Slang dictionary
moon crickets
[moon krik-its]
What does moon crickets mean?
Content warning: The following article contains offensive, racist language, included to document the real-world use of this term.
Though it may sound fanciful and innocent, this term is absolutely not.
Moon crickets听is a racial slur against Black people.
Where does moon crickets come from?
The exact origin of听moon crickets听is obscure. One theory听suggests it begins with US slaves, who sang as a pastime鈥�an act of community and resistance鈥�at night after their labor. Crickets are known to chirp in the evening, when the moon is out.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, however, only cites the term in the 1990s in prison slang.
In 2015, a basketball coach in Maine settled a lawsuit against him after he called two Black players moon crickets. In 2017, the Facebook account of an Oklahoma police officer was allegedly hacked with racist posts, featuring the slur moon crickets,听against NFL players protesting police brutality.
The term is used solely in the US, and primarily in southeastern states like Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. There’s unfortunately a cafe in Florida called MoonCricket Grille which was founded in 1995. Their website states they spent months in search of a name that was inviting and whimsical, claiming MoonCricket conveyed the message of a “fun hoppin’ place.”
Yelp
Examples of moon crickets
Who uses moon crickets?
While it听occasionally appears in more innocuous contexts, such as the unfortunately named Moon Crickets Grille in Florida that thought the choice was whimsical, moon crickets is an extremely offensive racial slur.
Some Black people, however, use moon crickets听to mock fellow Black people, using it in an irritated or condescending manner, implying they are stupid.
What y'all moon crickets on?
— Brax 馃挵 (@CashBraxton)
The tone can also be playful, perhaps inspired by a perception that some Black people find the slur, while offensive, to also be ridiculous.
yoo lmaoo im crying white people really call black people moon crickets im crying right noowwwwwwwwwwww
— OG馃殾馃悕 (@ALMIGHTYYYYY_)
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of moon crickets like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of moon crickets that will help our users expand their word mastery.