I just got up from conversation with a couple of older black men, that I said “well I got to go back to work and start cracking the whip.” And it occurred to me then that it was probably a really insensitive stupid thing to say.
Sadly, it hadn’t occurred to me until it’s already said.
100%. We’re all human and so many phrases are just in the vernacular.
I grew up hearing the word “gypped”. I didn’t know that’s how it was spelled (thought it was jipped.) It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized gypped -> Gypsy and extremely offensive. I’m still embarrassed that it took me that long to figure out.