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A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
What was the message given to the little fourth grade black boy who was offended by the teaching of the word "niggardly"?
(a) Even though you were mistaken in being offended, your class-induced, self-perceived, sense of inferiority can be transmuted into power and attention by citing victimhood, rather than striving in a white man's game that is already rigged.
(b) Words like "niggardly", very much too close to the offensive word "nigger", are taboo in the enlightened brave new world of today.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Send your contributions to the United Negro College Fund.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Seriously, folks, I wouldn't use the term "niggardly" around elementary school-aged children. With such a bounty of synonyms available, why cause confusion and offense? And to explain the term would just cause more confusion and offense. Really. Kids hear a little of what you say--and you often lose their attention when something that you said that they haven't understood has grasped their imaginations and they turn you off. I'm talking about little kids here. Certainly by high school, niggardly on a vocabularly test would be fine.
I think it's so weird--and I don't understand the pheonomenon at all!--that black people can refer to each other as "niggers" so easily and with humor and sometimes, too, with insult. Of course, out of the mouth of anybody else of any other color, it becomes a word that damns the speaker. I understand the damning of the speaker, but I just don't understand why nigger is used so freely among black people. Is there any other instance of an offensive term being used by a group that will not tolerate its use by members outside of the group?
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Sure - homo, queer, and fag immediately pop to mind. Perfectly standard usage among the gay community, whether self-referential or inter-referential Did I just make that up?, yet taken as completely offensive if used as a term of derision from those who are not. As a longtime fag-hag, I can usually get away with it, but only in the company of boys with whom I have an established friendship.
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homo, queer, and fag immediately pop to mindThe bunch of gays you know must be pretty different to the bunch of gays I know, FB. If someone shouted at them "You're a homo/queer/fag/poof/queen" they'd almost definitely ignore the tone of voice and say "Yes. So?" or - more often - they'd respond with something more witty. "You're just a disgusting old queer" would be met with "Take that back - I'm only 25. Every birthday."  I'd find it quite hard to come up with a term that my gay friends would find genuinely offensive, in fact - unless it was in the realms of "child-rapist" or whatever, which is something else entirely. Dunno, I live quite close to Brighton, which has a significant gay population, so my experiences may not be representative. And then the English (can't really speak for the whole UK) attitude to gays, which is coloured by a long-standing appreciation of theatrical camp, may make a difference.
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Is there any other instance of an offensive term being used by a group that will not tolerate its use by members outside of the group?
Newfie: offensive when used by non-Newfoundlanders, tolerated among Newfoundlandlers, but others still don't like it said by anyone at all, presumably because of the dumb-lazy-Newfie stereotype that goes along with the word.
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my experiences may not be representative
I don't think they are, at least not for the US. Over here, being gay is still looked on with scorn, mainly from the religious right who still contend that it's a choice and think it's an immoral abomination in the eyes of God. You don't have a Laramie, Wyoming in the UK. The terms queer and fag are tossed around middle and high schools in the same way as sissy anymore. They're just generally insulting. When the source is filled with homophobic disgust, the terms aren't taken lightly. It really just depends on the tone of voice. Only the most self-confident queer with no fears of bashing would respond wittily to a random passerby shouting obscenities. Of course, in the company of friends, it would be much different.
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Words like "niggardly", very much too close to the offensive word "nigger", are taboo in the enlightened brave new world of today.
and...
Certainly by high school, niggardly on a vocabularly test would be fine.
...seem to be in conflict.
--------------
Is there any other instance of an offensive term being used by a group that will not tolerate its use by members outside of the group?
Ayleurs.
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Is there any other instance of an offensive term being used by a group that will not tolerate its use by members outside of the group?
Ayleurs.A rimshot, a very palpable rimshot.
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For every minority there is an offensive term. Xenophobia is very old. I can remember
"furinner" being spat out with contempt.
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Damnit to Hell, Musick, it's times like this that I wish my half-mickey-irish, drunken-stereotyped, alcohol-befuddled brain could remember what "ayleurs" means.
Albeit, what I intended to convey in my poorly conceived but yet posted post, was irony.
(A) That by condescending to the kids ignorance we were directing him to a future of certain failure by our lies.
(B) Those soliciting funds with the slogan A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste i.e., the "United Negro College Fund" - would find great offense if you referred to the recipients of your charitable largess as "Negros".
Is that not an ultimate of absurd paradox?
Imperative and fundamental to lifeforms such as we, is to build the best we can on our best constructions of reality, that is, truth.
(Associations. That seems to be my problem when I talk on this board. Oh well.)
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