Nigger in the woodpile

The evidence is slight, but the theory presumes that they were derived from actual instances of the concealment of fugitive slaves in their flight north under piles of firewood or within hiding places in stone walls.

The panels show a series of scenarios based on popular figures of speech: a man with a net trying to catch a fly for his ointment, another looking at monkey wrenches to throw into his machinery, one examining haystacks with matching needles, and finally a man looking at a selection of people drawn with stereotypical black features for his woodpile.

Examples include: During Italia 90 coverage on BBC Sport, Sir Geoff Hurst, in discussion with Bob Wilson, used the expression whilst sitting next to Garth Crooks.

[13] The appeal was rejected in 1996, ruled as an inadvertent (but highly offensive and inappropriate) mistake which was immediately withdrawn, and one which did not refer to the plaintiff or prejudice the jury against him.

[14] In July 2017, the phrase was again used by Conservative Party politician Anne Marie Morris who said that Brexit without a deal with the European Union was the "real nigger in the woodpile".

[21] ACMA received numerous complaints after Jones used the controversial phrase in August 2018, while discussing the looming second Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill.

"The nigger in the woodpile here, if one can use that expression – and I'm not going to yield to people who tell us that certain words in the language are forbidden – the person who's playing hard to get is Mathias Cormann", Jones told listeners.

[23] In June 2020, a city councillor in Taupō, New Zealand, was subject to official complaints and a code of conduct investigation after using the phrase in a council meeting.

[24] In November 2021, the vice chairman of South Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire, England, Councillor Ian Stokes, was suspended from his party and later resigned after using the phrase whilst chairing a governance and audit committee on 20 October.