Omaha, NE—“Look it up,” insisted local man Kyle Johnson after dropping the word ‘niggardly’ in polite conversation, “it doesn’t have anything to do with the N-word.” Johnson, who is three semesters into a sports-business degree, was conversing with a diverse assortment of colleagues when he claims the subject arose naturally.
The self-proclaimed logophilic pedant went on to explain how the word ‘niggardly’ long predates the highly offensive phonetic sibling. “It arose circa the 14th century with a suffix that suggests French origin and the root ‘nig’ likely coming from Old-Norse or Proto-Germanic.” His appeal then moved to the historical citing Shakespeare’s use of the term in Act 4, Scene 3 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. It just means miserly,” he assured the deafeningly silent group.
Those familiar with Johnson say he has a history of slipping offensive-sounding vernacular into everyday interactions. “He always tells people to ret*rd if they are walking too fast or asks to bum a f*g if they are smoking,” one classmate recalled.
LeBron Goldschmidt, who was present for the exchange, reported that the group “just took him at his word,” adding exasperatedly, “I think I am going to change my major to journalism after this semester.”
At time of reporting Johnson had no comment for why he did not just use the word ‘miserly.’
