Wait, is “spooky” a slur?
First off, let’s all take a deep breath.
I’m not coming to cancel you for your Instagram photo dump or for describing your favorite scary movies. X (formerly known as Twitter) might, but that’s not what I’m here to do. There are many more problematic things to do this Halloween, namely Black face and offensive costumes. Those deserve judgment.
TL;DR: The word spooky was used as a slur during and after World War II against Black people. However, using the word with the eerie/scary connotation that we use today predated its derogatory usage.
Still, every year around Halloween, I see the odd, controversial tweet calling out people for using the word “spooky.” This particular tweet (now deleted) from @jenisonline states, “Don’t use the word Sp**k or Sp**ky to describe your themed celebrations, it’s a slur. The end. No argument.”
That said, let’s dive deeper—what’s the etymology of the word spooky?
Merriam-Webster defines spooky as “strange, unsettling, or frightening in a way that suggests the supernatural,” with common synonyms including eerie and uncanny. So, if this is what spooky means, why are people on Twitter getting so bent out of shape about it?
Well, when you look into the noun “spook” (inarguably the root of “spooky”), Dictionary.com defines it as 1) a ghost, specter, 2) a ghostwriter, and 3) an eccentric person.
The fourth definition, which is deemed “extremely disparaging and offensive,” reads “a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.” It’s the first dictionary source I could find that mentions any racial connotations of the word. It even goes so far as to provide a sensitivity note for the word, stating:
“When referring to a black person, the term spook dates back to the 1940s. It is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as highly insulting. Black pilots who trained at Tuskegee Institute during World War II were called the Spookwaffe. Some sources say that black pilots reclaimed this derogatory nickname as a self-referential term of pride.”
So there you have it. Spooky is racist! Or rather…the term spook has historically derogatory use cases. The word “spook,” originating in the early 19th century, took a divergent route to be slang for “spy,” but it’s unclear if that connotation ever became ubiquitous in the English language.
When you search on Google, results from Oxford Languages will show you that the word has been used primarily within the past 50 years. (A few years ago, “spoopy” became a new Halloween classic word, but that’s neither here nor there.)
But what does this mean for your Halloween photo dump on Instagram? What can we gather from this word’s etymology? Namely, the fact that a word synonymous with terror and ghosts came to be used to describe Black people. Many words in English have been twisted to be used against marginalized groups. In contrast, many other words were used initially against marginalized groups and then transformed into broader use cases.
Are you familiar with the terms “uppity” or “mammy?” How about “cakewalk” and “picnic,” words that many argue to have come directly from slavery? How does our knowledge of the origins of these words affect our usage? Mammy and uppity are terms whose original meanings have been revealed to us, generations later and mostly removed from the popular lexicon. However, cakewalk and picnic have similarly racist origins, but the vast majority of us still use these terms.
How does “spook” and “spooky” compare? Because its original use case is the seemingly non-offensive term that we use today, does that erase its racist usage back in World War II? Should we still use the term at all?
I’m personally unsure what to make of that question. I can’t make decisions based on the words others use—really, the most I can do is be informed and inform others. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that racism and subjugation are deeply ingrained in our lives and our language. The most we can do is recognize and understand the history of such words and reflect.