This issue rears it's ugly hed again. Should this word be retired because it is similar in sound and form to a highly offensive word- and those ignorant of it's meaning may in fact BE offended by it's usage?
Mr(Howell III)Sensitive ********************************************************* 09-08-02, 07:42 AM Prothero Have to vote no to this one - if we ban everything that is offensive to the unaware we may have little left when the smoke settles. It is an odd, rarely used word that can be appropriate when used properly. Not to long ago we had a local issue because the paper used the term "dark continent" - whether used as tradition dictates or actually making reference to the "offensive" concept, what offense is actually stated? None - especially since they were using it correctly.
Personally I've never had to use the word in question, but find those who objected to its use to be offensive in their ignorance - does this entitle me to ban them? I suggest they grow up, fill in the gaps in their knowledge and deal with the real issues of the world.
Give me liberty or give me PC - it seems to be the single remaining question.
09-09-02, 01:01 AM displacedNYer I don't know...I would have to say that it was up to the user. Like using gay for happy. You wanna say it - go for it.
09-09-02, 06:24 PM aminator2002 Who uses the word anyway? I've seen it in books, but never heard anyone actually say it.
It is a perfectly fine word though. Being PC is nonsense anyway.
09-11-02, 09:45 AM Elexina Prothero, I am greatly offended by your inconsiderate use of the word "to." I suggest you remove that foul word from your language henceforth.
Everyone's offended by something. You can't retire all the words. But I think there is a certain amount of common sense that ought to be used. For instance, insulting someone by calling them a "Jew" or saying "don't Jew me" is inappropriate and offensive. I don't like it, and I'm not even Jewish. "Niggardly" is defined as 'grudging and petty' so why not just use those words? Honestly, I've never heard or seen the word used. And as for "gay," it was originally a term meaning 'bright and lively,' so using it as such is no stretch. It refers to homosexuals, too, sure, and can be used as such. But using it as an insult [i.e. 'you are so gay' or 'look at that gay huddle' or 'this show is gay (unless you're talking about Will & Grace)] is ignorant, offensive and inappropriate.
09-11-02, 12:11 PM Prothero Elexina ~ My most humble apologies. It truly was crass, even crude behavior that caused the use of such a word - I suspect I was influenced and confused by the pretenders - too and two. Therefore I claim victim status and insist we eliminate all three words. Actually there seems a common agreement in here that the word, if antiquated, is still acceptable for most.
By the way (and I could be wrong about this) - I think Jewish individuals accept the first use of the word Jew, but imagine they do not approve of the second - Anyone know for certain?
There, an entire post without the "offensive" use of that word.
09-11-02, 12:27 PM DorianGreyed Prothero - I know what you are doing; you didn't fool me for one (1) minute. I can read between the lines. When you said "second" I knew what you meant. "Second" makes one thinks of 2, and in spoken English we all know what that means. Forget your hidden agenda! We are aware of your intent.
09-11-02, 01:06 PM Elexina
quote:Originally posted by Prothero: By the way (and I could be wrong about this) - I think Jewish individuals accept the first use of the word Jew, but imagine they do not approve of the second - Anyone know for certain?
You'd better apologize, you unthinking cretin.
...And I didn't really mean saying "you're a Jew" to a Jewish person, I meant using the word "Jew" to describe someone, as an insult. And I know Jewish people who would just rather no one use the word at all. :-)
09-11-02, 01:40 PM Prothero Drats ~
They are onto the scheme - but they have yet to realize that all my words are offensive - the secret society doesn't permit me to say anymore.
Actually it was a Jewish individual who told me it was acceptable. I would post it as a question in religions, but I haven't got the courage to go back into those rooms.
09-11-02, 07:39 PM babthrower The trouble is, we're using up words at an unprecedented rate. As soon as a previously offensive word is replaced by a newly-coined, unoffensive word, and we do the adjustment to the new usage (which can take a couple of years), then people catch on to the fact that the new term is being used for the same old group of people, so now the new term is offensive, so that's TWO words you can't use any more... and so on. Pretty soon we will have no words left.
Heck, I can remember when ms. meant manuscript, gay meant cheerful, 'special' and 'exceptional' meant above the norm, and 'mailman' carried no hint of redundancy.
I watched this schlock court case on TV. A woman had some bad experiences in her home with some young people, culminating in her being whacked on the head with a telephone receiver (OUCH!) when she was trying to call the police to quell the riot in her living room. Their usual caregiver said she had warned the woman that they were 'exceptional' children (teens, actually). The poor woman stood there with her jaw hanging and her eyes switching from side to side, she had no idea of the 'new usage'. I guess she expected the children to be really good at math, or something.
09-14-02, 06:42 PM Alec Cawley Today I saw a car, a very smart looking black BMW, with the (UK) registration N1GOH. The driver, who would be hard to see in a coal cellar, had obviously chosen that registration intentionally - single digit numbers are all premium numbers, and the car definitely did not rate an N (approx 10 years old) prefix. Would I therefore be regarded as offensive if I used a certain, normally-very-rude word to refer to that driver when he has chosen a close approximation to that word for his car?
09-14-02, 10:27 PM babthrower Yes, Alex. It's hard to explain, but I understand it. My women friends and I tell women-jokes and laugh like h***. I have men friends who tell me women-jokes and I laugh like ***l. I tell them guy jokes - same thing. But I know these guys, and I know they're not sexist.
But if a guy I hardly knew told the same joke in mixed company I would see it as a put-down. It's something about the style of delivery in that case. Also something about trust.
So blacks (I will not say Afro-Americans because the guy with the provocative plate was probably not American) need to know the non-black very well, and have trust, in order not to tick anyone off. I know of one case where a Chinese American made the mistake of calling someone 'N*****', in a companionable sort of way. It went over like a lead balloon. He had assumed that because he was non-white, he was part of the club. Wrong assumption.
I will probably get basted for using the term 'blacks'.
09-29-02, 11:46 PM honilov i've never heard of the word, "niggardly" and probably 90% of our population haven't heard of it either, so i don't believe that word would ever be a problem. simple words shouldn't offend people anyway. if there ever was an offensive word spoken about anyone, it's best just to consider the source, and move on.
09-30-02, 06:25 AM Jelp01 I hadn't heard the word "niggardly" for a long time until the issue came up. I think it is high time the politically correct police find something better to do. Some words which have come to have a negative connotation, such as "gay", should not be used in a negative way. But in its proper usage, shouldn't be offensive. Nor should "niggardly". I think some people just look for excuses to be offended.
10-25-02, 05:11 PM dr.mlm Why hasn't anyone objected to the above phrase...clearly a reference to the skin tone of most of the inhabitants...why don't we call Antartica the dark continent because it is without light half the year, isn't it???
10-25-02, 06:27 PM Minnesota The term "Dark Continent" did not refer to its natives' color, but rather the nature of its history and present state.
"Africa had a noble past which astounded even the ancient Roman world with its great surprises. Yet, it was only much later, after a millennium and a half of African history that we are now busily engaged in reconstructing for all the world to know, that racial exploitation and imperialist domination deliberately fostered a new and monstrous mythology of race which nourished the popular but unfounded image of Africa as the "Dark Continent." In other words, a Continent whose inhabitants were without any past history, any contribution to world civilization, or any hope of future development - except by the grace of foreign tutelage!"
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