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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
> 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
Oh, duh! That's the example I was thinking of. ...niggardly, renege... *sigh*
Maggie C. (who would be living testament to the notion that the memory is the
first to go except that I've always been this way! Oh, wait, I hope I'm not
offending anyone with my use of the word TESTAMENT!)
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