# It's a travesty to end someone's career over "chink in the armor" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 21, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474 "2012-02-21T00:06:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/221 "2012-02-22T19:40:44Z")
“Rocket 88” would’ve been a bigger rock n’ roll hit [if not for racism](http://linkstomemphis.com/2011/05/made-in-memphis-rocket-88-the-worlds-first-rock-and-roll-record.html). ---
**Author:** ![FixMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FixMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FixMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/222 "2012-02-22T19:48:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’ve had the same username on this board for almost 10 years, so that would be a severe case of arrested development. Wwwweeellll I am feeling pretty dumb now for not noticing the join date. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/223 "2012-02-22T20:46:46Z")
> [@FixMyIgnorance](#): > > Wwwweeellll I am feeling pretty dumb now for not noticing the join date. Actually, he joined in 2002, but his username then was **Marley13**. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/224 "2012-02-22T21:24:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Before anyone asks, no, I was not born in 1923. 😃 Lucky chromosome? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/225 "2012-02-22T21:30:32Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > The full headline quoted by **Ravenan** indicates it was indeed used thus. > > Try these parallel innocuous phrases for size: > > **There’s a nip in the air: New York gripped by cold snap** > > versus: > > **There’s a nip in the air: Tokyo gripped by cold snap** > > You’d have to be a massive dumbass to pass the second, even if there is no racist intent. Somewhere in between: **There’s a nip in the air: Janet Jackson’s house gripped by cold snap** ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/226 "2012-02-22T21:31:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And you know who wrote _Mein Kampf_ 88 years ago? Anthony Frederico? ---
**Author:** ![FixMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FixMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FixMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/227 "2012-02-22T21:45:13Z")
Bahahahahah ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/228 "2012-02-22T22:18:22Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I graduated high school in 88. I’d hate to think what some might make of pictures of us in our letterman jackets. > > Then again, this was suburban St. Louis, so… Imagine the poor saps who graduated from the various "Germantown"s around the country. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/229 "2012-02-22T23:06:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The racial slur is not _particularly_ old and fusty and it’s definitely not obscure. What about the actual expression used? Or does that not count for some reason? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/230 "2012-02-22T23:26:17Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > What about the actual expression used? Or does that not count for some reason? I don’t follow this point. Of course there’s another meaning. It wouldn’t be a pun if there wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/231 "2012-02-23T00:00:28Z")
Aaaand down the rabbit hole we go: > **[It’s Time To Retire the Phrase “Chink in the Armor”](https://slate.com/culture/2012/02/chink-in-the-armor-jeremy-lin-why-its-time-to-retire-the-phrase-for-good.html)** > > Perhaps it was inevitable that a Jeremy Lin pun would eventually breach the boundaries of good taste. Last Friday, after the Lin-fueled New York Knicks... > [@](#): > > So if mere homophones can be editorially quarantined, why not a certain homonym, too? (Same goes, I’d argue, for _spic-and-span_ and _gobbledygook_.) And no, he’s not being sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek. Hoo boy… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/232 "2012-02-23T00:30:36Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > What about the actual expression used? Or does that not count for some reason? I don’t know what you’re asking here. I’m very familiar with the phrase “chink in the armor” and I am aware the cliche is not racist on its own terms. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Aaaand down the rabbit hole we go: Columnist suggests thing that might be bad idea. Film at 11. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/233 "2012-02-23T01:13:35Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > So it’s a cliche in sports writing I guess? > > I never read about sports so I didn’t know that. I wonder if this is the source of a lot of the controversy: Lin has become famous well beyond the bounds of the typical audience of sports journalism, and so maybe a lot of people out there are if anything exposed more often to “chink” as a slur than they are to “chink in the armor”. Whereas someone writing for ESPN, if they don’t come from the kind of working class white neighbourhoods where open racist talk is still apparently heard, would–like me–not be fazed by hearing this phrase they’ve heard so many times before and never in a racial context. