I can understand why niggardly would be classed as racist in a particular context but not niggling. I think the difference is the letter a. I'm in England where niggling/niggled is frequently used to mean being bothered by someone or something until you pay that person or that thing, your attention.
Well, Upper Midwest here - don't get much more "American" than that. And anyone who would assume racism based on those words has bigger problems.
Personally, I don't think it can be taught, per se. But I think it can be exercised and grown when there is a will and predisposition. Also, I don't think imagination is a monochromatic thing. My hubby is a tremendously funny guy. He never misses a beat. If an opportunity pops up in conversation or by happenstance, he's the guy with the clever thing to say just at the perfect moment that leaves you rolling and crying. I think that requires a tremendous imagination to see possibilities in things others don't even notice. But he doesn't have the kind of imagination to sit and write a novel. He watches me work sometimes. I explain to him what I'm trying to accomplish. He looks and asks questions as to how I find my way through the plot, how I grow it, how I weave it into the changes I want to see happen in the characters. He grocks none of it. He just smiles at me the way you humor a child playing with Play-Doh® who says "Look, daddy! A dinosaur!"
I think imagination can be learned. Look at autistic children who "don't have imagination". They can, through play based therapy "learn" to have more imaginative play. It isn't natural to some to pick up the baby doll, feed it, burp it, put it to bed, and create a world with it. It can be taught. However, in terms of writing, I feel like it's equal parts imagination and telling a story. My husband has a great imagination, but he can't tell a story to save his life. He gives so many uninteresting details, veer's off in 700 directions and leaves you completely confused as to what was originally going on, that if he wrote a book it would probably cause a brain bleed for the reader. However, his "imagination" is fine. I think what your getting at here is can you improve the skills it takes to wander through a story. I believe you can, through journal and writing prompts. Listening to music and writing your own stories to go along with each song. Etc. These will help you for those times your brain feels a bit stuck.
I think imagination/creativity/originality is a mix of innate talent and development through practice. I have no interest in being an actor, but as an aspiring writer I attend a weekly drop-in improv comedy class where we do a mix of exercises with an instructor and some free form sets. All the regulars have noticeably improved. There are writing exercises intended to do this as well, such as 5-minute writing about random dictionary words. This is where I suspect the main benefit of doing a creative writing major comes in: these tips seem to be just part of the curriculum, us outsiders have to glean them by word of mouth.
I maybe shouldn't admit this but I suck at writing exercises! Hate them with a passion and try my damnedest to keep well away from them. The nearest I've come is when I've taken my characters and put them in a situation which has nothing to do with the books I write. (I wrote a skit about a couple of characters appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show ...) After I've written them, I stick them in a file away from everything else, a file for my eyes only and basically forget about them. I'm not sure what I achieve by doing them but when it comes to my actual story, I would rather put my imagination in gear by writing three different ways through a situation and then picking one to edit that suits both the story and the characters.
Imagination is inherent, we all have it, but whether is flourishes or withers is entirely dependent upon how we utilize it. Creativity is the medium in which we translate imagination, ranging from cooking to writing and everything in between. It is a language that is universal, but with a multitude of dialects. Languages can be learned, but as with all things, practice is needed. Like with most skills, imagination is best honed when we are young and less bound by societial strictures. Ariel's dinglehopper, being a prime example of this. That blind faith, leaves us at a very early age, allowing inhibitions to creep in. Fear can cripple imagination, be it in the form of social disapproval or something of a more primal nature. Anne Shirley and her Haunted Wood personify this. In Anne's own words: "Diana's imagination was blighted by it." Imagination needs to be fed and tended if it is to grow. It has the ability to leap beyond the known. Time, space, dimension, worlds without sight and life, not as we know it, but as we would create it. It is a capacity unlike any other in this world, but it is dying. People are reading less, falling in with the deeply rutted paths of what is deemed normal by today's society. The ruts are so deep, so ingrained that there is no seeing over the sides. They are blinders of the most effective sort. Fall backward and look up at the sky. See the stars and remember how to wonder. Wonder: Basic, fundamental. The first step in loosing an imagination. It is the force behind the questions and the questions are the embers. This is the latent fire we all possess. The spark of imagination. Most will deny its existence, but for those who have felt its fevered touch, it can be as addicting as any drug, moreso, in certain cases. Take away the box, or as is the case with the TARDIS, step into it. Leave walls and stricture behind, doubt and fear are the binding that keep imagination trapped. Set it free, teach it to speak. Feed it on books and wonder. Regale it with emotion, laughter, sadness, joy and fear. It is the part of the soul that gives one hope in the darkest hour. How can one fully live, until one has metaphorically stood, face to face with that inner voice? It is there for a reason, one just needs to learn how to listen.
