# Spabook? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112 "2003-03-04T23:19:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/1 "2003-03-04T23:19:51Z")
[What is the meaning of “spabook”](http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/04/leisure.jackson.reut/index.html), or is it a typo? If it’s a derogatory term, I apologize for using it, but Googling returns squat. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/2 "2003-03-04T23:31:32Z")
Considering the source, I’d be inclined to doubt it’s a word at all. FWIW, [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) found nothing. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/3 "2003-03-05T00:28:02Z")
Michael Jackson single-handledly invents a new racial slur. Way to go, Jacko. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/4 "2003-03-05T00:37:12Z")
Good. It’s not just me who said “huh?” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/5 "2003-03-05T04:03:02Z")
Spa Fon ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/6 "2003-03-05T04:03:09Z")
I looked at it and figured it was “spook” with a “b” in the middle. Like MJ’d been watching old ZOOM reruns and made it up out of ubby-dubby. From [this page](http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/back.issues/recent.single.issues/V22_%23227): > [@](#): > > Speak Ubby-Dubby to the telemarketers! > > I first became aware of this ‘language’ watching the kid’s TV show > “ZOOM” back in the 70’s; In Ubby Dubby, each vowel is preceded by > “ubb”: > > Hubbere ubbis subbome Ubbubbubby Dubbubbubby. > > So ‘hello’ becomes ‘hubellubo’ ; Uband nubow thubis; -AmbushBug ---
**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:** [March 5, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/7 "2003-03-05T04:41:59Z")
Or maybe he was imitating Cosby Kid Mush-Mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/8 "2003-03-05T05:15:43Z")
[I was confused about this myself.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167305) You know, I bet it is Ubby-Dubby! (If it had been spelled “spubooks”, I would have seen it earlier.) That would be just like Michael Jackson, wouldn’t it, to take a fun kids’ language and profane it by using it to make racial slurs! That’s really dirty. (He wouldn’t have to be watching old reruns, either. They are making new ZOOM shows now. It’s one of my daughter’s favorites.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/9 "2003-03-06T11:23:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Spa Fon \*\* Squa Tront! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/10 "2003-03-10T02:23:18Z")
Spa-Peggy and meatballs! ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/11 "2003-03-10T15:29:17Z")
There’s now [126 results for “Spabooks”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=spabooks) and from the first 30 I read no one knows WTF he’s talking about. I’ve never seen _Zoom_ but from what I’ve heard & seen of his tastes, that sounds about right. And I prefer Apple Brown Peggy. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/12 "2003-03-10T16:24:30Z")
Considering how he spelled out F U C K (in the interview) rather than saying it, then perhaps as has been suggested above, he really was just saying a “bad word” in a childish way. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/13 "2003-03-10T19:34:17Z")
Is it maybe an elaboration of “spook”? I didn’t see the interview, so I don’t know how he pronounced it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/14 "2003-03-10T20:31:12Z")
That’s what I think. “Spook” in Ubby-Dubby. “Spubook” (Which the magazine mispelt as “spabook”.) If it were Pig Latin, it would be “ook-spay”. A childish way to mask a racist insult. Grow up, MJ. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spabook/159112/15 "2003-03-11T15:30:06Z")
After reading the above-linked article, I’ve changed my bet from the first week of June 2004 to the third week of September 2003. ## Peace. Take a chance in the office pool: When will Jacko have the public psychotic meltdown incident which will institutionalize him?