# wc fields quote: what does it mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965 "2009-04-22T12:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/1 "2009-04-22T12:36:39Z")
Watched a movie last night. Mae West basically locks him out of the hotel room, to which he exclaims. “It appears an Ethiopian has raided the fuel supply!” This makes no sense to me. Any help at all in explaining the comment? Of course, I’m doing nothing but reciting quotes from the movie all day today, much to the annoyance of the wife “During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. Compelled to live on food and water… for several days.” _snerk_ “I understand the countryside abounds with wild game: flamingoes… wine wombats… Indian civets.” _giggle_ ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/2 "2009-04-22T13:06:51Z")
Mean? It has to mean something and not just be Fields doing one of his masterful riffs on the language? “Godfrey Daniels!” doesn’t mean anything, but it is such a joy to say. (He says “velocipede” is several films, but not the one where his character is seen riding one.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/3 "2009-04-22T13:22:14Z")
Years back, there was a popular but extremely racist expression (I used to see it in Agatha Christie’s novels) that people used when they sensed that something suspicious was happening: “There’s a nigger in the woodpile.” In different movies, W.C. Fields would “clean up” this expression by saying, “I sense a Dubangi in the fuel supply” or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/4 "2009-04-22T13:23:52Z")
He’s probably using “Ethiopian” as a euphemism for “negro”, if that helps any. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/5 "2009-04-22T13:31:51Z")
Hurm. I had heard that expression referring to a person’s pedigree, especially someone who has airs about their heritage. The Family Tree may be impeccable, but there’s (etc.) It may also refer to a woman having had illicit sexual relations with someone below her social class. Damn, that makes sense in context. I apologize for my earlier outburst. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/6 "2009-04-22T15:16:43Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Years back, there was a popular but extremely racist expression (I used to see it in Agatha Christie’s novels) that people used when they sensed that something suspicious was happening: “There’s a nigger in the woodpile.” > > In different movies, W.C. Fields would “clean up” this expression by saying, “I sense a Dubangi in the fuel supply” or something along those lines. This is correct. Fields used the expression a lot, in various forms that would pass the censors. Just as Godfrey Daniels is an acceptable euphemism for god damn rather than some meaningless phrase. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/7 "2009-04-22T15:53:25Z")
And the Black Pussy was just the name of a bar. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/8 "2009-04-22T16:49:19Z")
The part I don’t understand is Mae West locking a man out of her hotel room. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/9 "2009-04-22T16:51:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The part I don’t understand is Mae West locking a man out of her hotel room. Perhaps she was locking someone else _in_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/10 "2009-04-22T16:54:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The part I don’t understand is Mae West locking a man out of her hotel room. Man? It wasn’t a man. It was Fields. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/11 "2009-04-22T16:55:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The part I don’t understand is Mae West locking a man out of her hotel room. Well, it was W.C. Fields: she probably preferred younger and sexier than him. (She was 13 years younger than him, and pretty enough to be choosy about who she locked inside her bedroom). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/12 "2009-04-22T18:17:16Z")
Many years ago a much older co-worker used the expression “There’s an Ethiopian in the Lumber Yard,” which took me a second to translate. I recognizede the Fields quote as the same class of genteel-ly re-worded expression as soon as I read the OP. I suspect that the OP’s inability to do the same is mainly due to the original phrase’s falling out of favor, being greatly un-PC. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/13 "2009-04-22T19:08:24Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Damn, that makes sense in context. I apologize for my earlier outburst. BTW, “Godfrey Daniels” means “god damn” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/14 "2009-04-22T23:41:43Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > BTW, “Godfrey Daniels” means “god damn” 😉 [No, really?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11064072&postcount=6) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-quote-what-does-it-mean/493965/15 "2009-04-23T01:31:08Z")
_Nigger in the woodpile_ or _Nigger in the fence_ starts appearing in print around the 1840’s. It probably was a not uncommon expression even before that time. It meant, to most at that time, something that was out of place, unexpected, a trick, something to be considered a drawback. The use of the phrase to indicate a potential black forebearer of a white person doesn’t appear until the mid 1900’s.