1979: Nigger In A Woodpile
July 5, 2025
By AHNZ
One day it’s an idiom and next minute it’s Hate Speech and you’re a bug on the windshield of Cancel Culture.
“..the first bill that was before statutes revision when I was changed to that committee was matrimonial property and I became a bit of a nigger in a woodpile on that one.” – Marilyn Waring (1979)
Since the Woke Era (2016-) many people have lost their jobs or been censored for employing the same idiom that Waring did while a Member of Parliament. For her own day she was very Politically Correct and aware of terminology and wasn’t doing anything wrong. Nothing objective has changed just the perceptions of the day. However, it is amusing to hear Marilyn Waring caught in an anachronism given her high status among the Woke in the 2020s.
Perhaps in a future era our ‘Elephant in the room’ will become offensive because it’s abusive toward pachyderms?
Similar to Paul Goldsmith in 2020 using the line ‘Stick to your knitting’ which upset Jacinda Ardern who perceived it as sexist.
“Goldsmith has since conceded it was not the best choice of words because younger people, including his own children, did not understand the metaphor.” – Paul Goldsmith doubts PM Jacinda Ardern upset by ‘stick to knitting’ jibe: ‘she’s pretty tough’, NZ Herald (2020)“In 2018, it was revealed that Irish race-car driver and commentator Derek Daly had used the phrase in a radio interview in May 1983….Once it was revealed, Daly lost his commentator job. His son, who had not been born at the time the comments were made, also lost his sponsor for the weekend.” – Wiki
“But I’m also going to be the n….. in the wood pile, sorry the elephant in the room because I stood on the platform six years ago in regards to debt reduction in this council.” – John Boddy. Ref. Conduct complaint follows racial slur metaphor, Stuff (2020)
Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! (Or is that, to a Millennial, some kind of promotion for genetic engineering?)—
Ref. 78:34, The Beehive Brigade, Checkpoint, RNZ (1979,) NZ Sound and Vision
Image ref. Encounter – Take a Girl like You (1976,) NZ on Screen
2 thoughts on "1979: Nigger In A Woodpile"
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I was censored and lost a forthcoming pay rise for using a saying to a Filipino who appeared not to understand the reference, but due to cultural pussiness, didn’t ask me what I meant. He instead asked his boss who, being Aussie, and female, started a grievance on his behalf.
The saying? “Well blow me” as in “down with a feather”. An expression of great surprise.
Not a literal request for him to perform fallacious.
Bosses didn’t want to give me a pay rise, so took it too far. PSA Union wouldn’t touch it.
Outrageous. Same thing. Sorry about that, chief.
In a Victimhood Culture setting we don’t solve our problems or seek understanding at a personal level we call in an HR boss. So, we live and work in a fascistic bubble where Wrong Think and Wrong Speak (or just being relaxed and yourself) can get you done in. The only way to survive is to dehumanise yourself from friendly contact because every human connection is a potential trap. That’s why Mike Pence wouldn’t be alone in a room with a woman and why Keanu Reeves’ holds his arms out in every photo.
Three choices:
1. Give up and quit society until the Victimhood phase runs its course.
2. Participate by being hypervigilant and drinking your own cortisol the entire time. Slave Culture.
3. Find or create your own non-Woke space.