Woodpile

[sagehen]

Doug Wilson writes:

>RHHDAS shows the sense of (1) "hidden nefarious thing" from 1843, the
>>sense of (2) "black ancestor" from 1953.

>It is my belief that the use of the expression in the first sense was
>virtually obsolete in many circles by the time of the origin of the second
>sense. Thus (I think) many people around 1950 still recognized the
>expression but no longer remembered what it meant, and therefore applied it
>to something different.

This makes sense to me.  My understanding of it goes back to SE NE in the
30's & 40's.  And, yes, it was certainly not considered a polite expression
even then. Now I think we find it very nearly impossible even to write in a
discussion like this one.  I would be surprised to hear anyone use the
expression  casually in conversation.
A. Murie