OOOOOPS. Sherrod Brown just said "niggardly" live on MSNBC

[Amerigo Vespucci]

He's talking about spending on Veterans' services (on the Dylan Ratigan show) and said it was "niggardly, if you will."

That one either made it under the radar, or you'll be hearing about it later.

[dionysus]

1. but, unlike a republic tryingt o be clever, he used it's actual meaning. that said, not a very

contemporary word...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. I read the Wikipedia entry on it before posting...

...and yes, it's a real word with a real meaning, and it's not the "N Word," and a partial list of public outrage regarding its use can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22

[zipplewrath]

5. Happened a while back

Someone got in trouble (Clinton Admin??) for that a while back. The audience didn't know what the word meant, and misunderstood his meaning. Poor guy had to resign his position.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. If you go to the Wikipedia link above...

...you'll see a long list of people who were fired because someone didn;t understand teh meaning of the word, complained anyway, and the person got fired.

That's the sole reason I posted this...the "ooops" was in reference to people who don't know what the word means and hear it coming out of Brown's mouth.

[RZM]

13. I think you're referring to David Howard

Who was white and worked in the DC Mayor's office in the 1990s. He used the term in reference to the education budget and somebody took offense.

He ended up resigning voluntarily - which is pretty insane, actually. NAACP head Julian bond later weighed in on it:

"You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people's lack of understanding", he said. "David Howard should not have quit. Mayor Williams should bring him back — and order dictionaries issued to all staff who need them."

It's in the wiki article linked to above.

[lacrew]

11. I Swear this word was in my SAT study guides

That was back in the '80s...but we were able to figure out it was a different word.

It does make me wonder what teh origins of the N word are, though.

[RZM]

16. The slur and this word have different origins

The slur comes from Latin and many modern languages with Latin roots have similar words for the color black.

'Niggardly' has disputed origins, but most likely it entered English through Old Norse (there is a modern Swedish word that is very similar) through contact with the Vikings.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigger?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/niggard

[hifiguy]

18. I am not a linguist, but am a language buff

I suspect that the N wordis derived from the Spanish word for the color black, which is "negro." For example, in Spanish the name of Black and White brand Scotch whisky would be "Blanco y Negro."

[joeybee12]

27. I believe from the German ...as in Schwarzenegger...

Black man.

[11 Bravo]

24. I imagine the originator of the N word was some dumbass slaveholder who couldn't pronounce "negro".

[onehandle]

2. It's my understanding that this word has nothing to do with the 'other' word.

Just sounds bad. I wouldn't use it.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. It doesn't (see above)

That doesn't stop people from going crazy when it's used (also see above).

[Chorophyll]

15. I just really, really do not think people should be penalized for using a legitimate word

just because other people don't know what it means.

I mean, "penalized" sounds funny too, but come on.

[Dead_Parrot]

19. Hur hur hur. you said "penal'.

[Chorophyll]

31. Heh heh. Yeah. Yeah.

This sucks. Change it.

[gateley]

12. How old are you? I'm almost sixty and grew up hearing the word often enough with, of course,

no racial connotation, so it doesn't bother me. I'm just wondering if younger people are more adverse to using it -- I think it's not used nearly as frequently any more.

[KamaAina]

7. The word "niggardly" bears no relation to that other word

this last came up when a (white) mayoral aide used it at a Washington, DC council meeting, only to have an African American official jump down his throat without researching his etymology first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niggardly#Word_origins

"Niggardly" (noun: "niggard&quot is an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", perhaps related to the Old Norse verb nigla = "to fuss about small matters". It is cognate with "niggling", meaning "petty" or "unimportant", as in "the niggling details"....

On January 15, 1999, David Howard, a white aide to Anthony A. Williams, the black mayor of Washington, D.C., used "niggardly" in reference to a budget. This apparently upset one of his black colleagues (identified by Howard as Marshall Brown), who interpreted it as a racial slur and lodged a complaint. As a result, on January 25 Howard tendered his resignation, and Williams accepted it.[1] However, after pressure from the gay community (of which Howard was a member) an internal review into the matter was brought about, and the mayor offered Howard the chance to return to his position as Office of the Public Advocate on February 4. Howard refused but accepted another position with the mayor instead, insisting that he did not feel victimized by the incident. On the contrary, Howard felt that he had learned from the situation. "I used to think it would be great if we could all be colorblind. That's naïve, especially for a white person, because a white person can afford to be colorblind. They don't have to think about race every day. An African American does."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. I know...see my other responses in this thread. n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. I believe the word means frugal

Yet most don't seem to know that.

