Racism and the sn-word...
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I've blogged previously in defense of the word niggardly, which some people believe should never again be used, since it is too much like the n-word and either offends, or at least distracts the reader and is therefore ineffective as a word.
Yet I never hear anyone say the same thing about the sn-word:
...Sniggering, snickering, sniggering, snickering...
Okay, so why bother with sniggering at all? Why not just use snickering and avoid any questions ofpolitical correctness insensitivity? To eradicate niggardly, you need an entirely different word with an entirely different phonetic flow (my first choice is usually miserly).
But sniggering versus snickering? Since absolutely nothing is lost, either denotationally or phonetically, by using snickering instead of sniggering, why not just opt for snickering instead?
Any thoughts?
POST SCRIPT: My blogging software's spell checker flags sniggering but not snickering. All the more reason to use the latter.
Yet I never hear anyone say the same thing about the sn-word:
Five years into an Administration of sniggering mendacity, George Bush apparently feels his staff needs a mandatory refresher course on ethics...Now here's the interesting thing about sniggering as opposed to niggardly: the very definition of sniggering is "snickering." They're essentially the exact same word.
...Sniggering, snickering, sniggering, snickering...
Okay, so why bother with sniggering at all? Why not just use snickering and avoid any questions of
But sniggering versus snickering? Since absolutely nothing is lost, either denotationally or phonetically, by using snickering instead of sniggering, why not just opt for snickering instead?
Any thoughts?
POST SCRIPT: My blogging software's spell checker flags sniggering but not snickering. All the more reason to use the latter.
Posted by Kip on
8 November 2005
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