Subject:
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Etymological Oddities (was Re: New Brickbay promotion)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 14 Jun 2001 14:30:06 GMT
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Viewed:
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347 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> Does anyone recall the furor over a politician using the
> term "niggardly" (or "niggling" for that matter) to refer
> to something small and of no consequence? The etymology
> is *completely* different--no connection whatsoever with
> racially loaded terms--but that syllable was enough to
> set the fur a-flying for a week or so. But because it
> was so obviously explainable no media outlets took it very
> seriously, even those that usually give Al Sharpton et al
> plenty of column inches. All the more reason to get
> cracking on those vocabulary lessons.
I think it was taken fairly seriously--not as a veiled slur but as a
matter of public embarrassment resulting in an offer of resignation by the
"offending" party:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/04/dc.word.flap/index.html
In any case, I'm offended by your invocation of Hitler in your use of the
term "furor."
> But then again, we went around this block about a year
> ago, didn't we? :)
Nothing new under the sun (and we went around that block, too, come to
think of it!)
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: New Brickbay promotion
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| (...) I've seen indications that it may be a word derived from the trading port of Alexandria, where Egyptian traders' interactions with Europeans gave rise both to the "gypsy" and "gypping" concepts. This is supposedly because at the time Europeans (...) (23 years ago, 14-Jun-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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