Niggardly: No Relation to the "N" Word

In-credible! An openly gay (Washington) D.C. political appointee is forced to quit because the new mayor and others don't know the difference between an ethnic slur and an SAT-inspired word with a completely different origin ("niggardly"). The gay community, rightly, is up in arms, and the mayor actually said the guy himself was to blame--rather than doing the right thing and standing up for someone who actually uses 3-syllable words. Maybe next the mayor will be firing people who wear jew-elry.

E-mail DC Mayor Anthony Williams: mayor@ci.washington.dc.us

J.A., Washington, D.C.

He's gay, therefore expendable. I'm sure Mr. Williams got some flak after appointing the guy. People hiding in the shadows (mega-Christians, no doubt) were just waiting for a chance to get rid of him. And I thought 'niggardly' was pretty standard vocabulary. I learned that word in 6th grade. Life really sucks sometimes. Williams is just too proud to admit that he didn't understand that word. Too bad he can't just say "Oops, sorry. I misunderstood you. I apologize for acting so rashly." But it's already a done deed. We can't get Howard his job back, but we certainly can try our damnedest to make Williams feel like a jackass for it.

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Lorax

I think it's pretty pathetic that we've reached both the height of political correctness and the depths of ignorance…I've heard of "niggardly" for a long time and even come across it from time to time in dictionaries. The people who knee-jerked their way in front of TV cameras to complain about this must have felt pretty stupid after they found out the word's meaning. What a bunch of dolts! There's no reason to elbow a perfectly good word out of our vocabulary just because it sounds like one that's objectionable.

Avatar

It is a sad misunderstanding that has negatively affected Washington in that a fine man has essentially been forced to step out of his job because some took offense to a perfectly proper word that happens to sound like one of entirely different meaning. This is ignorance of the sort perpetrated by people too anxious for a fight and too willing to fight artificial battles when real ones remain. Washington has lost a good man because of the over-sensitivity and stupidity of a few. And the man they've lost was a friend to men regardless of race, thus the loss is deeply felt and substantial. It is well to fight racism, to respond to it with vigilance, but racism is NOT the mere sounding-alike of words, and this ignorant response diminishes the fight against real racism by calling into question the judgment of those who pretend to fight it but who render themselves fools and targets of ridicule by such puerile actions.

KSL

I cannot believe that other people's sheer stupidity should keep me or anyone else from using a non-offensive word. When those of us who are not morons are forced to dumb down our own conversations to appease the idiots of the world, we are really in bad shape as a society. Sad, sad, sad...

Drew

I think the whole thing is pathetic. The word is perfectly acceptable, and is found in probably every dictionary published here. When I heard this on the news, there was no mention that the speaker was gay. He resigned from office, rather than calling further embarrassment to it. The news also indicated that the man would likely be rehired in another position in a month or two when the furor died down. Is every word going to be banned because it might offend someone. Will people have to resign if they mention a "chink" in the armor? Are all the "WOP!"s going to need to be deleted from the old Batman tv show? Are we going to have to redefine terms such as slippery "slope"? Maybe we should abandon all languages and switch to the universal language, Esperanto, or start another language from scratch to appease everyone....although I would anticipate that someone will always be complaining about something. There, I feel much better. I try to avoid ranting, but every once in a while it feels good. Besides this issue really ticked me off.