Please add this word to the banned words list
I think it already is, unofficially
I had a comment removed for using the word in reference to a member of an alphabet agency as it is also an (antiquated) racial slur
Is it still a slur? I think the only time I’ve ever heard it used to refer to a black person was in that dumbass Clint Eastwood movie about the racist guy who loves his car and uses his immigrant neighbors for free labor. I use it to refer to feds, but I’ll stop if it offends people.
This is silly. Can anyone point me to anyone who could be hurt by “spook”?
Like what is this supposed to address? In case some invader pulls out old timey slurs no user has ever heard that are about as impactful as using slurs from olde english?
Yup, completely agree. I’ve already said this in a previous debate about this issue, but if the word “spook” is banned, we pretty much shouldn’t be allowed to use any of the words on this list.
What was that red fruit called again? What kind of animal is a human? Who knows, banned :1984:
Don’t know tbh, so I’ve stopped as well; I’ve only ever seen it used to refer to CIA goons and the like, never heard it used for anything else (though I think some dated literature I read used it as a slur) but it’s not really a biggie to just use something else
You think are beloved intelligence community members who put their lives on the line are g**ns? Do you really mean that? See below:
- A generally low ranking member of a gang or syndicate. Typically the recipients of street-level work. These are generally the most disposable members of a organization, built to take the fall in order to protect the higher ups in the case of illegal activities gone awry that have attracted police attention.
You think the CIA is a gang? #cancelled
- One who participates in vandalism, loitering, public displays of ignorance, outward obnoxiousness, and other non-socially acceptable practices justified by a directionless but nonetheless strong pack mentality and conformity with other similarly outlandish behaving individuals.
You think the CIA acts professionally and leaves a mess in their wake? #cancelled
- An Individual of sub-standard wit or mental competency. commonly identified by a less than reputable character, bad personality, and/or poor taste in personal style.
Don’t be ableist towards the CIA because you are a Russian bot that thinks they have less than reputable character. #cancelled
I tried to do some research because I’m fairly clueless too and what I found is that it comes from a Dutch translation of the word ‘spectre,’ hence the use of the word spooky around halloween, and was later used as a slur against black people circa WWII. Not sure about when it started to be used for spies, but my assumption is that would’ve happened either around WWII or later because intelligence agencies didn’t exist until about that time. Still not sure about the history of how it would’ve jumped from racial slur to term used for spies though so if someone could fill that piece in that would be cool.
I run a small discord for a niche game (about 200/300 members) and this has come up before from an over-eager non-American egoist who wanted to use it in daily use. It got a bit of pushback, mostly from Americans, and not in the “I think it’s a slur” way, but more directly “this makes me uncomfortable, please stop using that word” way.
IMO context is essential for language and slur use, which is why it’s not a slur to call the broad class of foods like apples and pomegranates fruits, but you absolutely can’t use that in the context of LGBTQ+ people. Calling random things that you think fit the egoist use “spooks” without guiding context makes it really easy to misinterpret it as casual (if old-timey) racism, but I would see prefacing it with CIA/FBI as giving it appropriate context to make it clear it’s not intended in a hateful way. That said I would rather just avoid the word and use a handy synonym like goon, ghoul or whatever.
You just committed misogyny by calling women “girlbosses” and men as just men. You need to be banned.
before i heard it referred to as cia agents, i always heard the term used in a racist manner. i don’t think that it’s unreasonable that it’s banned, because that was my initial understanding of the term. we can come up with some other shit to call these mother fuckers, this shouldn’t be a struggle session.
Petition to begin calling my FBI handler a “spunk”
