True story. My dad had a dear friend and business associate who was (and still is) perfectly British and as decent and sweet an oldster as you can imagine. On a conference call about an upcoming business meeting my dad’s friend used the old (and deservedly taboo) phrase “We may have a n***** in the woodpile here…”

Dead silence erupted from everybody else except my dad’s friend who went on to explain how some billing issue or whatnot wouldn’t work. Afterwards, dad had to explain that this phrase had been interred to the dustbin of history in the United States and probably in Britain too. He replied with an “Oh dear…” and apologized to all concerned.