I had a post removed today for using the word "spook" in reference to government agents, a common usage that I see around the site, because it is a racial slur, although ive never seen it used with that intent (not that it matters), and it only gets removed maybe 10% of the time. In order to be consistent and not offend any comrades I would propose adding it to the word filter so its removal will be uniform and not open to mod interpretation.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    8 months ago

    So is it actually used?

    Like I'm dead serious when I say does anyone have examples of actual usage? I have never seen anyone use it, not in fictional media/drama, not online, not anywhere.

    I mean this in entirely good faith. I am trying to properly understand and build the basis of how I would have this conversation with someone who is as oblivious to this as me. My assumption here is that this must be a regionally specific american thing or something hence my complete and total obliviousness to it.

    I think the bigger issue I will have with this is that it's going to be almost impossible for me to convince anyone in the UK to stop using it. It's definitely not used as a slur here and there was a very popular UK drama show called "Spooks".

    • NewAcctWhoDis [any]
      ·
      8 months ago

      Once a cousin of mine used it meaning a CIA agent, and another cousin said "you mean a black person?"

      That's my only experience with it off the top off my head (but I'm white)

    • Findom_DeLuise [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      8 months ago

      For some reason I vaguely remember it being used in the first Back to the Future when Biff's gang encounters the band playing the school dance, because of course Biff would be a racist on top of everything else.

      I'll see if I can find the timestamp and edit once I can confirm/deny.

      Edit 1: OK, yup, found the quote on IMDB while waiting for the damn movie to buffer [CW: old-timey racism]:
      https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/quotes/?item=qt0416348&ref_=ext_shr_lnk

      Edit 2: Timestamp is around 1:21:00, when Biff's henchmen are throwing Marty in the trunk of the car.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        8 months ago

        Edit 2: Timestamp is around 1:21:00, when Biff's henchmen are throwing Marty in the trunk of the car.

        Would be genuinely useful to find a clip of that online, or get it clipped and posted on youtube with a title like the gran torino one. Entertainment media including it is the easiest example for libs. It'll be popular with racists but it'll also be valuable for libs.