Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[Jerome Foster]

how about snafu or the not so common fubar? incidentally. in the days when I
hung out with a crowd  that used such lanuage a scumbag  was indeed a condom
but a used one.




----- Original Message -----
From: "Jesse Sheidlower" <jester at PANIX.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 1:13 PM
Subject: Ameliorated words of offensive origin


> 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'.
>
> Some of the examples that were pitched to me are either of
> uncertain etymology ("jazz," perhaps of sexual origin though perhaps
> not; "suck," which some (Hi Ron!) think is not of sexual origin),
> or are definitely not of offensive origin but are sometimes thought
> to be ("squaw," not actually from an Algonquian word for 'female
> genitals'). These might themselves be interesting but are not the
> main point.
>
> I might also be interested in words of _non_-offensive origin that
> are now sometimes regarded as offensive, e.g. "niggardly".
>
> Thanks for any ideas.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>