Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[Jesse Sheidlower]

> I'm working on a short and pressingly-deadlined essay and need to
> come up with examples of words that are viewed as innocuous today
> (or at least not _that_ bad) but whose origins are offensive in some
> way. One example might be "scumbag," which is generally thought to
> be less offensive by people who don't realize it's a word for a
> condom; another might be "schmuck," which is perhaps less offensive
> if you don't know it's Yiddish for 'penis'.

I should add that I am more interested in words that are totally
innocuous (like "jazz" would be if it truly fell into this
category), rather than words like "scumbag" or "schmuck" that are
in fact disparaging terms, but which may be less bad than their
origins. Examples of the now-innocuous sort would be greatly
appreciated.

Jesse Sheidlower