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Originally Posted by ratbastid
Don't slippery slope me. "Niggardly" isn't exactly in common usage, and it's perfectly understandable that somebody without a lot of education or a big vocabulary might draw unpleasant conclusions about that word.
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I'm not slippery sloping you, I'm objecting to your unquestioning acceptance of abject stupidity.
I'm sorry that some people can't be bothered to learn their own language well enough to figure out that just because a word rhymes or looks similar to another word, it doesn't mean they have the same definition. But really, that's not this employee's (let's get another thing straight - he's not a politician, he's an employee OF a politician) fault now is it?
For example, horses do not have behooves, and should someone use the word "behoove" we should not chastise him out of fear it will confuse some ignorant schmuck.
Niggardly, despite the oh-so incriminating fact that it shares four whole letters with a racial epithet, is not a bad word, and is not offensive. Those who get offended by it are displaying their own ignorance.
I do not support the dumbing down philosophy you are advocating here. Just because the definition of a word may not be known to the mouthbreathing illiterates, does not mean those who do have something called a vocabulary should have to refrain from using it.
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I'm not saying "Yay for misunderstanders!" I'm saying, as a politician, it's your job to shape and mold the public's perception of you. And using a word that is possible--even likely--to be negatively misunderstood by some people is just thoughtless.
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Sorry, but you're flat out wrong. On the one hand we say politicans shouldn't assume everyone' stupid. Then you come in here and say they should, lest they be misunderstood. We say politicans should be and appear to be intelligent, yet you suggest they should dumb themselves down to be sure that the bottom-of-the-IQ-pile citizen doesn't jump to a false conclusion about what they said. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.
Our society has become entirely too tolerant of stupidity. Gloriously stupid people are not only allowed to live their lives without being chastized for their insistance on remaining stupid, but they are even financially rewarded for their stupidity. McDonalds coffee lawsuits come to mind here. It's high time we fight back against the stupid who insist on remaining stupid despite the opportunities to improve.
This whole "niggardly" situation should have evaporated in a puff of smoke the minute someone pointed out what the definition of the word actually is. Instead the guy still lost his job, even though the mayor knew damn well what the word means. That means the mayor is in effect saying "Let the stupid remain stupid, and let us cater to their every stupid thought, even to the detriment of the rest of us." That's frankly bullshit. If you're cool with living in a dumbed-down, dumbass society, that's all you. I'd rather live in a society that's interested in improvement.