I have heard "gook" goes back to the end of WWII but it is so associated with the Vietnam War, but I want something a mud marine would have used in Korea.
Any experts?
Any experts?
Korean War, Marines slur for the communist forces
- Thread starter wrombola
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My father-in-law was in the army in Korea during the war, and he just uses Gook (and trust me, you're not going to find anyone with more...let's say knowledge...of racial slurs than that man).
Interesting aside: "Gook" is actually derived from the word "Hangook", which is the name for Korea in Korean. So not a particularly racist word in itself, though it certainly took on that connotation.
Interesting aside: "Gook" is actually derived from the word "Hangook", which is the name for Korea in Korean. So not a particularly racist word in itself, though it certainly took on that connotation.
I wish I could find something else since gook is so associated with all those Vietnam movies. I might just say Reds or Commies.
I think this list might beat even cameron's dad.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=korean racial slur
Konk might work for your purposes, it's derived from the Japanese name for Korea.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=korean racial slur
Konk might work for your purposes, it's derived from the Japanese name for Korea.
In this case, we can trace the etymology of this particular racial slur to the Korean War, although it's something of a mystery as to why its use persisted into the Vietnam War? It's not hard to see how the proper name of a foreign country could easily be transliterated and misunderstood, but it's hard to understand why a racial slur would be applied in a far different scenario?
Sorry, but American soldiers are not exactly the brightest lot. Some of the soldiers who went with the first wave to Vietnam probably served in Korea so it would only be natural for them to use the same slur on a similar looking people.
Ray H
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As an Army Vet, I would like to say that I knew many soldiers that would put the brightest among us to shame. People join the military for many reasons, not just because they couldn't do anything else. When I went in, I had offers of partial scholarships from a couple of universities along with a 3.84 GPA out of 4.0 in High school.
That said, sure there are plenty of soldiers with average or below average intelligence. But, the military is a very good cross-section of our population, which includes very intelligent to not so intelligent. But, making racist remarks or using defamatory words to describe someone is less based on intelligence and more based on upbringing.
As far as war is concerned, a soldier learns to hate their enemy. It makes killing your fellow human being easier. By calling them derogatory names, it dehumanizes the enemy. Again, making it easier to kill them. So, until you've served your country and put your life on the line, I would refrain from suggesting that our soldiers are less than intelligent.
Sweet quote, pal. Does playing the role of derogatory jerk-off come naturally to you, or do you have to work at it?
It's not a mystery - that's the way language works.
Imagine the exact same scenario with a different example:
As a comparison:
* 'Toilet' took 200 years to change in usage from being a lady's dressing table to be a box you crap in.
* 'Gook' took 30 years to change in usage from being an offensive term for an enemy of Asian origin .. to being an offensive term for an enemy of slightly different Asian origin.
It certainly isn't a curious mystery !
Mac
(BTW - this point might be moot, because there's some wiki evidence that the term 'gook' was also used by the Marines to indicate the Filipinos in 1912, and the Haitians in 1920)