Niggard/niggardly sounds like a really, really, awful choice for a word to describe someone cheap like Scrooge. It’s not a slur it just sounds way too much like one. The use of the word is controversial despite the only connection the two words share is how they sound.
I wouldn’t use the word around people though. Explaining how a word that sounds racist isn’t racist makes you appear to be more racist. It isn’t a slur but gets treated as if it was one.
The only reason people use this word is because it sounds like the slur. If you’re choosing words just so you can say “Actually, it’s technically not a slur,” you’re just being racist.
Niggard/niggardly sounds like a really, really, awful choice for a word to describe someone cheap like Scrooge. It’s not a slur it just sounds way too much like one. The use of the word is controversial despite the only connection the two words share is how they sound.
I wouldn’t use the word around people though. Explaining how a word that sounds racist isn’t racist makes you appear to be more racist. It isn’t a slur but gets treated as if it was one.
✓ quite offensive
✓ not a slur
X you probably still shouldn’t use it
The only reason people use this word is because it sounds like the slur. If you’re choosing words just so you can say “Actually, it’s technically not a slur,” you’re just being racist.
It never matters what is, only what people think, is.
This essentially sums up cutting education and ramping propaganda.
It could be argued that the term comes from racist roots and therefore using it is racist.
You could argue that if you make up the argument I guess.