W

[classic33]

Recent BBC experts have informed us that the origin of the word 'picnic' was 'to pick a n*gg*r for lynching' and that 'nitty gritty' originally referred to the detritus left in the bottom of slave ships. Both claims were completely baseless but were given credibility by being broadcast on a national TV network.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1988776.stm

 

[Chris S]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1988776.stm

... the view that "nitty-gritty" has slave connotations "may belong in the same line of folklore which holds that a picnic was a slave lynching party," writes lexicographer Michael Quinion in his World Wide Words website. "Its origins are elusive," writes Mr Quinion, but it is "inconceivable that it should have been around since slave-ship days without somebody writing it down [until the mid-20th Century]."

At least they've tried to put the record straight. It makes me wonder how these so called experts get selected in the first place.