What does the word spooks mean to you?

I watched an interesting film at the weekend called The Human Stain, starring Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman and Wentworth Miller which is about a college professor who is accused of racism. Hopkins plays the older version of the professor (complete with Welsh accent) who notices two of his students never seem to attend his classes so he asks if they are real people or “spooks”. Next thing you know, the two absent students have reported him for making racist comments.

I was a tad confused by the whole thing until they explained “spooks” was a racist slur and of course the absent students were African American - something the professor didn’t know since they had never been to his class. However, the whole absurdity surrounded the meaning of the word “spooks” itself as the professor was simply enquiring whether his students were real or “ghosts”.

It all just seemed so crazy to me because I had never heard of “spooks” being used in that manner before and it just goes to show how words can be interpreted differently in other countries. To me the word refers, first and foremost, to ghosts or otherworldly spirits. Secondly, it is a slang word for spies.

In the movie, the racial slur appeared in the dictionary so I pulled my dusty copy of the Oxford dictionary of the shelf to check for myself. No racial slurs are mentioned so it is obviously not used as a racial insult in this country which is just as well since we have a television programme with that very name. It’s about espionage. Hmmm…. Would it have to be renamed if it aired in the US?

Now, I’m wondering how many other words I’ve used that may or may not have a racial overtone in different parts of the world?