'Look at that spook run!'

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

The unfortunate death of Carroll O'Connor caused TVLand to bump their "Alfred Hitchcock" marathon for an "All in the Family" marathon instead this past weekend. So, I get up to change my tape, and what do I see, not a B&W chiller, but Archie and Meathead watching a football game, during one point of which, Arch exclaims the title line.

Having lived all my life in the South, I've never (not even once) heard "spook" used as a racial slur, where we had/have our own "colorful" share of slurs. My only exposure to "spook" was from TV and movies.

Any ideas of the derivation for this term (as a racial slur)?

(Arch was clearly ahead of his time. It would be over ten years before Howard Cosell's analysis of Alvin Garrett's abilities(using slightly different wording) was broadcast for all to hear.)

[justinh]

we used spook all the time when I was growing up. blacks and whites used it to slur each other. thats why its my favorite. its just the definition of a slur.(meaniless as an adjective, used to demonstrate an attitude). whites used it to describe blacks as ghost,gobblins,.... Blacks used to it to describe whites as ghost,gobblins,...

[yabob]

Incidently, the Howard Cosell incident involved him referring to Alvin Garrett as a "little monkey", and I'm inclined not to view the incident as intentionally racist. You can accuse Cosell of a lot of things, such as being a pompous ass, but I don't think that incident rated any more than a certain unintended insensitivity in his choice of terminology.

And after all, Cosell was hired as a "color commentator" ...

(Sorry, my ability to restrain myself in the vicinity of bad puns, even ones of questionable taste, is sorely lacking)

"All in the Family" was, of course, referring to an earlier incident involving a sportscaster who said "look at that nigger run" on the air. Note - I didn't typographically bleep my use of an objectionable term in that last sentence because it's silly to do so - we all know what goes in the slot and might as well type it when using it in such
acceptable contexts as quoting something like that.