# Origin of "moon cricket" as a racial slur? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 31, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188 "2025-12-31T02:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/1 "2025-12-31T02:57:42Z")
I can find no reference to it preceding the 2009 classic [Black Dynamite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbKV4FPxdec), relevant part starts at about 1:30, where Mr. Dynamite is called thus by Pat Nixon. I can find references to the term, but it seems to refer to a Texas-based band 10 or more years earlier with no racial overtones. So did this movie coin the term as a one-off slur? I’d never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/2 "2025-12-31T03:32:34Z")
“As we all know, Asclepius is the son of Apollo.” I honestly can’t find a reliable source telling me moon cricket is a slur. As much as I love Black Dynamite, I just don’t consider it a reliable source. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/3 "2025-12-31T03:40:41Z")
I’ve never even _heard_ of ‘moon cricket’. Toward what group is it supposedly a racial epithet, and why? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/4 "2025-12-31T04:02:23Z")
Black people. I think I read it in an old book. Something like Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I’ve read a bunch of Civil War diary’s. I assume it is at least antebellum. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/5 "2025-12-31T08:20:55Z")
> **[moon crickets | Slang | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/culture/slang/moon-crickets)** > > Content warning: The following article contains offensive, racist language, included to document the real-world use of this term. Though it may sound fanciful and innocent, this term is absolutely not. Moon crickets is a racial slur against Black... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/6 "2025-12-31T13:46:32Z")
Thanks, everyone, looks like my suspicions (at least so far) are confirmed, that it’s a specious/factitious slur originating from the movie, but that was enough to give it some level of currency. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/7 "2025-12-31T14:43:44Z")
_Black Dynamite_ was released on October 16th, 2009. This page was posted on January 29th 2009. > **[True Meaning of Mooncricket. — Mooncricket Films](https://www.mooncricketfilms.com/my-blogs/true-meaning-of-mooncricket)** > > THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2009 Why I call myself Mooncricket In the history it is said mooncricket was a name toward blacks in the slave days. Because as run away slaves they used the moonlight to guide them through the night for their freedom. ... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/8 "2025-12-31T14:49:55Z")
^^And??? So the film didn’t create it, but so far still not one historical citation attesting to it. I did find a race horse named “Moon Cricket” from the late 1970s, but nothing about slaves. So still waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/9 "2025-12-31T14:54:51Z")
I have to admit I’m not sure what you are waiting for? Here was your question > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > So did this movie coin the term as a one-off slur? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/10 "2025-12-31T15:09:55Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > I have to admit I’m not sure what you are waiting for? Yeah, it seems like he isn’t interested in facts that disprove his conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/11 "2025-12-31T15:13:04Z")
Oh, heavens, no. I accept that it was not coined from the movie. What I have yet to accept is that there’s any historic corroboration on it. But further, I also have to accept that that was not the question in the OP, which was indeed factually answered, so that ancillary question can just wither on the vine. Regards, ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/12 "2025-12-31T15:17:14Z")
A book published in 2008. > **[The construction and rearticulation of race in a post-racial America :...](https://archive.org/details/constructionrear0000metz/page/110/mode/1up?q=mooncricket)** > > x, 170 p. ; 23 cm ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/13 "2025-12-31T15:24:23Z")
Uh, thanks. If a 2008 comment with no attribution meets a standard for historic corroboration for a term supposedly used in the 1800s. . . that sets a rather low bar. But, again, a first source request wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the OP, so that can wait another day, unless some intrepid researcher feels like going down that rabbit hole. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/14 "2025-12-31T15:26:04Z")
I don’t know how you expect other people to keep searching for you when you are choosing to be so openly rude to everyone who tries. (But I already had a 1994 mention…) > **[The thesaurus of slang : Lewin, Esther : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming...](https://archive.org/details/thesaurusofslang0000lewi_i2z9/mode/1up?q=%22moon+cricket%22)** > > viii, 456 p. ; 29 cm ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/15 "2025-12-31T15:29:16Z")
It also apparently gets a mention in a 1992 book on prison slang. > **[Prison Slang by Bentley William K James M Corbett - AbeBooks](https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/prison-slang/author/bentley-william-k-james-m-corbett/)** > > Prison Slang: Words and Expressions Depicting Life Behind Bars by Bentley, William K.,Corbett, James M. and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. Page 55 according to > **[moon, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang](https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/qu27wla#crlgknq)** > > 1. the moon’s circularity. That term predates the movie mentioned in the OP and the Internet. Absence on the Internet does not mean something never existed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/16 "2025-12-31T15:31:14Z")
1. > **[Chambers slang dictionary : Green, Jonathon, 1948- : Free Download, Borrow,...](https://archive.org/details/chambersslangdic0000gree/mode/1up?q=%22moon+cricket%22)** > > xxxiii, 1477 pages ; 25 cm (Edit, that’s 2008. 1948 is the DOB of the writer.) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/17 "2025-12-31T15:34:58Z")
And it attests it as a 20th century, not 19th century, coinage, so that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/18 "2025-12-31T15:42:10Z")
Why 19th Century? Are you just setting arbitrary goal posts now? We have cites going back 15 years before that film came out. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/19 "2025-12-31T15:49:59Z")
Sorry, I’ve inferred more than I should, but here goes: Some of the online definitions say it arose from Black slaves singing at night, presumably doing plantation work, similar to crickets, and from there the origin. Since we would expect that era to have ended in the 19th century for the most part, that’s why I looking for one from that era, but it’s probably a dead end. Similar slurs like “jungle bunny” and “lawn jockey” seem to have been relatively recent (i.e. mid or so 20th century) in vintage, also, or at least noted. And again, I did not specify that additional request for further info in the OP, so that is on me. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/20 "2025-12-31T16:08:31Z")
It doesn’t appear in Google ngram at all either as one or two words. Every cite I have found says that it started as prison slang in the early 90s. Most of them give the hypothesis of the antebellum origin with no citation or evidence. I’d never heard the term before this morning. There’s a Moon Cricket Grill in Florida which was founded in the mid 90s. The owner says that they chose it because it sounded whimsical. I’d be surprised if it was intentional so the owner didn’t know of the term at the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188.md?page=2)