Learning words is the easy part. Learning the appropriate time to say them is the part that takes practice. I think any half-way intelligent person who has the word "Niggardly" in their vocabulary arsenal knows not to say it to a black dude. You wouldn't tell a hispanic person that their house was "spic and span", or tell a asian person they were being "yellow" would you?

I didn't know the term and would have thought that was a horrible thing to say. I think the teacher should have used some common sense in this situation and used a more appropriate word.

I think she should have been fired for showing such poor judgement! No, I wouldn't use that word. For one thing, I have small kids who enjoy imitation. For another, even if I knew the meaning of the word, it is just in poor taste. That's what a thesaurus is for. She knew how to use one. +5

It wouldn't be my business as to why/how he handled his money. It was not the teacher's business either.

Yes, but WHY does that word mean stingy and WHY did that teacher choose it? The English language is rife with racist/sexist/classist terms which are better left in the past.

You know, it seems people are offended by more and more these days. There was a question on this site earlier that asked if anyone viewed the word "should" as mean or demanding. Is that is the next word people will come after? Sadly the English language is being slowly diminished mostly due to those who are ignorant, who are lazy and who see opportunities to take offense in nearly everything they hear. Someone in a writing class I was in accused another student of being a racist when they described a place "as dark as the black hole of Calcutta" It was bad writing but it was hardly racist. Would i use that word? If I knew I was speaking to a person who understood the term then yes I would. Would I use it in a classroom? Yes, I think I would in order to expand the children's vocabulary. Would I use it in public? No, because there are just too many idiots milling around ready to be offended by what they don't understand.

I have thought long on this as these things happen from time to time. It is a good thing when people avoid using non-offensive terms that might be mistaken for offensive terms. It is the polite thing to do (though there is something a little racist in assuming black people won't know the word 'niggard'). . But wait. It slips out. Someone says a risky word. Now what do we do? . Well I'll tell you. We clarify. We assure the offended listener that we had no intention of offending. . And then the listener says something along the line of 'no harm, no foul' and it's over. . What we do NOT do is allow the offended listener to rewrite the dictionary, to demand an apology or to continue to adopt the position that he or she has been wronged. It's an unfair playing of the race card. It's gamesmanship. It's bullshit. . Here is a not so cool instance of the misuse of the race card. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc1zGRUPztc

That's a proper English that was used in the proper context by proper English dictionary definition.

I do not know of the whole insident, or any part of it. But based on what you have presented in your question, I have some problem with the chosen word and here is my reason. First, it seems a very poor judgment from a professional.....bad timimg--to say the least. Secondly, if he/she was addressing to a black student, she/he could easily have used another synonym--"tightfisted", for example--and not that particular word. Granted that the term "niggard" means "being stingy", did the black student new that? Did the teacher take into account that the student may not know the meaning of the word? How do we know that the word was not used with full knowledge that the student didn't know its meaning? How do we know that the word was used with a sincere and genuine attempt of teaching its meaning, and not contemptuously? Was the teacher interested in stirring a little controversy for the sake of educating? Well, I don't know the answer to those questions--only the teacher does. But these are just a few of many questions and controversies which could stem from being careless, or get carried away under the supposed attempt (we would like to believe) of edcucating. Teachers know--or should know--that they don't need that in a classroom. Poor judgment in my opinion.

The people who accused the teacher were being both stupid *and* racist. The word is nothing to do with 'negro', and in fact is derived from an old Norse word. It means being over concerned with small matters. People don't realise that when they object to innocuous terms like 'blackboard', they are demonstrating their own inverse racism.

The teacher should have used some common sense (and maybe purchase a thesaurus!). Some things you just don't say. An example: If I'm doing a quicky fix of something, I don't say I'm nigger-rigging it, I say I'm jerry-rigging it.

We live in a racially charged society. It could be argued that racial relations in this country are as bad as I've seen them in my lifetime. I worked in education for over 25 years, five of them at a university in N.M. that is 97% Hispanic. A teacher is charged with teaching, Mensan, and any teacher worthy of the title, has sensitivity for his/her charges. So here's a few questions for you. What did that teacher teach and what did that student learn? And to back this up, why didn't this teacher choose any of the other more contemporary words like miserly or frugal?

Yes, niggardly in and of itself is not a racist word. Many words, in and of themselves are not racist by definition (spear chucker by literal meaning is merely descriptive, but good luck arguing that one), but used in a racially sensitive society will come off as racist regardless. I do question whether the teacher was trying to fly one under the radar because of the fact that niggardly is an antiquated word that fell out of common use decades, if not a century ago. There is a good reason the word is not used these days. It simply sounds too much like "nigger" for comfort and every time I have seen the word used in real life, it was by someone trying to be funny. There are many synonyms for stingy that are in common use and a teacher would be aware of that. To direct an obscure word that sounds an awful lot like nigger to a black student is suspect at best. The swastika predates nazi germany by thousands of years, but it would be insane to walk into a synagogue wearing one.

It's not a racist term, but you have to be an idiot to use it because (a) most people don't know what it means and (b) it sounds awfully close to "nigger." And, uh, this has only happened like 3 times in the past 10 years?

I would not use that work with a Black man. I could get killed. There are other words, called synonyms that could easily say the same thing. people are so afraid of being racist, that they have lost sight of the meaning of the words we use. Black isnt even the right word, either. Colored used to be the word, and it is even closer to the truth.

'Until folks learned that Niggardly = Stingy'... 'folks' should have already known, or not taken offence to a word they didn't know the meaning to.. The word Niggardly actually fell out of fashion BECAUSE it sounded too much like Nigger. When the word Nigger came into popular use.. Which wasn't all that long ago.

It's not a word I use in conversation generally, since I have little occasion to ask people why they're being scroogy. BUT At Love's work the other day, he was told they are now "pads and easels," not "flip charts" -- he inquired with our real live filipina friend and she said that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard.

not a racist word but im sure she knew what she was doin...there are so many other words that could have been used