Oh. One of my officemates today (not the one I usually tell about) was complaining for about five minutes about how it's so horrible that people are so sensitive that he can't even use the word "niggardly."

Well, to be fair, that word doesn't actually have any relationship with the n-word: [link]

The adverb form niggardly, miserly or stingily, was formed in the sixteenth century from niggard, a miser or stingy person. In the Wycliffe Bible of 1384 it was spelled nygard; earlier still it can be found as nigon, and another form nig also existed. We are pretty sure this was borrowed from a Scandinavian source, because there are related words in several Germanic languages, for example, the Old Norse hnøgger, meaning “stingy”. So it has nothing to do with nigger, which comes via French nègre from Spanish negro, ultimately from Latin niger, meaning “black”.

Nonetheless, as this article points out, it's so similar that it inevitably causes strife in the US and therefore is often best avoided.

t /etymology pedant

Yeah, I know. His point was that the "often best avoided" was just not fair. I'm not sure what he thinks he's losing by avoiding one word which has approximately a thousand perfectly good synonyms, but he was for some reason very upset about this and complaining about it for a long while. Loudly.

Gotcha.

His point was that the "often best avoided" was just not fair.

Fair is for fucking five year olds. He need to get the fuck over it.

Quote The Princess bride book at him.

"Life isn't fair, Bill. We tell our children that it is, but it's a terrible thing to do. It's not only a lie, it's a cruel lie. Life is not fair, and it never has been, and it's never going to be."

This is kind of adorable. I'm reading about the curriculum at Sidwell Friends (I had an actual reason for going to this website, then found the info I was looking for and started just clicking around), and the fourth graders there have lessons in mediation and working out problems and finding peaceful solutions, and then, on certain days, two fourth graders go to join the first and second graders at recess as the designated "peacemakers," and if any of the younger kids have an argument about something, they bring it to the fourth grade peacemakers who help them find a peaceful way to settle the argument.

I'm not sure what he thinks he's losing by avoiding one word which has approximately a thousand perfectly good synonyms, but he was for some reason very upset about this and complaining about it for a long while. Loudly.

I share his grievance. Different synonyms have different nuances. The word shouldn't be put out to pasture because other people are ignorant.

Both joyful and allergy-inducing, a page full of videos of dogs greeting their humans who've been away on deployment: [link]

His point was that the "often best avoided" was just not fair. I'm not sure what he thinks he's losing by avoiding one word which has approximately a thousand perfectly good synonyms, but he was for some reason very upset about this and complaining about it for a long while. Loudly.

You know, if the guy weren't being an ass about it, he could join me in the "wistful about the otherwise kinda nifty word which I first saw in Tolkien" corner.

Sorry for the total random: Is arrowroot powder available at regular grocery stores? (For Thanksgiving, my mom usually asks me to email her a grocery list of what I need for the stuff I'm cooking, and there are a few things I need that I usually get at health food stores, so I'm ordering them online so that my mom won't have to try to figure out where to buy it.)