03-09-2002 09:32									#61
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That reminds me of my chemistry teacher in high school.

See, he taught a course called intro to bioethics which was basically just goof around talking about goofy stuff. He mentioned how he couldn't understand where bisexuals were coming from. I helped him understand. "A hole is a hole" I said. that was a fun class.

	03-09-2002 10:20									#62
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quote: Originally posted by Caligastia To think I actually worried that nobody here would be idiotic enough to side with the mother on this.

I'm neither siding nor opposing. I do, however, think that this teacher shows remarkably poor judgement. One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years, knowing damn well it sounds like the most hated word in the English language. The fact that it is a pajorative in its own right should also have made her pause before using it.

I wouldn't go so far as firing her, but I'd scritinizer her more closely. If she's dumb enough to do something which would almost certainly start a tempest, who knows what other dumb things she might do.

	03-09-2002 10:25									#63
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Imran,

Chegitz, according to the article she looked it up in a synonym dictionary. And quite frankly, if there is a word which is likely to be confused with an offensive word, shouldn't she be MORE motivated to teach it, to make sure that the world doesn't contain more idiots like that mother?

	03-09-2002 10:30									#64
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I honestly don't believe school children are mature enough to learn a pajoritive term which sounds almost identical to another pajorative term. Kids are *******s.

	03-09-2002 10:31									#65
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agree with chegitz, as I said earlier…

	03-09-2002 10:34									#66
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quote: One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years

Umm...did you not read the part about that Washington guy resigning? that definately wasn't 100 years ago. But you are right, we should get rid of all the words that stupid people don't use every day. Then we wouldn't have to worry about miscommunication...

btw, i hate stupid people...

	03-09-2002 11:25									#67
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How many people here have ever used the word niggardly in real life, and not just when arguing about the word? I've known the word for well almost twenty years. I've never seen a reason to use it in a sentence. Why bother? Other words are more to the point and I don't have to worry that someone will take it the wrong way. Why seek trouble over a silly little word?

Yeah, people shouldn't get upset over it. Guess what? Most people aren't etymologists! Guess what? She should have had better judgement.

	03-09-2002 11:38									#68
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quote: Most people aren't etymologists! Guess what? She should have had better judgement.

So school should only teach those words that 'most people' use? Well, since most people only use about 5% of the english vocabulary in ordinary speech, we can all quit school after second grade or so.

The only people who should have had better judgement is the mother, who after being told that it is a real word should have shut up, and the principal of the school, for not supporting his teacher 100%.

	03-09-2002 11:54									#69
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There are 500,000 words in the English language, not including scientific and technical terms. Most people use 500 words, and some people with really big vocabularies might use as many as 1,500 (both significantly last than 5% of the English language).

Coming up with synonyms of stingy is pretty easy. And by the way, for everyone concerned, a synonym dictionary is called a thesaurus. Write that down. In my handy-dandy thesaurus that I keep in my home-office there are almost 50 words that have the same meaning. She chose the one that any reasonable person would have thought twice about.

	03-09-2002 12:21									#70
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quote: Other words are more to the point

i think shakespeare would roll over and die when he read that if he weren't already dead...

	03-09-2002 12:53									#71
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I say they fire all teachers because they may accidently one day use that word.

I feel so bad for teachers today. The school system has indeed completey fallen apart. Public schools offer little hope for someone to excell in this world.

	03-09-2002 12:57									#72
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quote: Originally posted by Kaak i think shakespeare would roll over and die when he read that if he weren't already dead...

Oh yeah, right, like Shakespeare's vocabulary range was sooooo great. Don't get me wrong, he' a fantastic writer, but his plays are confusing not because he sought out difficult language but because Elizibethans talked funny.

	03-09-2002 13:20									#73
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quote: Originally posted by Lincoln Another tempest in a teapot. My, my, What if the teacher had taught about a space man who wanted to fly to uranus but he was too niggardly with the fuel so he ended up in a black hole instead? Then we would have a problem...

	03-09-2002 13:24									#74
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quote: Originally posted by Carver Sonic, you are a total moron. People from Nigeria are Nigerians.

As usual you completely miss the point... Go buy yourself some humour

Actually I support GyberGnus proposal earlier, I´m getting damn tired of this PC-crap. Slap them silly I say, that´ll teach them

	03-09-2002 16:11									#75
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Chegitz, I read somewhere that the english language contains 40.000 words, and the average person uses about 2.000.

If the part about the thesaurus was meant to be sarcastic, would you be so kind as to furnish the swedish translation? Or, without looking it up, any other language than english?

Dissident, I agree completely. (which creates havoc with your username, but I'm willing to overlook that part )

Kamrat, then we are two. Let's find some others and corner Kofi Annan in a dark alley somewhere.

	03-09-2002 17:43									#76
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quote: Originally posted by MrFun Ok, maybe white people have the right to own the feelings of black people, and tell THEM what they should find acceptable, and what they should find offensive.

I'll be blunt. Here's a message for her:

You are not special. You have not suffered anymore because you are black, in your lifetime, than a great many other people in the world. All things considered, you have most likely suffered a great deal less than many, many other people in the world.

If a Muslim wanted some one fired because, in history class, they used a sourcde from the time which referred to arabs as mohammedans, who would you support?

