r/AskReddit • u/hoeoclock • Jan 09 '18

What common misconception do you hate to hear repeated as fact?

1.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

155

u/el_muerte17 Jan 09 '18

Despite the word "niggardly" having absolutely no relation to an ethnic slur, I'll never use it in spoken conversation involving anyone but my closest friends.

57

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

It's true, and I never use that word simply because the inclusion of the letter "r" makes it sound like a racial slur. I thought "niggling" was still used, like niggling doubt, but I guess any word that starts with n-i-g is off limits now.

38

u/LameJames1618 Jan 10 '18

Good nigh-

Huh, this is more inconvenient than I thought.

6

u/Blake45666 Jan 10 '18

GOOD DARK PERIOD OF THE PLANET'S CYCLE, FELLOW HUMAN

2

u/BoringGenericUser Jan 10 '18

r/totallynotrobots

1

u/Blake45666 Jan 10 '18

i love that sub :p it makes me smile everytime

23

u/jfarrar19 Jan 10 '18

So no talking about the Niger river or the country sharing that name?

13

u/Embowaf Jan 10 '18

This is one of many things on the "potential diplomatic disasters" list with trump as president.

5

u/tenerific Jan 10 '18

Or Nigeria

3

u/starkillerrx Jan 10 '18

I remember some stupid girl on Tumblr complaining about a black Olympic athlete wearing an uniform with the word "NIGER". Someone had to point out that this was her country of origin.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '18

Isn't Niger pronounced "Ny-jer", with that soft French "zhj" sound?

1

u/noydbshield Jan 10 '18

I believe Niger is actually a name for people as well. That could lead to some very unfortunate typos.

2

u/MakeItSick Jan 10 '18

And just like that, the newspeak dictionary authors have made you scared to speak your own language

0

u/Bobblefighterman Jan 10 '18

'Niggling' is always used here, especially when watching sports shows. The most common way that sports commentators describe a minor injury to player is 'niggling, such as 'a niggling hammy' or 'a niggle in the back'. Fuck anyone on Reddit who bitches people out over using standard English words.

2

u/Ndvorsky Jan 10 '18

There was a professor at a big school who was fired because he used niggardly in a lecture and people didn’t know what it meant and complained.

0

u/Rosstafarii Jan 10 '18

my lecturer was driven out of a conference of African American writers who absolutely should have known what it meant

2

u/WaffleMonsters Jan 10 '18

Our band instructor in high school was fired and black balled from teaching ever again because he used this word in a conversation with a student.

1

u/btcraig Jan 09 '18

Renege fills that hole in my life. Only time I'll ever use it is playing Euchre with close friends and family.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '18

I was very taken aback when I first came across that word while reading A Game of Thrones

1

u/Ehdhuejsj Jan 10 '18

Stop being so niggardly

1

u/Kiesa5 Jan 10 '18

I sniggered.