At present, the person behaving most like “self appointed offence police” in this thread is you.
Why, how DARE other people think sensitively about what connotations the words they’re using might have and how they might cause their hearers to misinterpret their intended meaning!!!1! 
I’m not offended. Nor do I tell people what they should be offended about, nor what words they should or shouldn’t use.
I think that is a good thing to do and I do it all the time and recommend everyone does the same. I also take time to understand unfamiliar words and phrases so that I know what people actually mean and the context, intent and usage of the words I hear. I recommend everyone do that as well.
I think it’s a word that I have used occasionally in the past, and I still consider it part of my vocabulary - I’ll probably use it again just because it’s a word, not because of any intent to defy or offend, but just because I don’t think the situation you’re describing is the case where I live.
I mean, I’ve had people tell me to stop using the word ‘several’ unless I am specifically describing a group of exactly seven objects, because they think it sounds similar so must mean the same (I’m not kidding, this actually happened). I am not going to do that, because those people are idiots.
Yeah, same. I actually had no awareness whatsoever that it could be seen as offensive. I use it pretty frequently. I can see it now, with the “-ling” suffix being used to indicate a baby version of something. But I have not heard that word used by anyone, anywhere, and did not make the connection. Niggling just means trivial, point blank.
That said, I suppose I’ll make an effort to only use the word in contexts where it’s unlikely to be misinterpreted.
Niggardly is in a different category, being so archaic that it stands out. There would be no reason to use it even if it had no resemblance to an offensive word.
It is useful to describe rooms by their intended uses, which imply typical features. A bedroom typically has one entrance, is in a private part of the house, has a closet suited for clothing, and so forth. A dining room by contrast will typically have multiple entrances, be in a central and well traveled part of the house, have no closets, and so forth. A three bedroom two bathroom house is a better described thing than an eight room house.
I would be more specific, rather than less. “One large bedroom with attached bath, two medium bedrooms, and a small bedroom, another full bath and a half bath, a spacious living room open to the dining area, and an eat-in kitchen…”
I wonder if eat-in kitchen vs. dining room will become a problem. After all, the servants and children ate in the kitchen, whilst the Master/Mistress and their guests ate in the dining room.
Those terms describe their use not who uses them (unlike master bedroom).
This does seem like a good way to solve the issue entirely. Of course, the people fussing over it have no interest in solving anything.
I hope it doesn’t keep you up at night.
I never let anybody shit in my bathroom. It is strictly for bathing, use the bucket outside. Lol, everyone figured that out no problem
Yeah, I hadn’t even heard of the word until I heard people having this kind of discussion about it.
Yes, some people are idiots. However, it’s NOT idiotic to point out that “Niggling” and “Niggardly” do sound uncomfortably like a horrible racist epithet. That’s not factually wrong, it’s true, unlike someone thinking “several” is etymologically related to “seven,” which it objectively is not.
Suppose that English had a relatively old and obscure synonym for some random adjective - let’s say we had an old synonym for “grumpy” that was spelled and pronounced “cuntish.” Let us further suppose that etymologically speaking, that word’s similarity to a vile word for a woman was just coincidental (as is in fact the case for niggardly and the racist epithet.) I still wouldn’t use the word. I don’t think that’s idiotic, is it?
Huh. I guess I read a lot of old books as a kid. It’s a word I used until I started hearing this kind of conversation.
No, that’s just sensible. Who wants to be mis-heard as having said something nasty?
In contrast, not only is “several” not related to “seven”, if someone mishears it as “seven”, no harm done. If it matters, you can correct the situation without anyone feeling hurt.
(“people may forget what you said, but they won’t forget how you made them feel”. This is very true, for good or ill.)
I do connect seven and several, fwiw:
7 is several
3 is a few
2 is a couple
1 is one and all alone and ever more shall be it so.
I do sometimes use several for 5 or 6, if 5 or 6 is a lot, in whatever context. But in general, I try to stick to those guidelines.
I can say with total confidence that you are the first person I have ever encountered who used “several” to mean “seven.” That’s odd. Literally odd too, I guess. Even informally I’ve never thought of those being connected; “Several” just means “more than two but definitely not as many as ten.”
Maybe it’s a regional thing, as language stuff in English so often is.
Maybe it’s regional. I’m certainly not going to correct you if you tell me you have several apples, and you only have 3. Do you use “a few” for anything?
“A few” roughly means two or three.
Of course, “few” without the direct article means.
People who want to be misheard so that they can then launch into a lecture about how ignorant those who misheard them are.
Or an entire branch of the armed forces.