	03-09-2002 17:49									#77
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--"I don't think the word should be taught to elementary schoolers, simply because their moral development and comprehension of society is stilted."

If you treat them like idiots, they will remain idiots.

--"I remember what it's like being a vicious little kid."

I could make a snide comment here, but I'll refrain
In any case, so what? Kids can do this with anything. They practice.

Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Bart breaks his leg because he falls from a tree? After he's been told that his epidermis is showing? There's a danger in not teaching kids the words, too.

--"Requiring the teacher to apologize and explain her mistake was definitely called for and necessary."

Mistake? I guess she shouldn't have bothered trying to teach them anything. It seems most teacher's unions share this view of the job.

--"and tell THEM what they should find acceptable, and what they should find offensive."

Or maybe we feel it's reasonable for people not to get offended by things that aren't offensive...

--"How many people here have ever used the word niggardly in real life, and not just when arguing about the word?"

At least one mayor...

Look, the word is in active use. That your friends don't have the range of vocabulary to use it doesn't mean other people don't.

--"She chose the one that any reasonable person would have thought twice about."

There's nothing at all unreasonable about this word. Unless you're going to complain just as long about us teaching the kids words like "duck" and "muck", which can be easily used in place of another offensive word.

Okay, one point everyone is missing here.
This is a school. This is a government-run school. There's this little thing called the First Amendment.
Government schools have no business whatsoever telling their teachers which words they can and cannot use. If she gets fired from this, I hope the ACLU takes the case.

I'm starting to agree with Bill Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" proposal...

This case is starting to bother me a lot. What Che and this mother are calling for is for government to be the arbiter of proper speech (and, by extention "proper thought"). That neither of them seem to realize this is even more disturbing.

Wraith
"Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets."
- Eddy Peters

	03-09-2002 17:52									#78
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara I'm neither siding nor opposing. I do, however, think that this teacher shows remarkably poor judgement. One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years, knowing damn well it sounds like the most hated word in the English language. The fact that it is a pajorative in its own right should also have made her pause before using it. I wouldn't go so far as firing her, but I'd scritinizer her more closely. If she's dumb enough to do something which would almost certainly start a tempest, who knows what other dumb things she might do.

Despite having no evidence you insinuate that the teacher's motivation for teaching the meaning of this word was racism.

You accuse her of being "dumb" because she is more concerned with enlarging her student's vocabulary than pandering to the sensitivities of the ignorant.

	03-09-2002 18:32									#79
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quote: Oh yeah, right, like Shakespeare's vocabulary range was sooooo great. Don't get me wrong, he' a fantastic writer, but his plays are confusing not because he sought out difficult language but because Elizibethans talked funny.

I don't recall saying that he had an incredible vocab, merely that he didn't make his wording choices based on which word was more direct. Language is elegant, and non boring, because of its fluidity.

Any writer who just chose the most direct way of stating everything wouldn't be a writer very long...

	03-09-2002 18:56									#80
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I agree closer to with Che. (SHOCKING to me anyway)

1. I do see no reason for the Teacher to apologize or be reprimanded/fired.
2. Questionable judgement using the word. I actually used the word when I was younger, but have since stopped using it. There are many other good words to use. Even though I said Questionable, I consider it a real minor minor lapse of Judgement.

And Finally, being offended by it's use is really silly. But there are a lot of stupid people in the world.

RAH

	03-09-2002 22:55									#81
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Indeed.

Many people are stupid
Parents are people
Thus many parents are stupid
Stupid people often do stupid things
Racism is a thing
Therefore stupid parents may complain about perceived racism

The real question however, is why is this important? There must be dozens of teachers complained about for many other similar stupidities- why should we give calls of racism special attention? bury it along with all the reports of teachers getting beaten up by angry parents that you never read about.

	03-09-2002 23:09									#82
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you didn't pay attention in logic class...

	03-09-2002 23:16									#83
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Point out the illogicalness before you make such a vapid post next time please

Essenitally it's:
People are stupid
Therefore people do stupid things
[This] is a stupid thing, so we should expect [this] sort of thing from stupid people.

Don't you expect stupid people to do stupid things?

	03-09-2002 23:19									#84
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Who do you think was stupid Gibsie, the teacher or the parent?

	03-09-2002 23:21									#85
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The parent. The best way to deal with stupid people is to ignore them. I'm sure if this woman knew that people all over the world are talking about her story she'd feel even more compulsed to carry on her ridiculous crusade.

	03-09-2002 23:43									#86
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quote: Originally posted by Caligastia Despite having no evidence you insinuate that the teacher's motivation for teaching the meaning of this word was racism.

No I didn't. I insinuated that her motivation for using this word was stupidity.

	03-09-2002 23:49									#87
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara No I didn't. I insinuated that her motivation for using this word was stupidity.

You said:

quote: One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years, knowing damn well it sounds like the most hated word in the English language

Maybe its just me, but you seem to be alluding to more than just stupidity here.

	03-09-2002 23:58									#88
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It's just you.

	04-09-2002 00:10									#89
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Ok then.

I understand what you are saying, but I disagree with you.

	04-09-2002 00:46									#90
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Actually, che it isn't just him. I understood the same thing that Cali did from your statement.