| Hobby Forum Index » Music - Beatles » OT: Philosophic question of the day #2... |
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| Bernie Woodham... |
 Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:51 pm |
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The word niggardly has become controversial because of it's phonic
similarity to the pejorative term. But the words share no
etymological relation.
Still, the sound of the word stimulates the nerve endings that arouse
the same sense of insult that the racist word does. Is that basis
enough to condemn it's use? |
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| RichL... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:57 pm |
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Bernie Woodham <birnhamwood at (no spam) insightbb.com> wrote:
Quote: The word niggardly has become controversial because of it's phonic
similarity to the pejorative term. But the words share no
etymological relation.
Still, the sound of the word stimulates the nerve endings that arouse
the same sense of insult that the racist word does. Is that basis
enough to condemn it's use?
No. If anything, it's an opportunity to educate people about word
derivations.
Now if someone uses the word in a calculating way, intending to get a
rise out of people because of the association, that's a different story. |
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