I have just heard about David Howard, who in 1999 had to
resign as Director of the Office of the Public Advocate for the Government of the District of Columbia, because he had used the word "niggardly" in conversation. "Niggardly" means
miserly, cheap, and has nothing to do with race. Yet despite this indisputable fact, he had to resign!
If anything ever proved my point that most of the world is in the thrall of emotions and has little truck with observation and intelligence, this must be it.