Seven deadly synonyms

There's an interesting report making the rounds about how American Southerners have begun to use the word 'Canadians' as a synonym for 'black people', a la 'The food's great at that restaurant, but it's always full of Canadians.' It's a way of sounding benign during conversations in public, but it gets across your meaning to people who know what you're talking about. Check this dude out:

Earlier this month, an e-mail that had been circulating since 2003, written by a Houston assistant district attorney Mike Trent, resurfaced. The e-mail was short, only about 100 words, and was sent to the entire office. It started out by praising a junior prosecutor for a job well done. Then the message continued:"He overcame a subversively good defense by Matt Hennessey that had some Canadians on the jury feeling sorry for the defendant and forced them to do the right thing."

I was reminded of this when my new officemate reminded me today to keep the door locked when we're both out of the office: "I've got my laptop in here, and there are a lot of foreigners in the building," he said. Considering that he was speaking to a guilty-as-charged foreigner, he clearly didn't mean just anyone who's not from Denmark.

Whatever, I'm used to this shit by now. I just want to thank this news story for putting the words 'Canadians' and 'black people' into the same paragraph. I think that's the first time that's ever happened.