No, ‘Niggardly’ Isn’t the N-Word

The Root ^ | Feb. 8 2014 | Lindsay Johns

[nickcarraway]

A black Brit on his way to the U.S. wants to know if his use of the word will be offensive—and whether he should care.

“Niggardly.” Go on, I dare you. Say it. Savor those syllables. Let your tongue caress those consonants. If you’re black and reading this, you may well have just laughed, smiled knowingly, been confused or even taken offense, depending on the size of your vocabulary. If you’re white and reading this, you will probably have just experienced a mild frisson of linguistic danger, as you are either fully aware of the ramifications that your verbalizing the word might have if misconstrued, or dumb enough to think that you’re being genuinely offensive.

When, exactly, is it acceptable to use the word “niggardly”? I speak as someone who loves language, but also as someone who loves people. I’m an ardent humanist and would never seek to offend another’s feelings gratuitously.

I speak, too, as a black Briton about to move to New York to pursue his career in the U.S., but also as a proud heir to the ornate vocabulary of some of our greatest English writers, like Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson, Gibbon and Dickens, all of whom have used the word in their respective works.

Let us be very clear at the outset. “Niggardly” means parsimonious or stingy and is derived from the Old Norse language. “Niggardly,” as you will thankfully already know or will doubtless be relieved to hear, is not related to the Latin word for black—“niger”—and thus is in no way etymologically connected to the deeply pernicious, pejorative racial epithet known in common parlance as the n-word.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“A good scanadahoovian word...... so tight you can’t even find your first penny...”

...or so tight he screws his socks on...as in niggardly... :)

[chajin]

"Niggard of question, but of our demands
Most free in his reply."

Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1 (Rosenkrantz, describing Hamlet to Claudius)

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“...cosmic body of exceedingly enormous gravity from which nothing, not even light, can escape...”

Dually descriptive?

[nickcarraway]

LOL. Shakespeare is hilarious. Never hire incompetent spies.

[lakecumberlandvet]

A black Brit on his way to the U.S. wants to know if his use of the word will be offensive—and whether he should care.
___

The answer to the 1st part (offensive?) is: depends on who you say it to. The answer to the 2nd part (care?): no.

[Disambiguator]

There was a recent dust-up by the black racists who mistakenly thought that a conference about the Black-Scholes options trading formula was actually about black schools, and they showed up ready to be offended.

Whoops.

If it were me, I would have been embarrassed. Since they’re leftist agitators, they are incapable of shame.

[Starstruck]

Just say cheap.

And a bundle of branches is a faggot, but we can't use that word either. Screw you and your niggardly use of the English language

[rabidralph]

LOL! I nearly spit out my cashews!

[Rusty0604]

And the “offensive” term ‘black Friday’... I have had to explain to more than a few that it means a good thing for retailers; the day they turn from a loss (red) to a profit(black).

[Brandybux]

When, exactly, is it acceptable to use the word “niggardly”?

Use it when it advances the purpose of the statement that contains it.

For example ...

In 1990, I was working in a law office as a paralegal. My writing skills were deployed in drafting pleadings for the attorney who supervised my work. He reviewed the drafts I composed, marked here or there where he wished me to change it, after which he signed the pleadings and I'd file them with various local courts.

One such pleading was to answer an opponent's motion to dismiss contingent upon our side's acceptance of the opponent's offer of a token settlement. In the answer to this motion, it is required that -- if one is to reject the offer -- he must plead that the offer of settlement would leave our client substantially damanged.

I don't remember exactly what I penned, but it was something like this: "Defendant's niggardly offer leaves the plaintiff substantially damaaged ..."

The word niggardly accomplishes several things:

• It asserts that the offer is too small;
• It impugns the defendant's character as miserly, stingy, and mean; and,
• the admittedly striking use of the word niggardly shocks an ignorant reader (the Judge?) into close attention to what this word means, thereby highlighting and emphasizing the miserliness of the defendant's offer.

The attorney came to me to inquire about this word. He was a young fellow, politically very liberal, and ignorant of the meaning and use of the word. I expounded its use to him, expecting he would go nelly on me and ask me to remove it.

But he left it in!

I was most gratified when the Judge denied the defendant's motion to dismiss.

[Nifster]

that too ;)

[ConservativeInPA]

I regularly use the word niggardly in my speech. (mostly because I know it pisses off liberals) I also use the N-word when appropriate. (mostly because, I was raised in an era when it was common speech ... add Mick, Kite, Pollock, Hunky, Dago, WOP, wetback and a dozen other words that were commonly used. And yes, I went to school with them and I got along with them, and they called me a WASP, when feeling out of sorts)

[DManA]

If someone used the word niggardly in conversation with me, I wouldn’t consider him a racist. I’d consider him a pretentious poop.

[Fred Hayek]

Anything these days can be racist.

The sun rises in the morning.
DAT’S WASCIST!

[DManA]

A guy on the radio yesterday told a caller that he might consider “hiring Guido” to break someone’s legs.

If I were Italian should I be offended?

[Starstruck]

If someone used the word niggardly in conversation with me, I wouldn’t consider him a racist. I’d consider him a pretentious poop.

Sorry, but I read probably 80 to 90 novels a year. My conversation is influenced by that fact. Sometimes I even use words that I have read but don't know how to enunciate. However anyone who referred to me as a "pretentious poop" would be someone I would think to be a pretentious poop.

[Fiji Hill]

I regularly use the word niggardly in my speech.

And I continue to use "a chink in the armor," even though I heard that someone got fired for saying that.

[DManA]

I’d be too polite to say it out loud.

[DannyTN]

Miserly is fine. Stingy is too.

[DIRTYSECRET]

It should be used in a public forum so that stupid people can react first before choosing to look it up. It would bring out their ignorance. I could be followed up with ‘beats the Dickens outta me.”