Dog in the manger/Nigger in the woodpile

[Jessie Emerson]

A Murie wrote:
> "Nigger in the woodpile" always meant some hidden nefarious thing, not
necessarily identified or even known.

I have *never* heard the phrase used in this way.  It has always meant a
hidden element in the bloodline that makes the person have dark skin, hair,
eyes, etc., specifically if the rest of the family is very fair.  A similar
expression is "he/she belongs to the milkman," when the person being
described doesn't look like anyone else in the family.

Jessie Emerson