Tar Baby

OK. There is historical justification to call the phrase "tar baby" (defined as a sticky situation) racist, as it was apparently used as a racial epithet some decades ago. But let's be honest, most people, don't know that it ever was derrogatory. They just remember the children's story.

Well, at least it isn't as bad as when people get slammed for using the word "niggardly".

I will admit however that in modern times, so many black people have gotten up in arms because of this specific vocabulary misunderstanding, that now people use 'niggardly' almost as a vocabulary test for black people... fishing for a reaction... so maybe it's become a racist word specifically because it isn't racist. Hmm?

"Excuse me Mr. Black Man? Are you smart enough not to get angry if I say 'niggardly'? OK. Just checking."

Perhaps it's the same thing for 'tar baby'? Perhaps people (like Tony Snow and Mitt Romney, not quite at the forefront of the war against racism) throw it out there because they can clutch their pearls and say, "Racist? Tar baby? My goodness! I had no idea!" Or maybe they really didn't know. Maybe they did. You can't prove it either way, I suppose.

My advice to black people would be — instead of shouting "racist" at Governor Romney — would be just a polite "please say that in a different way next time as we happen to be aware of a definition for that phrase other than the one that you were thinking of which we don't particularly care for, thank you," and leave it at that.