Just a 'cotton picking minute'

NY Times:

As someone raised in the South I am familiar with the expression but I have never heard used in a racial slur.  Before the invention of the mechanical cotton pickers, both blacks and whites picked cotton.  The father of one of my friends in grade school farmed cotton as well as selling implements.  He allowed us to pick cotton for spending money alongside both blacks and whites who were putting it in long sacks dragged behind them.

I doubt Bossie intended the remark to be used as a slur.  He seems to be a victim of undue criticism.  Someone offended by the remark would have to be unfamiliar with its normal use.  I think even Fox News needs to get in closer touch with southern expressions that have nothing to do with race.

I suspect teh origin of the term had to do with teh way cotton pickers were paid.  They were paid by the pound of pocked cotton which gave them an incentive to do it as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible.  This is the opposite of slavery where all in incentives were negative. 

Since the invention of the mechanical pickers, I think the expression has been replaced by "a New York minute."

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