Slang phrase nigger inside the woodpile "a concealed motive or unidentified element impacting a circumstance in an adverse way" [OED 1989] is attested by 1800; Thornton's "American Glossary" (1912) defines it as "A mode of accounting for your disappearance of fuel," consequently "an unsolved thriller.They applied samurai swords, shurikens, and vari