vocabulary. In some environments this misunderstanding might form an accetable pun. Would that we all lived in such circumstances.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hi, djs, and welcome aBoard. Good to have another Brit (or at least British-residency) here!
How could niggardly be offensive? Because some peoples' brains focus on the first two syllables to the extent that they don't "hear" the d, and even if they do hear the d, they probably don't know what the word means. Perhaps the offensive "n-word" was a lot more widespread here than it was there.
A high school teacher in our area was fired recently for using that word while addressing a student. I don't know from personal experience, but the newspaper reports made it sound as though the (white) teacher felt that he had a good enough relationship with the (black) student that he was in effect saying, "I know you know me well enough to understand that I'm not insulting you". And that may have been true; I don't know. But the kid's mother, and other people, got all up in arms about it. So it's still a "hot topic" here. He was an English teacher, too...
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