using inverted commas to show that I don't like the term, either.

I didn't think you did, I just needed to vent.

my sister thinks AutoPay is a terrible idea, but it's a helluva lot better idea than screwing my credit and getting services turned off because in a bout of depression I forgot to pay the bills for a couple months.

I'm still coming around to this, instead of doing the way I *should* do it.

being someplace at a certain time, almost every day, dressed, showered, and functional, is virtually impossible for me, and my boss's understanding was wearing thin.

This is the situation I'm in.

So misers are greedy and niggardly people are stingy?

Novelists don't get a special bye.

I don't think writers do, either. And I do think there is a difference in creating a fictional racist/xenophobic character and, you know, not.

What it boils down to is everyone is perfectly free to choose any word, and everyone else is perfectly free to judge them accordingly.

Also, I'm instructed to inform you all that a seven-foot tall can agrees with me.

And now I'm going home, and may not be on as much, so please don't think I'm flouncing.

I have studiously avoided that phrase while slipping in slippery allusions to the "language of the left."

Don't think we didn't notice.

Okay, really gone, now.

Ha! A little on-topic, but hilariously Buffitastic!

I thought it was "jipped" when I was a kid too. When I found out it was a flat-out nasty racist slur I stopped using it even though I don't personally know any Gypsys to be offended by it. I don't see anything complex or vague about that, its called "growing up".

I can see both sides in "douche". My tie-breaker is that it is fun to say so I do. (My one sister is agin' and says "enema" -- which is not fun to say)

I don't use it around my sister. Or French people.

It appears that "Pussy" as "weak and ineffectual" comes from a non-female-genitalia source. [link] Similar to niggardly, however, you get the homonym thing. Again I break the tie with "fun to say."

So I guess if someone were arguing "gypped" is "fun to say" they might gain a little ground with me... but not enough to tip the balance what with the "flat out ethnic slur" being on the other side.

I'm still coming around to this, instead of doing the way I *should* do it.

Oh, the "shoulds". Bastards. I fight with them every day. In that case, I told myself, okay, what is it that I really *should* do? Pay my bills on time, or write out the damn checks myself and balance my checkbook immediately? (I never balance my checkbook; I don't even write the checks down anymore. And it's *fine*.)

This is the situation I'm in.

I thought you might be. I'm sorry; I wish I knew some way to make it easier.

So I guess if someone were arguing "gypped" is "fun to say" they might gain a little ground with me.

But hornswoggle and bamboozle are *more* fun to say with less ethnic slur!!

What it boils down to is how do you want to be perceived? Because when I hear someone use "gay" to describe anything other than a gay person, or "retarded" is used at all, the speaker goes down in my estimation. Maybe it doesn't matter to the speaker, but there it is.

Think of the hornswogs and the bamboozes!

I'm sorry; "Hornswog-Americans" and "Bambooze-abled".

When I hear "Gyped", I'll usually smile broadly and ask if the person knows the origin. Usually, they're surprised and horrified, and vow to not use it again. I'd leave the company of that person in a minute if they proclaimed to know the origin and still used it. It's gross.

I'm poking around and—unlike most of the other words we've discussed—all the sources I can find only say that it was probably a reference gypsies, but there's no direct evidence.

But hornswoggle and bamboozle are *more* fun to say with less ethnic slur!!

Sometimes you don't want to use so many syllables!

I'm fond of "temporarily-abled" to describe people who commonly think of themselves as not handicapped.