# Forget "niggardly", fight the homophone agenda **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680 "2014-08-02T22:23:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/41 "2014-08-04T06:05:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Of course this was back in the 80’s when homosexuality wasn’t really mainstream (so to speak) and they certainly weren’t going to bring it up English class with a bunch of 2nd graders. I remember we had a High School social studies class on “Interaction” and we giggled about that because it was so close to “Intercourse”. Kids can be very weird. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/42 "2014-08-04T09:24:14Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I remember we had a High School social studies class on “Interaction” and we giggled about that because it was so close to “Intercourse”. Kids can be very weird. I would think it would sound more like intercourse + erection, myself. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/43 "2014-08-04T09:29:08Z")
I hear that in much much of the American midwest, [homophones](http://www.cutiepiestuff.com/images/Hot-Pink-Mini-Classic-Phone.jpg) are allowed to marry, merry, or even Mary these days. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/44 "2014-08-04T09:40:18Z")
From Torkildson’s blog: > [@](#): > > About Tim Torkildson > This started out as a conservative political blog, and we still feature news releases from Capitol Hill and timely articles about politics; but over the months it has also morphed into a more humorous, less serious website, featuring our personal memories of childhood, school, marriage, careers, hobbies and travels. As the poet said: The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— We hope you’ll take time to enjoy our musings, and don’t take ANY of it too seriously! [http://iwritetheblogggs.com/2014/07/24/the-homophones-got-me-a-record-of-a-recent-firing/](http://iwritetheblogggs.com/2014/07/24/the-homophones-got-me-a-record-of-a-recent-firing/) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/45 "2014-08-04T10:53:58Z")
This man is a registered pedagogue! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/46 "2014-08-04T11:52:33Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I remember we had a High School social studies class on “Interaction” and we giggled about that because it was so close to “Intercourse”. Kids can be very weird. That’s a bit of a stretch, I remember a teacher mentioning something about intellectual intercourse that took us a second to put together and my Spanish teacher once asked someone translate something and afterwards the teacher said “that was quite the pregnant pause”. I’m sure I was the only person that went (in my head) “what, oh, I guess that makes sense” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/47 "2014-08-04T11:53:16Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I just bought a gallon of milk today at a Dollar General store. The jug is labeled Vitamin D Milk, but the receipt says “Gal Homo”. It’s milk for your beard? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/48 "2014-08-04T11:54:11Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > This man is a registered pedagogue! And he masticates several times a day! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/49 "2014-08-04T15:14:15Z")
I went to an Ivy League college, where you’d expect economics students to be fairly serious and mature. But in statistics class, any time the professor pointed out that a given graph was “homoscedastic,” the whole class would start snickering or giggling. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/50 "2014-08-04T15:17:53Z")
According to the \* Book of Lists 2, \* in 1950 Claude Pepper, campaigning in the primary for a U. S. Senate seat in Florida, was the victim of dirty fighting by his opponent. He said that Pepper’s sister was a “thespian,” he was “a known extravert” [sic] and his brother was a “practicing homo sapiens.” When Pepper went to college, he “matriculated.” Worst of all, he “practiced celibacy” before marriage. Of course, rural voters were repelled at this and Pepper lost. Who needs issues when you can fight dirty? :rolleyes: Sometimes I wish \* Roget’s Thesaurus\* had never been published. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/51 "2014-08-04T16:42:59Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > According to the \* Book of Lists 2, \* in 1950 Claude Pepper, campaigning in the primary for a U. S. Senate seat in Florida, was the victim of dirty fighting by his opponent. He said that Pepper’s sister was a “thespian,” he was “a known extravert” [sic] and his brother was a “practicing homo sapiens.” When Pepper went to college, he “matriculated.” Worst of all, he “practiced celibacy” before marriage. Of course, rural voters were repelled at this and Pepper lost. > Who needs issues when you can fight dirty? :rolleyes: > Sometimes I wish \* Roget’s Thesaurus\* had never been published. I thought [I smelled bullshit.](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper) But the supposed quotes were published in Time and Life. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/52 "2014-08-04T17:01:03Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, they all sound like a bunch of damned homo sapiens. As far as the principal goes, my money’s on homo insipiens. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/53 "2014-08-04T17:26:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I thought [I smelled bullshit.](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper) But the supposed quotes were published in Time and Life. Well, maybe now you know better than to assume someone is shining you on! ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/54 "2014-08-05T12:56:14Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I went to an Ivy League college, where you’d expect economics students to be fairly serious and mature. But in statistics class, any time the professor pointed out that a given graph was “homoscedastic,” the whole class would start snickering or giggling. Decades ago in a largely male graduate school public policy program that included microeconomics and econometrics, I penned these lyrics for a male classmate to sing in the talent show - we were singing to the Gilbert and Sullivan tune “My Eyes Are Fully Open (It Really Doesn’t Matter)”: _With only twenty women, there’s no female elasticity Supply can’t meet demand, so there’s homoscedasticity._ Over 30 years later, I’m still pleased with myself for coming up with those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/55 "2014-08-05T13:26:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I thought [I smelled bullshit.](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper) But the supposed quotes were published in Time and Life. They were still a hoax. Time and Life got fooled by the hoax. Doesn’t make the hoax true. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/56 "2014-08-05T13:30:13Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I just bought a gallon of milk today at a Dollar General store. The jug is labeled Vitamin D Milk, but the receipt says “Gal Homo”. Got Homo? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680/57 "2014-08-05T13:55:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > As far as the principal goes, my money’s on homo insipiens. Shouldn’t that be “insipidens”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forget-niggardly-fight-the-homophone-agenda/694680.md?page=2)