Warbler said:
C3PX, go to a meeting of the NAACP and use the n-word and see what kind of reaction you get there and then come back here tell me that our reaction was over the top. If you come to Camden, NJ(a largely black city) and use that word, there is a good chance you'll get beat up or worse.
Yet all those same people you mentioned, both the people at the NAACP meeting and the fine folks of Camden, NJ, would happily use the word themselves, or at the very least listen/watch media that uses it frequently and not mind it a bit. It is people of their race who stuff their music and movies full of casual usages of that word, and they market it to everyone, regardless of skin color. And yet expect that some dumb white 12 year old who is big time into 50 cent or Tupac, or people from other countries who we export these things to, aren't going to pick up those words and want to use them.
It is a dumb cultural standard we currently have in America.
C3PX, you being an American know how offensive that word is perceived here, so I can't understand this calling our reaction over the top. All I did was say that I didn't like the use of the racial slurs and asked that we refrain from using them. Its not like I cursed him out and called him names or went to Jay and asked for him to be banned.
You guys jumped on a guy who used it in an obvious non-racist context, without even knowing what his skin color was to start with, or without even realizing that the word has much less offensive meanings in most of the world. Sorry if I feel that was over the top.
I'm not really in the mood to read an entire sermon of yours, Warb, so forgive me if I forgo our traditional paragraph-by-paragraph response on this one.
Warbler said:
to be honest, until that incident with David Howard, I hadn't ever heard of the word niggardly. To use such an unusual word, knowing how similar it sounds and is spelled to the n-word, and not immediately explain the difference between the two words is asking for trouble. David Howard(unless he is real stupid) had to know that what he said was going to be misinterpreted. What does it say about him that he didn't make himself more clear or choose another word?
I have heard that word used with relative frequency all of my life.
Hard to believe David Howard, the poor bastard who seemingly has a half way decent vocabulary about him, is the one being accused of being "real stupid".
Why had he to have known that what he said was going to be misinterpreted? I use that word from time to time, and never once have I ever considered the potential of such an asinine misunderstanding taking place.
Warbler said:
We are not talking about a word that anyone with a highschool education would have known. It is a very unusual word.
I have a hard time believing this discussion is taking place. You are pretty presumptuous, assuming everyone to fit in line with your view of things. What gives you the impression that it is such an uncommon word that no one with anything less than a college education would have known? Is this simply based on the fact that you yourself didn't know the word?
I have known that word and heard it in use since I was in grade school. I think most people with a tendancy to read would likely be familiar with this word, or at least have seen it in print before.