Are you a niggardly person.

[Epidemic]

Should NIGGARDLY be banned from the english language because it sounds like a racial slur.

Niggardly and miserly are synonomys.
Niggard Noun
niggardly verb

A teacher was suspended for using this word in class to describe a miserly character in a book.

Now the only reason I can see for this word to be removed from the english language is because people are ignorant to it's meaning.

By that token should we remove other words like:

Kite
chink (as in chink in the armor.)

Here is one story associated with the use of an english word.
http://www.adversity.net/special/niggardly.htm

[korgul]

This is a great example of America being to Politically Correct.

To remove a word because it sounds like something else Heck by the time everything is sid and done we will be grunting and pointing at things we want.

korgul

[Toadman]

Well should it be illegal to name a Vietnamese child Phuc?

korgul is right, everyone is afraid of stepping on everyone else's toes

[Epidemic]

No not by the PC crowd. Phuc would be simmular to a curse not a racial slur.

So it would be just fine to use that name.

Chink, niggardly, Kite, the name guinea (guinea pig/ New guinea), and so on should be banned.

Ignorance is the reason this comes up. If the word was taught in elementary school to all it would not be offensive. the reason it is offensive is because of ignorance and intollerance.

I will admitt when I first heard the word I thought it was a descriptive word about a stereo typical black person (therefore a slur) however when I heard the meaning I immediatly changed my view.

[alondra]

this action created much notice in the news,
I think the question arises,
should we modify our language , and for that matter, anything misunderstood by the undereducated. as not to offend them??? I think not.!

Good point, epidemic.

I think it should not be eliminated from the language just because people don't know the meaning.

By that arguement, the ignorant/illiterate folks could cause the English language to lose 99% of the words.

An average Joe Camel can get by in the English language using approximately 800 words. Meaning he can understand most things people say, can read newspapers, watch TV (except certain violent programs), read magazines, surf the web.......

Thats all the words needed to GET BY.

The English language has close to 1000 times that many words and growing daily.

Be a shame to destroy such a rich and powerful language just because some folks don't understand/misuse words.

Better strategy would be to educate them.

As Mrs Malaprop suggested.

[Theophylact]

Dashiell Hammett, writing for Black Mask detective magazine, tried to use the phrase "on the gooseberry lay" in a short story. His editor thought it sounded dirty, and deleted it. (It actually means nothing more than "stealing clothes from clotheslines.") But the editor left in the word "gunsel", because he mistakenly thought it referred to a hired killer, not what it in fact was: Yiddish slang for a homosexual (literally, "little goose"). Now everybody thinks that it's an authentic hoodlum term, instead of a naughty word! Here's the story, related by Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason).

[caddmannq]

This poor teacher made a very elementary error in judgement: neglecting the attitudes and demeanor of one's audience.

To avoid misunderstandings like this, you must simply gear your expressions to the audience at hand.

For instance, I'd never tell an illiterate 300 lb black construction worker holding a framing hatchet that he'd used a "niggardly quantity of nails" on a panel.

I'd instead tell him "Brutha, you ain't put enough gawd@mn nails in that muth@f@cker."

Some folks would be aghast at this practice, as demeaning and socially irresponsible; but they'd never survive five minutes on a roofing job either. The latter expression would usually get you some more nails in the panel. The former would usually get you a quick trip in an ambulance.

The grammar of literature is not the grammar of the classroom, and is certainly not the grammar of the construction site. You cannot succssfully interchange them without disasterous consequences.

[OuTpaTienT]

Words that we will soon be losing from our language because they "sound like" other words:

Buck Yuck Nit Lit Want Kick
Luck Suck Mitt Wit Hunt Lick
Shuck Rich Zit Pit Wick Vic
Duck Pitch Sit Wussy Rick Bic
Huck Niche Fit Punt Tick Nic
Tuck Ditch Get Bunt Pick Mic
Muck Witch Hit Shunt Hick
Puck Bit Kit Runt Sick