6 ms·

sounds awesome, honestly. maybe consider retiring “niggle” from the lexicon

by w8vY7ER 2y ago

mhb 2y ago
Don't stop there. Any word starting with an "n" can be eliminated.
- consf 2y ago
  So this sentence would not be able to exist... "Nice neighbors nurture nature, noting notable nuances nightly".
  - mhb 2y ago
    Of course it would. And it could be shortened to 4 x n-word, 4 x n-word.
    - consf 2y ago
      [dead]
CalRobert 2y ago
If anyone else was curious https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/niggle https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/niggle """ Etymology First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard. """ Niggard is unrelated to the racial slur we're thinking of but in fairness I can understand how it would raise eyebrows.
- ctoth 2y ago
  I was also curious. If you really wanna go down the rabbit hole: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1557349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1557349 History certainly loves to rhyme.
- dahart 2y ago
  > Niggard is unrelated to the racial slur we’re thinking of but in fairness I can understand how it would raise eyebrows. Would it be fair to say that a history of raising eyebrows establishes some relationship between otherwise previously unrelated words? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_niggardly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_n...
- CyberDildonics 2y ago
  Start saying it at work every day and when you get fired, you can tell them "but it was first attested in 1599!"
darkteflon 2y ago
Maybe consider punctuation? You have yourself a great night, mate.
sigzero 2y ago
There is nothing wrong with that word. Seriously.
- dahart 2y ago
  That is what I assumed at first, but reading the thread @ctoth linked to and the Wikipedia article with many examples, changed my mind. It’s a good reminder that history has often come to a different conclusion than logic.
  - mhb 2y ago
    Maybe you can also consider where this sort of thinking might lead: When the news began circulating on social media, many couldn’t believe it was true––that the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California would remove a longtime professor from a class because a Mandarin word he used correctly in a lesson sounded sort of like a racial slur. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/fight-against-words-sound-like-are-not-slurs/616404/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/fight-agai...
    - dahart 2y ago
      There was nearly unanimous agreement that the students crying wolf in that case were sincere but wrong and prof Patton was justified. After investigation, he was cleared. The article’s word “removed” is ambiguous, but Patton was not fired or even suspended, they just used a sub for a couple weeks. He was sorry it happened, but was not punished. The USC story is quite different from the current thread. The historical use of the word “niggard” has been intentionally used in a racist way (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_niggardly#/media/File%3ANiggardly.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word...), and if you read the WP article, it has quotes speculating that subtle “sophomoric” usage of the word might increase for racial reasons. So I don’t buy the slippery slope argument, and it seems like the USC story is actually demonstrating that people can be reasonable about where the line is. It might have caused a stir once, but now there is precedent for settling cases of Mandarin confusion more quickly.

sounds awesome, honestly. maybe consider retiring “niggle” from the lexicon

mhb 2y ago

Don't stop there. Any word starting with an "n" can be eliminated.

consf 2y ago
So this sentence would not be able to exist... "Nice neighbors nurture nature, noting notable nuances nightly".
- mhb 2y ago
  Of course it would. And it could be shortened to 4 x n-word, 4 x n-word.
  - consf 2y ago
    [dead]

CalRobert 2y ago

If anyone else was curious https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/niggle https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/niggle """ Etymology First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard. """ Niggard is unrelated to the racial slur we're thinking of but in fairness I can understand how it would raise eyebrows.

ctoth 2y ago
I was also curious. If you really wanna go down the rabbit hole: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1557349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1557349 History certainly loves to rhyme.
dahart 2y ago
> Niggard is unrelated to the racial slur we’re thinking of but in fairness I can understand how it would raise eyebrows. Would it be fair to say that a history of raising eyebrows establishes some relationship between otherwise previously unrelated words? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_niggardly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_n...
CyberDildonics 2y ago
Start saying it at work every day and when you get fired, you can tell them "but it was first attested in 1599!"

darkteflon 2y ago

Maybe consider punctuation? You have yourself a great night, mate.

sigzero 2y ago

There is nothing wrong with that word. Seriously.

dahart 2y ago
That is what I assumed at first, but reading the thread @ctoth linked to and the Wikipedia article with many examples, changed my mind. It’s a good reminder that history has often come to a different conclusion than logic.
- mhb 2y ago
  Maybe you can also consider where this sort of thinking might lead: When the news began circulating on social media, many couldn’t believe it was true––that the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California would remove a longtime professor from a class because a Mandarin word he used correctly in a lesson sounded sort of like a racial slur. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/fight-against-words-sound-like-are-not-slurs/616404/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/fight-agai...
  - dahart 2y ago
    There was nearly unanimous agreement that the students crying wolf in that case were sincere but wrong and prof Patton was justified. After investigation, he was cleared. The article’s word “removed” is ambiguous, but Patton was not fired or even suspended, they just used a sub for a couple weeks. He was sorry it happened, but was not punished. The USC story is quite different from the current thread. The historical use of the word “niggard” has been intentionally used in a racist way (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_niggardly#/media/File%3ANiggardly.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word...), and if you read the WP article, it has quotes speculating that subtle “sophomoric” usage of the word might increase for racial reasons. So I don’t buy the slippery slope argument, and it seems like the USC story is actually demonstrating that people can be reasonable about where the line is. It might have caused a stir once, but now there is precedent for settling cases of Mandarin confusion more quickly.