...means something like 'dim-witted'. Here's the weird thing: at least according to one of my conversation partners, it comes from 'Dame' ('lady' - not so far from English) but today has no sexist connotations. Are there any examples of words like this in English that have a transparent root in some prejudice, but which no longer sound sexist, racist etc.? I can't think of any...
Today is the first meeting of the Kant colloquium here - my first chance at really professionally dooming myself through my poor German skills.
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Ah yes, and then there's "herrlich", which means "wonderful, marvelous"
ReplyDeleteHow is there not an issue with that? My dictionary doesn't give any sort of warning. Are those really unproblematic?
ReplyDeleteAccording to OED "niggardly" does not come from the N-word that I dare not type, yet people might think that it does. So it could be the case of folk etymology. I might still think that folk etymology would affect peoples perception of the word though.... Do people who use the word "niggardly" and who think that it does come from the N-word think it a problem to use it?
ReplyDeleteMy best case of the sort you ask for: "he" as a pronoun more default than "she."
I think this is also a question of who you ask. While I have no idea how the German words are, I am sure that there are many many English speakers who would tell you that there is nothing at all sexist about calling someone girly or a pussy.
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