Spook slur

This was not a safety recall; rather, it was what one might call a PR recall. The toy, pictured here, contains little black figurines with orange parachutes packaged under the spook slur "Spook Drop Parachuters.

As temperatures cool down and scary Halloween decor goes up, it seems fitting to call October "spooky" season. However, hurtful connotations associated with the word raise questions of etiquette. During the season of murder mysteries and haunted hayrides, is it insensitive to say that you were spooked? According to NPR, spook comes from the Dutch word for apparition, or specter. The noun was first used in English around the turn of the nineteenth century. From there, the word lived a harmless life, but in World War II, white American soldiers started referring to their Black counterparts as "spooks," Newsweek reports.

Spook slur

Slang : Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. Authorities in Moscow claim to have arrested an American spook wearing wigs and carrying an incriminating letter. A third test will, therefore, further spook nervous allies and create a new sense of vulnerability among Americans. More than with the " spook ," however, was the public mind agitated by other rumors which touched upon "south meadow. A speck is a minute spot, and among the ancients a speck or dot within a circle was the symbol of the central spook or Spectre. I think there is more in this spook story than Colonel McClure knows of, or, at least, will admit. Southern African slang any pale or colourless alcoholic spirit: spook and diesel. An Americanism first recorded in —; from Dutch; cognate with German Spuk. When referring to a black person, the term spook dates back to the s. It is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as highly insulting. Some sources say that black pilots reclaimed this derogatory nickname as a self-referential term of pride. How to use spook in a sentence And he just so happens to be the hardest-working spook on the planet. American Spy Nabbed in Russia? Archaic England Harold Bayley. The Ghost Breaker Charles Goddard.

Archived from the original on 11 November

With all the skeletons, witch hats and spider webs decorating homes and stores across the nation during Halloween—not to mention the plethora of horror movies widely available during the month of October—it seems fitting to call it "spooky" season. However, there are connotations associated with the word "spooky" that are much more horrifying than the ghosts to which the term usually refers. According to Merriam-Webster , the word "spooky" is defined as, "relating to, resembling or suggesting spooks. Originally, pilots of the Tuskegee Institute—derived of the first Black military aviators in the U. Army Air Corps—were called the "Spookwaffe"—a play on the German term "waffe," which means weapon or gun. When airmen returned from their posts with the nickname, white Americans caught wind of the name and began linking the term "spook" to blackness, thus resulting in the word transitioning into a racial slur and its derogatory use. Author Sam Greenlee did attempt to revive the word's initial definition with his book The Spook Who Sat By the Door, which was later turned into a feature film in

This was not a safety recall; rather, it was what one might call a PR recall. The toy, pictured here, contains little black figurines with orange parachutes packaged under the name "Spook Drop Parachuters. The term "spook" is an ethnic slur for African Americans, albeit one that was less widely used compared to decades past. Yet, for many shoppers of Target stores, the term remains hurtful and incendiary. Naturally, the outcry was swift, and an apology from Target quickly followed. The apology followed a fairly predictable script: We did not mean to offend, we apologize if anybody was offended by this toy.

Spook slur

As temperatures cool down and scary Halloween decor goes up, it seems fitting to call October "spooky" season. However, hurtful connotations associated with the word raise questions of etiquette. During the season of murder mysteries and haunted hayrides, is it insensitive to say that you were spooked? According to NPR, spook comes from the Dutch word for apparition, or specter. The noun was first used in English around the turn of the nineteenth century.

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The Dictionary of New Zealand English. Pastel is Portuguese for any pastry and so is used for wonton in Brazil. Dago , Dego. Eric Trump defends his dad, but Native Americans say otherwise". Food Metaphors in the Conceptualization of Ethnic Groups". Encarta World English Dictionary. Friedland London: J. Likely derived from a Tasmanian Aboriginal language. University of Manitoba. Also used as a disparaging term for a North Vietnamese soldier or guerrilla in the Vietnam War. Leiden; Boston: Brill. Archived from the original PDF on 21 November

OED finds "No certain cognates.

Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 18 April — via YouTube. Johannesburg: Galago Publishing. It was used in the gold rush and railway-construction eras in western United States when discrimination against the Chinese was common. It is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as highly insulting. US and Canadian a spy. Unskilled Asian laborer originally used in the 19th century for Chinese railroad laborers. Media Blitar by Pikiran Rakyat. Archived from the original on 25 January Korean : Black brother. For example, see the 9th Scottish Division. Retrieved 17 April