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Dear Prudie,

I enjoy your column (a lot) and therefore won't feign grievous injury about your reply to "Overstuffed." But on the issue of name "permanence," I have to disagree. When white males choose to "christen" things without regard to how offensive their christenings may be, I think it's perfectly reasonable for the insulted parties to make their voices heard. For a long time, it was perfectly acceptable (in nearly every American social stratum) to refer to people of my race as "niggers." Thankfully, that christening hasn't stuck. It was nothing less than the full-throated assertions of my ancestors that transformed that particular word into one of the most reviled in the English language. So … although I DO agree that PC nudnikism can be a royal pain, I can't deny the merit of this issue.

—Sign me,

Prefer Nudnik to N----r

P.S.: I will concede that I hadn't really considered the ottoman issue, despite numerous references to the Ottoman Empire in history classes. However, upon reflection, "footrest" saves a syllable AND an argument. (At least until the Footrestian contingent reads your column.)

—Tom C.

Dear Tom

You and many Prudie people wrote to make this point. Prudie's answer was perhaps more strident than it needed to be, and on the question of once it's named, it's named, the readers who wrote were correct, and Prudie was not.

—Prudie, openly

Dear Prudie,

I recently hurt my neck and went to a see a chiropractor. I have been seeing him every day for a week, and I think I am falling for him. I am 21; he is 26 and single. I don't know how to go about showing my interest in him without making it awkward. I can tell that he is interested, so how do I show him that I am interested without crossing the line?

—Pain in the Neck

Dear Pain,

Not wishing to enter into a jihad with devotees and practitioners of chiropractic, Prudie will not dwell on the fact that chiropractors aren't MDs. Not knowing the standards for chiropractors, she will simply say that medical doctors' rules may or may not apply. For example, in the medical world, a psychiatrist-patient romance is verboten while other specialties are less strict. Prudie's own in-house physician, Dr. Pussycat, says that even without formal strictures against romantic relationships with patients, a good rule of thumb is that doctors do not treat members of their own families or people they are close to. So ... if you feel your bone-cracker is twinkling back at you, you might ask if he'd be up for a dinner date ... and then you could tell him that if he has professional concerns, you would be happy to take his recommendation for an equally good person for your neck.