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Opine away, but over 60 people have posted in this thread, have any of them agreed with you that they don’t hear “chink” as a racial slur? So you actually counted the number of people who posted ITT, but you didn’t notice that yes, there were others who didn’t hear it as a slur in the context of “in the armor”? I’m not going to go dig up examples and I’m not pretending my view is not the minority one; but there were others besides me, probably three or four IIRC. > [@Marley23](#): > > You didn’t know “homonym?” It’s a basic element of language. This is rich, coming from the dude who authoritatively steered everyone wrong in the first page of the thread by acting as though he had it on good authority that Federico was admitting he was using a pun, when his source was the same article that I read correctly as saying the opposite. Hilarious! > [@](#): > > It’s understandable if you and I don’t know how a nuclear reactor works, but if it comes out that a nuclear technician doesn’t know, he’s going to be fired. Wow, what a terrible analogy. It’s kind of belabouring the obvious IMO, but I’ll spell it out for you: a nuclear technician is a highly technical, highly specialised job that requires very specific training. Writing/editing requires general literacy possessed by large swaths of the population, including many (though certainly not all) of those posting in this thread. > [@](#): > > It doesn’t matter if people were applying 20/20 hindsight or how they read it “fresh.” Ah, yeah: it does matter. Say it doesn’t all you like, but it does. In fact, it is fundamental. It’s not surprising that you or most people here would resist that (I even copped to the fact that I might have sung a different tune had I not seen the headline “fresh”). Look at Milgram’s famous experiments: how many of those people do you think would have believed that they would have done what they did, had you asked them before they were put in that position? People are FOS about most anything that’s hypothetical and/or involves hindsight. > [@sachertorte](#): > > I find your stance baffling. You yourself find nothing wrong with the headline, yet you chastise someone else for finding the headline funny? If there isn’t anything wrong with the headline, then why can’t **curioushat** find the headline funny? Wow, I can’t believe I still have to explain this–very disconcerting. Did you just skim the thread, or what? I will spell it out, again: I don’t see anything wrong with the headline because I do not believe it was intended as a joke or to refer in any way to Lin’s ethnicity. The post referring to it as “funny” I found offensive because **curioushat** disagrees with me about Federico’s intent, yet apparently enjoys what s/he interprets as racist humour! That’s gross. I’ve found as I debate this issue in the comments section of other articles that my “allies” in supporting Federico are allies I don’t want: right wing racists. Blech. > [@](#): > > As for your general ignorance regarding Asian discrimination in the United States, I suggest you open yourself to the possibility that Asian discrimination is real and has a harrowing effect on real people. If you have truly gone through life without ever witnessing or even hearing about Asian-discrimintation, then well… you aren’t paying attention. My best friend over the past 25 years is Asian (3/4 Cambodian Khmer, 1/4 French). He has described being teased in the 1970s when he was the only nonwhite person growing up in a small Midwestern town. But since we became friends as teenagers, he has never reported any ongoing problems, or any individual incident, of discrimination. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen to anyone, ever; but you’d think if it were widely prevalent I would have witnessed it or heard about it. And we’re talking about my very best friend (not the proverbial “one of my best friends”), who was also my roommate for several years in the '80s and '90s. I also had a Chinese national as a roommate more recently, after I was divorced but before I remarried. He was not a close friend, but we still spent a lot of time together shooting the breeze while we ate or watched TV or whatever. I went to do some research just now and was I’ll admit a bit shocked to find that the Wikipedia article on “Asian Americans” began as follows: > [@](#): > > Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Squinty eyed” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. I followed the link, in disbelief, which turned out to be justified disbelief: the word “squinty” does not appear in that document. So I edited the phrase out of the sentence, made a note on the talk page asking for the asshole who posted that to be banned, and continued to do my research albeit a bit shaken. The point I was going to make, which was admittedly a bit muddled by what I found there (but give me credit, I still reported it here despite it undermining my debate point), is that in sociological terms (and given that my mother and my wife are both sociologists, I tend to look at things that way), Asian Americans can not really be seen, _as a class_, as being the victims of discrimination (despite the fact that there are undoubtedly \*individual \*exceptions to this). The reason I can say this is simple: they have the [highest income and educational attainment](http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p20-560.pdf) of any ethnicity–they are the only group higher than whites in those categories. So if they are discriminated against as a class, what does that mean, that they should be outpacing all other groups by a greater margin? And isn’t that a bit racist (“Asian-supremacist”) in itself? (My Chinese roommate would have endorsed that view: he openly talked of Chinese superiority.) > [@FixMyIgnorance](#): > > It is a homonym, but who cares? Did he _really_ have to use the word “chink” when referring to an Asian athlete, even if only figuratively? Whoa, hold on…I object to your very premise. If I believed he was using the word “chink” to refer to Lin or any Asian person, I would withdraw my entire argument. But in fact I interpret the phrase “chink in the armor” as “flaw (or missing piece) in Lin’s game”. The chink is _something missing from Lin_, not Lin himself! > [@](#): > > By “plausible deniability” I mean the sort of defense where you can say, “Look, this is a common idiom. It’s even been used before in past articles. Not a whole lot of people use it, in my experience. And I have an Asian wife – why would I make such a screwup intentionally?” It’s a \*plausible \*way to \*deny \*any sort of intentional malice or even bad punning. I’m not sure why you’re spelling this out to me. I am well aware of what “plausible deniability” means–are you? Do you understand that it carries a heavy