There was an interesting thread on Reddit a couple months ago, where an American said he didn't understand why Europeans hate the Roma so much, and wondered if it was just a baseless prejudice like many Americans have toward Mexicans. The discussion was interesting. Here's the link: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d3hax/why_does_eu...

I was amazed at how many of the anti-Roma arguments sounded just like the anti-black arguments you'd find in the early 19th century in the US.

The word "gypped" is used indiscriminately by the average American as well.

As an American, I hadn't even thought about that word's origin. I guess it's no different than saying, "He Jew'ed him down on the price." My wife told the story of a co-worker who was raised in rural America and used "Jew" (the verb form) as a normal part of her vocabulary without ever having considered the inferred stereotypes. Another co-worker who was Jewish politely called her out, and the "Jew-er" at first had trouble even understanding why the term might be disconcerting to others. The rural woman was not an anti-Semite in the same way that I'm not anti-Roma because I occasionally use the word "gypped".

I guess that I should proactively note that I'm not in favor of using the word "Jew" as a verb (or as any other part of speech in such a manner).

After learning that niggardly does not share etymology with 'the N word', I have to admit expending extra mental effort to attempt to use it in daily conversation.

Languages evolve. They also include lots of ugly history. Fact is, it's part of the language today, and nobody is using the word "indiscriminately" or as an otherwise ethnic slur. In other words, we don't have to feel bad for using it.

Is there any reason we need to use it? How about we leave the feeling bad out of it, but we just don't use it? Would you teasingly call your friend a "retard" in front of someone with Down syndrome? That doesn't strike me as polite. Using an ethnic referent as a synonym for some type of unsavory act just doesn't seem polite either.