Try this.

Go into a convenience store in Rainier Beach, and criticize the pricing of a can of Pringles using the term.

See how far you get to the exit after explaining its derivation to the customers.

There was an assembly called in my high school right after the 1999 niggardly incident, warning us to be careful about our choice of words... school is in Seattle, and I'm sure only a small handful of students had read that article in the paper.

principal didn't even even say what word he was warning us about... the whole thing was a complete farce.

@1 You realize the implication of this line of thought is startlingly racist.

Firstly in using coy dog whistles, like minority neighborhood locations, to refer to black people.

And second implying that somehow all black people will completely lose hold of their senses and reflexively resort to physical violence when baited with a mere word.

Etymonline.com keeps telling me to tell you that you are making unauthorized use of their site and you should contact them to work something out when I click your links.

the DC mayor's aide should have held on & refused to quit over such an absurdity. as usual for democrats, their first instinct is to fold - see ACORN.

I knew of the DC controversy, but now that I've read a report about it, I'm not sure it was even about the use of "niggardly"; it's what set things in motion, but from what I understand, this was a white guy working in a racially charged environment in which there was a question among African American citizens about the appointment of so many whites in the mayor's administration. The reason he got in hot water was because of the false rumor that he had actually used the N-word, and with the community expecting the worst from him, his appointment was doomed.

Race certainly played a role here, but basically, people seem to have been waiting for something to confirm their suspicions of him--he could have been photographed at a summer picnic where there was a watermelon in the background and he'd have been accused of racism.

@9: Well played, sir.

If "a certain minority group" is so ignorant of the English language that they can't differentiate between the word niggardly and the N word then too bad for them!

Bastard is another perfectly legitimate word that most people with illegitimate children balk at too- methinks that is the next one to be banned.

Now let's talk about the word "renege"...

Folks who use the word "scatological" should look up its etymology sometime...and people don't bat an eye when they hear it.

@13 when does scatological ever get used out of proper context?

That 'fishhook' feeling you're referring to reminds me of a great footnote I read from Judith Jarvis Thomson, "...prose should be transparent, like a pane of glass through which one sees the thoughts behind it." When we hear words that have that affect, it is a smudge on that pane. Obviously if it has already been written we wouldn't want to scrub it from its original text, but I think there's standing reason to avoid using it in the future.

@12: "Bastard is another perfectly legitimate word"
>bastard
>legitimate
I see what you did there.

I once got fired when my boss overheard me telling a coworker I was a member of a local chicken raising co-op. Having fresh eggs was always nice, but in retrospect, calling our group the Cool Clucks Clan was probably ill-advised.

Remember when people got all upset because they believed the urban legend that "picnic" was originally a term for lynching?

@1 Or, the clerk and store patrons will continue about their business because they already know they etymology of the word. You actually made quite a racist assumption there, way to go.

@20 You assume much too...
When my mother tried to teach her good (black) friend of 10 years how to play Pinochle, the lady flipped out/went all Rottweiler when she heard the word renege...
Ignorance is everywhere.