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Old news but interesting: Washington official quits after using racist comment!!

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    #2
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,064 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    Slow coach wrote:
    He used the word 'niggardly', and then quit when he was accused of making racist comment!
    So using a word that sounds a bit like the bad N-word is racist now?
    :rolleyes:

    niggardly
    negro

    It actually takes a bit of effort to connect the words.


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    #3
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,712 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    I think I'd throw the towel in if someone accused me of making a racist comment for saying that!

    Didn't Mary O'Rourke get in a bit of hot water last year for saying that her party "had worked like blacks"?


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    #4
    Faith
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    The Barnhard Dictionary of Etymology traces the origins of "niggardly" to the 1300s and the words nig and nigon, meaning miser, in Middle English. It also notes possible earlier origins in languages including Old Icelandic, Old English and Middle High German. There is no mention of any racial connotation

    That's where it came from, anyway!


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