Do you know the phrase “canary in the coal mine”? Have you heard it, and do you know what it means? Apparently, people in Michigan do not know this phrase. Or at least, many people in my circle in Michigan.
I am not here to judge them. Because while I did know it was a phrase, I had completely invented an alternative meaning for it. Here’s what I thought it meant:
A bright yellow canary is flying through a coal mine and gets soot all over it. But you can still see it because it’s bright yellow. Therefore, the phrase means that something is obvious.
This is completely wrong.
But I also knew the phrase was often used to suggest that something was going to fail or fall apart. So I interpreted it as: “The fact that this is going to fail is so obvious that it’s like a canary in a coal mine. It has soot all over it, but it’s still bright yellow, so you can clearly see it.”
LOL.
Here’s the actual context: In the early 20th century, after miners tragically died from carbon monoxide exposure, coal miners began bringing caged canaries into mines with them. The birds are highly sensitive to toxic gases, so if a canary became sick or died (honestly, so sad) miners knew they needed to get out immediately. So a “canary in the coal mine” is actually an early warning sign that something dangerous is about to happen.
I thought my alternative interpretation was funny, so I shared it with a few people at work. And it turns out that 84% of our staff team did not think they had ever heard the phrase before. These are brilliant, well-read people.
I think this must be a Michigan thing.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 