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While reading my National Review this week, I came across a funny story by Bill Buckley, the founder of the magazine. He was discussing word usage and told a story about a lawsuit filed against the magazine over the use of a word in a headline, which according to the plantiff, showed clear racist intent by the editor and magazine. (The headline was "The Jig is Up").

The lawyer during his questioning of WFB in court grabbed a dictionary off his table and slammed in onto the arm of Bill's chair and shouted scornfully "Have you ever heard of a dictionary!?"

WFB picked up the dictionary and said yes, he was familiar with it and as he opened it to the front, he said "In fact, I wrote the introduction to this edition!"

The dictionary also showed the word had harmless and proper uses!

Asking Bill Buckley if he knows the dictionary is the equivilant of asking Michael Jordan if he knows how to dunk!

Reminds me of the (true) story of David Howard, a white appointee of then Washington, D.C., mayor Anthony Williams. In a budget meeting he used the word "niggardly" and was immediately tagged a racist by a black staff member. He apologized and tried to clarify what he meant but that genie was already out of the bottle. "Niggardly" basically means "miserly" and has nothing to do with the inflammatory racist epithet. Its origins lie in Old Norse (not the Old South).

Howard was actually forced to resign and Mayor Williams actually accepted his resignation.

Julian Bond, the former head of the NAACP, commented: "Seems to me the mayor has been niggardly in his judgment on this issue. You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people’s lack of understanding."

You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people’s lack of understanding

Agreed, although I would have substituted ignorance for understanding!