Antedating of "Gung Ho"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Jerry, my apologies that HDAS A-G came out too early to cite you.

JL


On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 3:18 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Gung Ho"
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>
> Carlson's Raider Battalion was formed in February 1942, and in his
> introductory speech to his men (presumably that same month) Carlson set his
> agenda by explaining his philosophy of "gung ho" (his speech is given in
> Michael Blankfort, _The Big Yankee_, 1947, pp. 24-25).
>
> For further detail, cf. my article "'Gung ho' revisited," in:
> Gerald Leonard Cohen, _Studies in Slang_, Part IV (= Forum Anglicum, vol.
> 21, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang), 1995, pp. 1-50.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________________
>  Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM] wrote, Saturday, April 12,
> 2014 1:57 PM:
>
> "Gung ho," of course, never meant "work together" in Chinese. It meant
> "work" plus "together."
>
> If the article Fred cites has nothing to do with USMC Col. Evans Carlson it
> would be quite a discovery.
>
> HDAS has the story you won't find in the 1972 OED....
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu
> >wrote:
> >
> > gung ho (OED 1943)
> >
> > 1941 _China Weekly Review_ 19 Apr. 232 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
> >  There is a new battle cry in China today.  It is Gung-ho, and it means
> "Work
> > together!" ... Gung-ho is China's answer to invasion and blockage.  It is
> > the slogan of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, which have created a
> > system of "guerrilla industry" to supply the fighting forces.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
>
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