 In the United States, some of these scandalous legends have had to do with racism and slavery; common words such as "picnic", "buck", and "crowbar" have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices.The "discovery" of these alleged etymologies is often believed by those who circulate them to draw attention to racist attitudes embedded in ordinary discourse.On one occasion, the use of the word "niggardly" led to the resignation of a US public official because it sounded similar to the unrelated word "nigger".