I use it only amongst people who know better. And no, that doesn’t just mean white people. Plenty of white people are just as willing to jump to conclusions as anyone else.
There’s no choice for my response: American, know the word, may have used it once or twice but because I don’t want to be misunderstood–and let’s face it, most Americans have abysmal vocabularies–I don’t use it in conversation.
People who go around using an obscure word like ‘niggardly’ and then feigning surprise when someone misunderstands them are transparent and hilarious to watch in action.
What’s obscure? It’s got thousands of hits. It’s in literature? I guess context is everything. Don’t use it with stupid people. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whose stupid, though. For example here at the Dope, I generally have a high regard for most of the users’ intelligence, but it’s clear in this thread that my high regard is generally misplaced.
You know, we have a lot of Spanish speakers in the United States now. No one gets upset over their use of “negro.”
I use a lot of words in casual conversation that many people dont understand. If it’s the right word, I’ll use it.
It’s simple, really. It’s a word that is far more likely to be misinterpreted as a racial slur of the worst kind than its usefulness as a description for being stingy.
Why bother to sabotage your reputation amongst people you run into everyday, by using a word they’re most likely not familiar with, they might get offended by (albeit, due to their own ignorance, but that’s besides the point), and might not call you out on it but slot you in the ‘racist’ category in the back of their mind. Besides, it’s an archaic and stuffy word anyway. It’s just not worth it.
That’s fair enough if it’s the only word that makes sense for what you’re trying to say. I can’t think of a situation where ‘niggardly’ would be necessary when ‘stingy’ works just as well. I mean, I don’t care if you or anybody else uses the word, it just seems easier for me to use the word that I know I’m not going to have to explain or defend.
Who the fuck cares where you place your high regard? Come on. If you honestly think people are stupid because they haven’t heard the word ‘niggardly’ then that is your own judgmental nonsense to labor under.
You are free to use any words you choose. But when you use a word that doesn’t tend to be used in every day conversation and can easily be confused with a racial slur, you look like an idiot trying to find a reason to look down on others. It’s funny to watch.
I personally don’t have a problem with the word, it’s perfectly cromulent. But I don’t pretend not to understand why someone who may not have heard of it may misunderstand the meaning. That may make them ignorant of that particular word, but it doesn’t make them stupid.
For the record, I don’t have any problem with the actual word ‘nigger’.
I couldn’t vote because I do know the word but I don’t use it. Not because it’s a slur, but because it just isn’t a word that readily comes to mind for me. I’d probably also go with stingy. If someone else used it, I’d understand it and I wouldn’t think they were a racist. (Well, maybe if they used it about ten times in a talk and kept staring at the one black person in the room while grinning and winking when they did it…)
I already promised you I would stop doing that.
Being the only black person in the room, I mean.
More than anything else I wanted to see if there was a divide in thought between 'Mercans and non 'Mercans on the matter.
For the record, I am not American.
I don’t consider the word either archaiac or obscure, I can remember using it in conversation as a youngster, and I’m only 36. Sure, I read more than your average bear, but I’m not some super geek.
Back home I would have no hesitation in thinking that everyone I knew understood the word, particularly its relatives - like niggling injury, or a niggly feeling something is going to go wrong.
Should these be struck from the language as well, to satisfy the sensibilities of the US?
Yes, it’s like a small child with his finger 2 inches away from his sibling saying “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you! See, I’m not touching!”
My default assumption is that someone using “niggardly” is not doing so because it’s the best word choice, but because are desperate for a reaction and can then make a point about the evils of political correctness. My opinion about that person usually not going to be “what a large vocabulary” or “what a racist,” but “what a twit.” It does not leave a good impression.
Well while they are synonyms, the two words do convey different tones of meaning to me. (and they have a different number of letters for crosswords designers when the clue is parsimonious). Niggardly being more towards the mean end of parsimonious and stingy being less nasty about being a tightwad.
I know the word, but don’t commonly use it, because it is a bit on the archaic side. Using it would sound a trifle like an affectation.
Those who think its use is a sign of racism because they don’t know the word, and still think it is after they learn what it means, are simply being offenderatti. 
Canadian here.
“I can’t believe Jamal is so niggardly with his 40s and blunts.”
Is it racist?
It kinds of reminds in junior high geography class when the teacher asked one of the students to name the country just south of Libya and Algeria. The girl immediately became uncomfortible was like “um…uh…Niger [pronounced like the racial slur] ?”
I’m American, and I don’t use the word, because few people know it and a] many would be offended by it because they would think I was saying ‘nigger’ and b] there’s little point in using big old-fashioned words that no one knows anymore. But I don’t think using it is ‘race-baiting’ or offensive.
What a perfectly worded post.
And being told by many people in this thread that your default assumption is wrong, doesn’t make you question it … ?
I have no problem using it, but I just don’t. And I don’t use it not because it might cause offense to the ignorant, but just because it’s not part of my casual vocabulary. I don’t usually think of niggardly when I’m trying to describe something – usually the first word to mind is miserly.
orcenio and I disagreed about that in the GD thread, and that’s what prompted the comments that brought this thread about. (He’s right that the OP didn’t accurately summarize what he said.) People could use the word as a substitute racial slur but I don’t see any reason to make a defaul assumption. Context will pretty much take care of it one way or the other.