[11 Bravo]

26. It has a more negative connotation than "frugal", but it has nothing to do with race.

Think "stingy", "miserly", or "cheapskate".

[DocMac]

44. ...a guy with short arms and long pockets. nt

[gateley]

10. Haha! I just called my best friend and said "Oooops! Sherrod Brown just said niggardly on MSNBC"!

Because that's something we just could not get over -- that people became so outraged because they obviously didn't know the meaning of the word. Or they did but just wanted to stir up shit.

"Niggardly" (noun: "niggard&quot is an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", perhaps related to the Old Norse verb nigla = "to fuss about small matters". It is cognate with "niggling", meaning "petty" or "unimportant", as in "the niggling details".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22

[Chorophyll]

14. It's got nothing to do with what you think it sounds like.

From Merriam-Webster:

1: grudgingly mean about spending or granting : begrudging
2: provided in meanly limited supply

So it's a perfectly appropriate word to apply to most GOP policies.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

17. It's not what "I" think it sounds like...I know exactly what it means...see above. n/t

[RevStPatrick]

20. So what?

There's nothing wrong with that word.
It simply has the unhappy distinction of sounding like "that other" word.

It means stingy.

[WI_DEM]

21. Here is the definition of the word:

nig·gard·ly (ngrd-l)
adj.
1. Grudging and petty in giving or spending.
2. Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip.


So, imo, nothing got under the radar because he didn't say anything wrong.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Dirty Socialist]

22. What an Idiot

I live in Ohio and this is the crap I have to put up with. Ohio Democrats are seriously inept and incompetent. Thank Sherrod Brown for taking some heat off of Limbaugh.

[WI_DEM]

23. ?

[mitchtv]

29. ??

[Gold Metal Flake]

30. ???

[Chorophyll]

32. I guess you just proved the OP's point.

[golddigger]

33. Me thinks you took a left instead of a right

and ended up on the wrong board.

[grantcart]

35. It has nothing to do with the N word and is not offensive at all.

It is a little dated however.

[Dirty Socialist]

37. He Still Might Get in Trouble

Someone got in trouble for saying that word before, regardless of its meaning. I would have stayed far away from it.

[csziggy]

25. Yesterday Martin Bashir said "shitty" while quoting someone else

It sort of took the person to whom he was speaking by surprise, even though they were having a discussion about the email that included the word. At the end of the segment, Bashir apologized for using the word.

Video at link:
Read more: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/martin-bashir/46737619/#46737619

"Are you referring to the senator Carl Levin's [?] use of the word shitty which was contained in an e-mail that they discovered when they had a hearing with members of Goldman Sachs?"

[Warpy]

28. Yes, dimwits who don't know what the word means will start to screech about it

until someone takes them by the scruffs of the necks and rubs their blue noses into a dictionary.

Hint: it has absolutely nothing to do with the racist pejorative.

[rocktivity]

34. Sorry, Rush, that doesn't compare to calling a private citizen a slut.

rocktivity

[Rex]

38. +1

Gush is in his own catagory...a CAT 5 blowhard!!

[MrSlayer]

36. You'll only hear about it from ignoramuses who have a limited vocabulary.

It is a perfectly suitable word.

[marmar]

39. It's just an awkward, clumsy word anyway.....I don't know why anyone uses it.

mt

[JBoy]

40. Has Palin demanded he refudiate it yet?

[RagAss]

41. Proving he's literate?

[baldguy]

42. Points for naming the first RW propagandist to make this an "issue".

Extra points if he's a fat, old white guy.

[Puzzler]

43. We don't freakout when people say the word "country" do we?

[Odin2005]

45. "niggardly" has nothing to do with the N-word.