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Bob Young's Open Letter to SCO/Darl McBride
Oskie-wee-wee writes "Infoworld is carrying a story about Bob Young (Red Hat, Lulu, Classy Formal Wear, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, etc.) and his open letter to SCO and Darl McBride - in response to Darl's open letter 'defending, in one breath, the SCO suit, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and the Supreme Court Decision in the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case.'"
"Niggardly" is actually a perfectly legitimate word in English, meaning "petty in giving or spending", or stingy. The etymology is completely uncrelated to a certain similar-sounding racial term, though due to the similar pronounciation and misinterpretations such as yours, "niggardly" is quickly falling out of use.
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http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=niggardl
That said, the grandparent is most certainly 1) wrong (and stupid), as users would not be liable for infringing code in Linux anyway, and 2) a sad attempt at a troll, for reasons you stated.
Check the etymology. Niggard and Niggle have nothing to do with Nigger. By your argument, we can't use Niggle either, because it might "sound" like a racist epithet? I also find it funny that someone (you) who has a problem with the way others use language, use it so badly. Are capitals difficult? Do you know how to use it's/its?
... There, she thought, I've said 'nigger' and Mother wouldn't like that at all." [Margaret Mitchell, "Gone With the Wind," 1936]
You also have a problem with logic. You say the thought of its racial sound didn't cross your mind, yet that's what concerns you: are you assuming that all "average" black people don't know the difference between Nigger and Niggardly? Who's the racist here?
From an etymological dictionary:
niggard - 1366, nygard, the suffix suggests Fr. origin (cf. dastard), but the root word is probably related to O.N. hnoggr "stingy," from P.Gmc. *khnauwjaz; related to O.E. hneaw "stingy, niggardly," which did not survive in M.E.
nigger - 1786, earlier neger (1568, Scot. and northern England dialect), from Fr. negre, from Sp. negro (see Negro). From the earliest usage it was "the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks." But as black inferiority was at one time a near universal assumption in Eng.-speaking lands, the word in some cases could be used without insult. More sympathetic writers late 18c. and early 19c. seem to have used black (n.) and, after the American Civil War, colored person. Also applied by Eng. settlers to dark-skinned native peoples in India, Australia, Polynesia. The reclamation of the word as a neutral or positive term in black culture, often with a suggestion of "soul" or "style," is attested first in the Amer. South, later (1968) in the Northern, urban-based Black Power movement. Variant niggah attested from 1925, usually in situations where blacks use the word; without the -h it is attested from 1969. Slang phrase nigger in the woodpile attested by 1800; "A mode of accounting for the disappearance of fuel; an unsolved mystery" [R.H. Thornton, "American Glossary," 1912]. Nigger heaven, "the top gallery in a (segregated) theater" first attested 1878 in ref. to Troy, N.Y. " 'You're a fool nigger, and the worst day's work Pa ever did was to buy you,' said Scarlett slowly.
niggle - 1599, possibly from a Scand. source (cf. Norw. dial. nigla "be busy with trifles"), perhaps related to source of niggard.
Should we also tell anyone with the name Nygard that they need to change it, or at least shouldn't utter it?
Next time you're wrong, just admit it, or shut up.