this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
183 points (97.4% liked)
World News
32285 readers
708 users here now
News from around the world!
Rules:
-
Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
-
No NSFW content
-
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
May be an obvious thing to everybody else, but what do you mean by spook? Where I'm from we're careful using that word.
It means the same as "spy", in my experience.
I was thinking less "spy" and more "fingermen" like in V for Vendetta but more secretive.
A spook is a CIA officer or maybe NSA (or at least some sort of spy if you're using the term more loosely).
Covert government agent. Usually FBI, CIA, or spec ops
What’s the implication/meaning where you’re from? And where is that (if you’re comfortable sharing) so we all don’t put our foot in it when travelling there?
Not OP, but in the U.S. it's an older racial slur for a black person.
Wow TIL thank you so much. I’ve literally only ever known it to mean “spy” so this is immensely valuable knowledge.
I've only ever heard it used in very rural areas and only by old people, so I'm not sure how relevant it is anymore. But, probably best to read the crowd before talking about spies or ghosts I guess.
That’s very sensible and measured advice, DickFiasco. Thank you.
(Is there a Lemmy /rimjobsteve yet?)
Anyone from the three letter national security agencies.
Yeah it’s really best to translate that as Geist
It's a slur, similar to gl**ie has a racist origin but people think calling themselves a lefty means they can't be racist so use it anyway.
...glowie? gibbie? What are you spelling