Gook

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Gook (/ˈɡuːk/ or /ˈɡʊk/) is a derogatory term for people of Asian descent.[1] Its origin is unclear, but it may have originated among U.S. Marines during the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) and Korean War.[2][3] Historically, U.S. military personnel used the word to refer to non-Americans of various races.[4] The earliest published example is dated 1920 and notes that U.S. Marines then in Haiti used the term to refer to Haitians.[5] It acquired its current racial meaning as a result of the Vietnam War.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the origin of the word is unknown.[6] "The Marines who occupied Nicaragua in 1912 took to calling the natives gooks. In 1920, it was reported that U.S. Marines in Haiti used the term to refer to Haitians.[5]

There are three suggested possible origins:

  • An earlier usage of gook, recorded in a slang dictionary published in 1893, which defined gook as "a low prostitute".[7]
  • That "gook" comes from the Korean word "국" (guk), meaning "country",[8] "한국" (hanguk), meaning "Korea", or "미국" (miguk), meaning "America".[9] For example, U.S. soldiers might have heard locals saying miguk (미국), referring to Americans, and misinterpreted this as "Me gook."[10]

Historical use

After the end of the war, U.S. occupation troops in South Korea called the Koreans "gooks".[11] When U.S. troops were stationed on the Korean Peninsula at the outbreak of the Korean War, so prevalent was the use of the word gook during the few first months of the war that U.S. General Douglas MacArthur banned its use, for fear that Asians would become alienated to the United Nations Command because of the insult.[2][12][13] The term was even used in British Army dispatches during the Korean War; the posthumous Victoria Cross citation for Major Kenneth Muir, for the Battle of Hill 282, stated that his last words were: "The Gooks will never drive the Argylls off this hill".[14] Although mainly used to describe European foreigners “except those from England, especially East and Southeast Asians, it has been used to describe foreigners in general,[15] including Italians in 1944, Indians, Lebanese and Turks in the '70s, and Arabs in 1988.[16] This dual usage is similar to the offensive word wog in British English.

In modern U.S. usage, "gook" refers particularly to communist soldiers during the Vietnam War and has also been used towards all Vietnamese and at other times to all Southeast Asians in general. It is considered to be highly offensive. In a highly publicized incident, Senator John McCain used the word during the 2000 presidential campaign to refer to his North Vietnamese captors when he was a prisoner of war: "I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live… I was referring to my prison guards and I will continue to refer to them in language that might offend." A few days later, however, he apologized to the Vietnamese community at large.[17]

References

  1. ^ "gook". Lexico US English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Gook: The Short History of an Americanism". Monthly Review. March 1992. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014.
  3. ^ "gook". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  4. ^ Wentworth and Flexner, Dictionary of American Slang (1960): "Generically, a native of the Pacific islands, Africa, Japan, China, Korea or any European country except England; usually a brown-skinned or Oriental non-Christian."
  5. ^ a b "The Conquest of Haiti". The Nation. 10 July 1920.
  6. ^ gook, Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 2001.
  7. ^ Farmer, John S.; Henley, W. E. (1893). Slang and its Analogues, Past and Present. Vol. III - Fla. to Hyps. Printed for subscribers only. p. 181.
  8. ^ Cao, Lan; Novas, Himilce (1996). Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History. Plume. p. 250. ISBN 9780452273153. Gook, the American racial epithet for all Asian Americans, is actually the Korean word for 'country.
  9. ^ Lee, Robert G. (1999). Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture. Temple University Press. A bastardization of the Korean "Hanguk" (Korean), or Miguk (American)"
  10. ^ Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century. Praeger. 2003. p. 117. ISBN 9780275977146.
  11. ^ "Gook". Rhetoric of Race. 2003. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
  12. ^ "Soldiers revive "gook" as name for Korea reds". Los Angeles Times. 6 August 1950. p. 6.
  13. ^ "Use of Word "Gook" Is Opposed by MacArthur". The Kansas City Star. 12 September 1950.
  14. ^ "No. 39115". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 January 1951. pp. 133–134.
  15. ^ Wentworth, Harold; Flexner, Stuart Berg (1960). Dictionary of American Slang. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. gook: Generically, a native of the Pacific islands, Africa, Japan, China, Korea or any European country except England; usually a brown-skinned or Oriental non-Christian.
  16. ^ Hughes, Geoffrey (2006). An Encyclopedia of Swearing. Routledge. pp. 207–8. ISBN 9780765629548.
  17. ^ "McCain Apologizes for 'Gook' Comment". Asiaweek. 24 February 2000. Archived from the original on November 2, 2000.

External links

  • The dictionary definition of gook at Wiktionary
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