Fwd: A question

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> > >One of my students heard the following, and was wondering if any of it was
> > >true - any ideas or is this a language myth?
>
>It's an absolute myth. See HDAS, which has extensive examples
>back to 1920 in reference to Haitians, Filipinos, Nicaraguans,
>Italians, etc. It's probably from _goo-goo_ in the same sense,
>from the 1890s (Philippines).

> > >Gook, a racial slur for Koreans comes from the Korean word for "America".
> > >Supposedly, when the troops landed in Korean during the Korean war, they
> > >heard local people saying "mee-gook" (America/USA) and assumed they were
> > >speaking English.

But isn't it a wonderful story? Too bad it isn't true. It is conceivable
that the use of "gook" was reinforced by this fortuitous similarity. "Gugu"
was used specifically for "Filipino" in the US, I think ~1910.

The basic sense of "gook" (see also "goonie" etc. in HDAS, ... even
"gomer") is not "Korean" nor even "Oriental"/"Asian" but simply
"indigene"/"local yokel". For example, IIRC, "gook" was applied to ordinary
English-speaking New Zealanders -- presumably mostly of British ancestry --
by US personnel during WW II as recorded in one of Michener's "South
Pacific" stories. Possibly Canadians are exempt, although I'm not sure even
of this.

Twenty-five years ago, I wrote something similar to the editor/author of a
slang dictionary -- I don't remember who -- in response to his assertion
that "gook" originated in the Vietnam war (!); he replied that indeed on
second thought he had himself heard it applied to Egyptians (IIRC) long
before Vietnam.

An analogous bogus etymology story which I invented myself (although
doubtless somebody else invented it earlier) derives the word "Yankee" from
Chinese "yang guei" = "foreign devil" (the "guei" is "ki" in
[Sino-]Japanese BTW) ... as in "Yankee, go home!"

-- Doug Wilson