# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/21 "2026-01-01T20:54:55Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 2009 classic [Black Dynamite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbKV4FPxdec) 2009 movie referred to as “classic”. /dies a little inside ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/22 "2026-01-16T16:38:23Z")
I distinctly recall a coworker that used to use that phrase for black people in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/23 "2026-01-16T20:23:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve never even _heard_ of ‘moon cricket’. Nor have I. Maybe a deep south thing? ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/24 "2026-01-16T21:07:55Z")
Naw. I couldn’t find a single press account of the term until 1977, and then it refers to a race horse. And that’s all I could find until 1987, in which a person has a “14-year-old Lincoln” named “Moon Cricket.” Then random references, none with any overt racist overtones. Then in 1990, there’s a New Orleans-based band called “The Moon Crikits” that they claimed to have made up. And as noted, when you look on Google Ngrams, all you get is. . . [crickets] ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/25 "2026-01-17T22:35:06Z")
You’re mentioning that everything you found referring to moon crickets isn’t in reference to it being an offensive term for black people when someone already gave you a cite for the term being used as such in a 1992 book, so I don’t know what point you’re trying to make. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188/26 "2026-01-17T23:06:50Z")
I meant to add the bolded part: “You’re mentioning that everything you found referring to moon crickets **before Black Dynamite** isn’t in reference to it being an offensive term for black people when someone already gave you a cite for the term being used as such in a 1992 book, so I don’t know what point you’re trying to make.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-moon-cricket-as-a-racial-slur/1026188.md?page=1)