The adjective 'Niggardly' literally means "stingy," or "miserly" has been misconstrued in many occasions in the United States. It has been phonically confused with the racial slur for African-American people. There have been many cases where the word was exposed to public. Here's one.
The David Howard incident David Howard was an aide to Anthony A. Williams, the black mayor of Washington D.C. While mentioning about the budget, Howard used the term 'niggardly' to describe it and one of Williams' black colleagues took offense of that. The incident resulted in Howard's resignation. However, after an internal review was brought on the table, Williams offered Howard to return to his position. Howard refused but accepted another position under Williams instead. Howard stated that he had learned something valuable from the incident and thought that would have been great if everyone was color-blinded for once.
