For the second time, use of the word “niggardly,” meaning “stingy,” has gotten someone in trouble. In 1999 an aide to the Washington, D.C. mayor used the word “niggardly” to describe the need to be tight with the new budget. Now a fourth-grade teacher in Wilmington, North Carolina has received a letter of reprimand for using the word in a discussion of literary characters.
First of all, Doc wants to give props to the teacher, Stephanie Bell, for challenging her fourth-grade students with a difficult word. But Doc also understands the concern of an African-American mother, Akwana Walker, who protested its use. Doc thinks it’s unfortunate that the issue between a dutiful teacher and a dutiful mother had to be resolved antagonistically.
Dr. Ink can imagine a more gentle discourse:
Ms. Walker: “Ms. Bell, I just wanted to alert you to a problem. My son came home in tears because he said you used the word ‘niggerly’ to describe a character in a book.”
Ms. Bell: “Oh my goodness no, Ms. Walker, I said ‘niggardly.’ With a D. The character was stingy, a miser.”
Ms. Walker: “I didn’t think you’d be so insensitive, Ms. Bell. It’s just that the words sound so alike. I don’t think my son is the only child who’d be confused. Maybe you should refrain from using that word, at least among fourth-graders.”
Ms. Bell: “I certainly want to thank you for bringing this to my attention, Ms. Walker. If you will explain the situation to your son, I’ll certainly talk with him tomorrow morning at school. Thanks for being so concerned about your child’s education.”
Let’s face it, Inklings, the word “niggard” is on its deathbed.
To say so is not to cave in to the so-called forces of political correctness. Semantic change happens. Sometimes it happens to a word across millennia, and sometimes it happens in what seems like a snap of the finger. (It’s now almost impossible for Dr. Ink, an obsequious homophile, to sing “Don we now our gay apparel” without thinking of reindeer in drag.)
For the record, there is no apparent link between the etymologies of “niggard” and “nigger.” The latter is a corruption of the Latinate words for “black.” The OED lists its earliest literary use to 1786. The origin of “niggard” is harder to pin down, but the best guesses trace it to Scandinavian origins, with cognates in Anglo-Saxon. The first recorded use is in Chaucer, about 1386. The words are separated by four centuries.
But our own new century has brought them together, and has effectively rendered one useless.
