North Dakota’s Everyday Phrases That Happen To Be Racist

Do you ever wonder where certain phrases we use come from? If not, maybe you should.

There are things we say every single day in North Dakota that have racist origins. If you’re wondering which ones, I will lay it out for you.

Warning: some of these explanations/histories are disturbing. This content is most suitable for adults. All the information has been fact-checked and sourced for accuracy.

Prepare Yourself For Something Awful

The following phrases and words were originally racist, and as innocent as they may seem now, just know, they have pretty dark backgrounds. Get ready to go down the rabbit hole with me.

Wow

Are you as stunned as I am learning this? Is your jaw on the floor like mine? Were any of these particularly surprising to you? -- Picnic was shocking for me.

Keep in mind, those are just 12 phrases... I'm sure there are many others that have racist and/or inappropriate backgrounds; those are some of the most widely-used and popular ones I stumbled upon.

Looking up these backstories was a jolting reminder that North American history had some really dark and despicable moments. That said, I'm glad we are reminding ourselves of these things, so we can make a better future.

Changing The Way we Speak

Now that we know some of the racist undertones and origins of these words and phrases, we can and should make a conscious decision to eliminate them from our vocabulary.

Thank you for reading. Pass this along & TTFN!