I think it would be better if people who mistake ‘niggle/niggling’ for a racist epithet, to be educated that it is not, rather than for everyone else to have to adjust their vocabulary to accommodate the ignorance of others.
That’s your choice, of course, but a lot of words sound simliar, and some words that are outright racist epithets in one context are completely ordinary words in another context - not ‘sound a bit similar’ - same word; ‘spade’ for example.
LOL. I can’t believe people have dug in so deeply to argue about this. The N-word is basically the worst word that you can say, and there are these two other words that sound almost exactly like it, and for which there are numerous other much more commonly used synonyms. It’s a waste of time trying to convince people that it’s OK to say “niggardly” because it really has nothing to do with racism…it’s not about the meaning, it’s about how it sounds and the instant psychological reaction to hearing it.
It is a waste of time, but some people enjoy the smug superiority they get when they do so. At this point, I don’t think that people who use the word “niggardly” are racist, I think they are trolling.
I think I’d accept that people using niggardly a lot might be trolling. Niggle, on the other hand, is a not-uncommon word in the UK. I wouldn’t encounter or use it every day, but it’s a word that I hear people using, and occasionally use myself. The only context it’s ever been in problem is once or twice by Americans hearing me speaking - and that’s happened with a lot of different words (in other contexts that caused other categories of confusion, including the aforementioned ‘several’)
I don’t really think people have ‘dug in’ any more than I’d ‘dig in’ if you tried to persuade me that two plus two is five.
If you want to educate others in contexts like this thread, where the likelihood of being overheard/misheard are small, sure. Go for it.
But it’s really true that people remember how they felt more than they remember what you said. If you are chatting with a friend at a bar, and a nearby patron thinks you are saying the “n word”, you may have ruined his day. And for what? Why risk casually hurting people?
That’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used. As mentioned above, i used to occasionally use “niggardly”, although I’ve dropped it from my use-vocabulary. But reading the word “niggle”, my first association is the short story by Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle”. My phone doesn’t know the word, and i just looked it up to check the meaning. It’s not at all common in the US, and I’d assume anyone using it was trolling.
I think there probably are cases where it’s reasonable to expect people to modify their behaviour in order to avoid possibly offending others, and I think there are cases where such expectation would be unreasonable. I have to draw a line somewhere in that continuum, between ‘reasonable’ and ‘unreasonable’. This case is that side of that line, for me.
I think I’d say several can mean two in occasional use cases - for example in software design, there are usually none of something, exactly one of a thing, or more than one of a thing, so in a design context, I might ask ‘one or several?’ - where ‘several’ just means more than one.
I’m not entirely sure that’s a “modern day actual meaning of the word”, so much as it’s flat-out incorrect usage because someone thinks it must mean that because it sounds/is spelled differently.
I think Julian Bond (Chairman of the NAACP from 1998-2010) said it best in reference to the whole David Howard “niggardly” controversy:
You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people’s lack of understanding
And I think that Ronald D. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Public Communication and former Chair of the Communication Department at Buffalo State, accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, said it best when he responded to that statement,
“He’s undoubtedly correct, but as public relations writers, we probably don’t want to risk offending our audience by using what amounts to show-off words.”
Sort of that. I guess I might be more sensitive than others to vocab pruning demands, because I get it a lot (in comments and emails relating to my YouTube videos).
In the past year, I have had (in addition to people picking up on the very occasional use of ‘niggle’ and the ‘several/seven’ thing mentioned above):
and very probably more I can’t recall. How much of my vocabulary must I shed to accommodate people who lack understanding? I decided the answer is: none really. These are not reasonable requests.
What word is one supposed to use in place of ‘vinegar’?
I have never heard a single one of those. Is that just the people that you are around, or is this something that’s actually a thing?
Do you really think that it’s reasonable to compare those random critiques that some random person gave you to the topic or subtopic of this thread?
I guess it depends on how ignorant you want to be about how your words are perceived.
I’ll agree that your examples are not reasonable requests, but I will also say that your examples have nothing to do with the discussion at hand.
“Acetic acid diluted to 5-8% acidity”. But that only works with white vinegar. Which is probably also problematic somehow.
I also agree that your examples are not reasonable requests. The problem with getting lots of feedback (i gather your have a successful YouTube channel, or something like that) is that the tiny percentage of nuts and assholes stand out, and color your whole perception.
I would say that fundamentally, “a significant fraction of the population might be offended by that, rightly or wrongly” is very different from “people don’t understand that word/prefer a different word”, which is what most of your examples seem to be. (Or, “i am a raging pedant and can’t allow you to use the common meaning of ‘organic’ without making a stink.”)
And while you might have had one person offended by “vinegar”, that’s not a word that any significant fraction of the English-speaking population is going to be upset by. All my Black friends use the word “vinegar” when talking about vinegar and i use it freely in their presence without causing offense. I know that’s just my situation, but I’m pretty certain my situation is the norm, in this case.
Sometimes people are just crazy and they have access to the internet.
People also have had strong feelings about things like interracial dating. Should those feelings also be accommodated?
No, making people angry for failing to unjustly dominate others is morally distinct from hurting people by making them feel you are trying to unjustly dominate them.
How much do you care about the consequences of not accommodating them? If you ignore “don’t-say-vinegar” guy, the worst that’ll happen is he might stop watching your YouTube channel, so no big deal. On the other hand, you should probably avoid “niggardly,” though, because even though it’s every bit as non-racist as “vinegar,” the misperception is widespread enough, and YouTube enforcement being so garbage in general, there’s a non-negligible chance you might get your channel suspended.
Same with “master bedroom.” Should you drop it from your vocabulary? Probably not. Unless your job involves describing houses to people, how often are you going to use the term? Particularly around people who don’t already know you? If you’re selling houses or renting apartments, maybe its a different calculus, but I don’t think it’s something most people need to worry about.
That would be nice, but it’s not going to happen, and the word is really not much of a loss since it has many synonyms.