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Hmm, y'know, until this thread I had never heard the word "spook" as a term for a black person. Anyone know the etymology? If anything, if you'd told me it was
by hugh3 16y ago
Hmm, y'know, until this thread I had never heard the word "spook" as a term for a black person. Anyone know the etymology?
If anything, if you'd told me it was a racial slur I would have assumed it was for white people, since spooks are ghosts and ghosts are popularly imagined as being white.
- pyre 16y agoI assume because 'black people are harder to spot at night time.' {update} Confirmed: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spook http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spook > The derogatory racial sense of "black person" is > attested from 1940s, perhaps from notion of dark > skin being difficult to see at night. Interestingly enough: > Black pilots trained at Tuskegee Institute during > World War II called themselves the Spookwaffe.
- stcredzero 16y agoIIRC, Two of those Tuskegee pilots were among the very few Allied pilots to down Nazi jet fighters. From hearing their own accounts on Dogfights, the Tuskegee pilots were exceptionally good at spotting, taking, and hitting opportunistic shots. They were flying early versions of the P-51 Mustang. Downing jet fighters that totally outclass your prop plane because you can recognize an opportunity and take it -- I find that awesome!