insinuation that the thing being denied is in fact true? That the person “plausibly denying” something is almost openly smirking about how they are getting away with something? That is not at all what I see happening here. Both Federico and his boss have said he had no inkling the phrase would be connected with a racial overtone, and that he was “devastated” when he realised that’s what had happened. Thus “plausible deniability” does not apply here at all IMO. You can believe it does, but you were saying I was making a “plausible deniability” argument, and I don’t want to be associated with that. > [@](#): > > I’d say this is fairly ignorant. Calling an Asian person a c-word makes me feel the same way as if I called a black person the n-word, and I can guarantee many others feel the same. _I’d_ say _that_ is ignorant. There are no homonyms for the N-word. Those six letters arranged that way and pronounced that way represent only one word. Thus, apples and oranges since no one “called” Lin a chink. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/234 "2012-02-23T01:35:26Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Whereas someone writing for ESPN, if they don’t come from the kind of working class white neighbourhoods where open racist talk is still apparently heard Do you honestly think it’s limited to “working class white neighborhoods”? I don’t even know where to begin with that one. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/235 "2012-02-23T01:36:46Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I wonder if this is the source of a lot of the controversy: Lin has become famous well beyond the bounds of the typical audience of sports journalism, and so maybe a lot of people out there are if anything exposed more often to “chink” as a slur than they are to “chink in the armor”. Whereas someone writing for ESPN, if they don’t come from the kind of working class white neighbourhoods where open racist talk is still apparently heard, would–like me–not be fazed by hearing this phrase they’ve heard so many times before and never in a racial context. Again, you’re making a bunch of assumptions without evidence. I think people reading ESPN’s mobile site at 2:30 a.m. Eastern are probably going to be serious sports fans for the most part. I think you are being unfair in suggesting some groups of people are just more racist than others, and you’re continuing to overvalue your own experience. > [@](#): > > This is rich, coming from the dude who authoritatively steered everyone wrong in the first page of the thread by acting as though he had it on good authority that Federico was admitting he was using a pun, when his source was the same article that I read correctly as saying the opposite. Hilarious! Yes, I did make an incorrect statement based on the article you linked to in your OP. You know what this isn’t? An argument. It doesn’t address Federico’s responsibilities, the reason his failure was so egregious, or anything else having to do with the issues. But you sure did zing me about something I said 200 posts ago that I already acknowledged several times was incorrect. I’ve been schooled! > [@](#): > > Writing/editing requires general literacy possessed by large swaths of the population, including many (though certainly not all) of those posting in this thread. “General literacy” is not adequate for a journalist. “General literacy” is not the standard Federico is being held to, and that was precisely my point. > [@](#): > > Ah, yeah: it does matter. Say it doesn’t all you like, but it does. Very convincing. The following is not disputable: a lot of people saw the headline, a lot of people understood “chink” can be a racial slur. It does not matter the slightest little bit if they came to that conclusion on their own or if someone else pointed it out to them. (It is a fact that some people saw it right away and saw the slur, and it is obvious that the headline was not up for very long.) Either way, it puts ESPN in a position it does not want to be in. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/236 "2012-02-23T01:39:56Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > That must be some bubble you live in to think that people in the wilds of Northern ireland have never seen a Chinese person their entire lives. You’re right though about the use of the term chink. Although some people in the north use Chinkie in a seemingly nonderogatory sense for a Chinese takeaway. Never might be a strong word, but my boyfriend is from Northern Ireland - we visit every year - and I’m pretty sure from the way people look at me (when we visit places a good distance from Belfast) that Asian people are few and far between (unless you go into a Chinese restaurant). Although even in Belfast I’ve gotten plenty of stares. My boyfriend told me he suffered from culture shock when he went away to university in England because he was so used to the homogeneity of where he lived (near Belfast). So I apologize for my use of hyperbole, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to say that Asian people are a rare sight in the more rural areas of NI. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/237 "2012-02-23T01:46:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I’ve never seen that movie in its entirety, and I do not recall seeing a part of it where “chink” is used as a slur. (It was long, long ago, though.) > > I wouldn’t have counted that use anyway–it’s a “commentary” use, not a straightforward use. What I was saying is I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used straightforwardly with derogatory intent. If that’s not what you were asking about then never mind. [Lyle: Dock that chink a day’s pay for napping’ on the job](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWOF4sYx40E). [Olson Johnson: All right… we’ll give some land to the niggers and the chinks. But we don’t want the Irish](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boO4RowROiw)! That’s not “commentary use”. That’s a character using the word in a derogatory fashion to refer to another character(s). Were you under the impression that _Blazing Saddles_ was some kind of documentary about the Old West, that it featured interviews with real people expounding on what life was like back then? I find it odd that a self-professed cinephile ( **SlackerInc** ) would not have seen this classic of American cinema, btw. It’s featured on nearly every list of 100 greatest movies I’ve ever seen, and is also notable for being among the first 10 movies to gross more than US$100 million at the box office. [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazing_Saddles) ---
