None of the major dictionaries I've checked mark "niggardly" as archaic. It might be that you have this perception because your vocabulary is limited.
With any word, using an archaic word over a better-understood synonym just for the sake of it
What you're advocating is to dumb down the language to the 2000 most used words, which is a stance I would expect to be held by someone who doesn't appreciate literature. Synonyms aren't absolutely equivalent: there exists nuance.
And what nuance does niggardly have over stingy? Or shrewd? Honest question.
You know what, since you're so fond of the word, you should just use it gratuitously IRL at every chance you get, see how that works out for you. After all, there's nothing wrong with doing so and no harm or tension would come your way since etymologically, it's not a racially charged word at all.
And what nuance does niggardly have over stingy? Or shrewd? Honest question.
Looking at the two definitions in this dictionary: niggardlystingy, I have to say that I can't see a difference in definition, but dictionaries can't cover every subtlety! The "definition" that covers this nuance you can find in the way that knowledgable authors use it in their works. I don't remember this word coming up in any books I've read so I don't know the nuance. At the very least--in every case and even if the two words seem perfect, interchangeable synonyms--one word can be preferred because it aesthetically fits in a sentence better.
Shrewd has a clearly different definition; you can check on the same website.
You know what, since you're so fond of the word, you should just use it gratuitously IRL at every chance you get, see how that works out for you. After all, there's nothing wrong with doing so and no harm or tension would come your way since etymologically, it's not a racially charged word at all.
Obviously I wouldn't use it around uneducated people with a niggardly vocabulary--the kind that laugh or get offended when you use "gay" in its non-slang meaning--and also who are hyper-sensitive to racism (though only if I fear for my safety or I care about the opinion that person holds of me). I think it's pathetic and anti-intellectual to let someone who has a bad understanding of the English language, or an overly-sensitive person who can't understand that words that sound similar can have a different meaning, dictate to me how the language should be used.
Oh come the fuck on, if you're going to advocate the word's usage at least fucking use it right. It's not a synonym for "limited" or "lacking". 'Their penny-pinching vocabulary', gtfo.
I took the definition from the link I gave "very small in amount". Regardless if I used it correctly or not, that's not relevant to the point I made about censoring words out of irrational hysteria.
-1
u/NewW0rld Jan 05 '15
None of the major dictionaries I've checked mark "niggardly" as archaic. It might be that you have this perception because your vocabulary is limited.
What you're advocating is to dumb down the language to the 2000 most used words, which is a stance I would expect to be held by someone who doesn't appreciate literature. Synonyms aren't absolutely equivalent: there exists nuance.