spook

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nearer to the original meaning but still an antedating:

1936  _The Training School Bulletin_ XXXIV 174 [GB: snippet, confirmed at
HathiTrust]: For many centuries people with queer minds were either made
fun of, or thought to be some kind of spook, and nobody dared to hurt them;
which of course was very silly. Sometimes...their actions were strange and
their speech mixed up.


JL

On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 8:08 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      spook
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not in OED in the sense of "an offensive or markedly unusual person;
> weirdo.'"
>
> HDAS files has 1942-1981. But the following is in a famous movie:
>
> 1953 Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, & Richard L. Breen _Niagara_ (film):
> We wait three years for a honeymoon and then find we're spending it with a
> couple of spooks!
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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