**Author:** ![FixMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FixMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FixMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/238 "2012-02-23T01:47:49Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Whoa, hold on…I object to your very premise. If I believed he was using the word “chink” to refer to Lin or any Asian person, I would withdraw my entire argument. But in fact I interpret the phrase “chink in the armor” as “flaw (or missing piece) in Lin’s game”. The chink is _something missing from Lin_, not Lin himself! Uhh, being a bit pedantic, aren’t we? Most people aren’t going to care about that distinction, and obviously so. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m not sure why you’re spelling this out to me. I am well aware of what “plausible deniability” means–are you? Do you understand that it carries a heavy insinuation that the thing being denied is in fact true? That the person “plausibly denying” something is almost openly smirking about how they are getting away with something? That is not at all what I see happening here. Both Federico and his boss have said he had no inkling the phrase would be connected with a racial overtone, and that he was “devastated” when he realised that’s what had happened. Thus “plausible deniability” does not apply here at all IMO. You can believe it does, but you were saying I was making a “plausible deniability” argument, and I don’t want to be associated with that. Ok, sure. But what I am saying is that he probably made a pun in bad taste and it backfired a lot harder than he had anticipated, and the only way he could possibly handle that kind of outcome was to play dumb and act like he meant to use it innocently. When someone’s race becomes a hot-button topic, journalists go into high-alert mode. Things you write during controversial times carry a lot more weight and you have to be especially vigilant and precise about what you’re saying. In order for this whole thing to be an honest mistake, he would have needed to be completely and utterly ignorant of a common slur word that most people are at least aware of, which I find hard to believe of a person who (especially) earns his living as a sports writer. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > _I’d_ say _that_ is ignorant. There are no homonyms for the N-word. Those six letters arranged that way and pronounced that way represent only one word. Thus, apples and oranges since no one “called” Lin a chink. You’re missing the point, here. Why does it have to be a homonym in order to be offensive? That’s completely irrelevant, here. Offensive statements can take on many forms. It’s the responsibility of the writer to do the due diligence necessary to make sure he/she hasn’t written anything that would serve as an obvious opening for backlash. There are no homonyms for the n-word, but “niggardly” is pretty darn close even though it’s a completely different word with a completely different meaning. And yet, you’d have to be a rather dense writer to use it in certain contexts (“Headline: Kobe Bryant taking on the niggardly role!”). It’s something that will _obviously_ piss people off. And if someone doesn’t understand _why_ that would piss people off, they deserve to be fired, for as far as I’m concerned, tact is part of the job description (as well as, you know, not pissing on the brand name of your employer and making them look bad). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/239 "2012-02-23T02:12:35Z")
> [@FixMyIgnorance](#): > > There are no homonyms for the n-word, but “niggardly” is pretty darn close even though it’s a completely different word with a completely different meaning. And yet, you’d have to be a rather dense writer to use it in certain contexts (“Headline: Kobe Bryant taking on the niggardly role!”). It’s something that will _obviously_ piss people off. And if someone doesn’t understand _why_ that would piss people off, they deserve to be fired, for as far as I’m concerned, tact is part of the job description (as well as, you know, not pissing on the brand name of your employer and making them look bad). [Here’s](http://www.angryblacklady.com/2010/04/01/anti-obama-sign-niggardly/) an example of someone using “niggardly” in a way designed to piss people off. To be clear, I sincerely doubt the ESPN writer was trying to upset anyone. Sports guys often seem to think that they can get away with making these sorts of jokes without anyone getting angry, and sometimes they are right. Other times, they are Steve Lyons or Jimmy the Greek. ---
**Author:** ![FixMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FixMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FixMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474/240 "2012-02-23T02:27:54Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.angryblacklady.com/2010/04/01/anti-obama-sign-niggardly/) an example of someone using “niggardly” in a way designed to piss people off. > > To be clear, I sincerely doubt the ESPN writer was trying to upset anyone. Sports guys often seem to think that they can get away with making these sorts of jokes without anyone getting angry, and sometimes they are right. Other times, they are Steve Lyons or Jimmy the Greek. I think it was just a tasteless joke that backfired in a way he didn’t necessarily expect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-travesty-to-end-someones-career-over-chink-in-the-armor/613474.md?page=13)