Nigger in the Woodpile

[Herb Stahlke]

I learned it in the 50s in an all white Lutheran boarding high
school in Milwaukee, but only with the second meaning below and
the related meaning of a trouble maker.

Herb Stahlke

>>> Amcolph at AOL.COM 09/20/00 03:40PM >>>
This phrase was used routinely by my parents, grandparents, their
friends &
relations ( n. California WASP, 1940's & 50's) in relation to any
child of
ambiguous paternity.  It was evidently a favorite, for it was
also sometimes
employed to describe  other situations in which behind-the-scenes
activity of
a disreputable kind was suspected.

Ray Ott