[Ads-l] A random oddity

Thu Apr 1 23:43:54 UTC 2021

As HDAS shows, U.S. Marines in the Korean War sometimes referred to North
Korean and Chinese troops as "Luke the Gook."  The earliest noted use of
"gook," however, means "weirdo or idiot; geek."  Here's a corresponding
"Luke the Gook":

1916 _Pittsburg Kansan_ (May 6) 6: Here Luke the Gook, take this laundrey
[sic] to the washwoman's and hurry back."  ["Luke" is a diminutive, bald
white guy in a pinstriped suit.]

And for the later sense:

1948 _Oakland Tribune_ (Editorials/ Features] (Nov. 7) 1: A rope was
lowered into the shaft, while Luke Gook was instructed to tell Ling Gooey
to slip the noose over his shoulders.

1952 _Daily News-Post_ (Monrovia, Calif.) (Feb. 23) 6: The heaviest barrage
came from a Communist hill position which U.N. troops call "Luke the Gook's
Castle."

JL

On Thu, Apr 1, 2021 at 11:44 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The Houston Chronicle (Dec. 16, 1945), p. D9, reports the "invasion" of
> the U. of H. campus by "Luke the Spook and Kilroy."
>
> After describing "Kilroy" in the usual terms, the article reports that
> "Luke the Spook, another of these small creatures with a long eager nose
> appearing from unexpected corners, is seemingly the father of KIlroy. Gook,
> Luke's girlfriend, has a timid expression and a tiny ribbon on her curl."
> It goes on to say that the images are everywhere, and suggestst that
> "S'moe" (sic) is coming soon.
>
> I'm tempted to suggest that the Vietnam-era (and later) "spook,"
> 'intelligence operative' was inspired by drawings of "Luke the Spook."
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 2:08 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> LIFE Nov 16, 1962 - Page 35D
>> Letters to the editors
>> Miscellany
>>
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=rEoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 1:21 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Lucas "Luke the Spook" Troy in _Archer_"
>> >
>> > http://archer.wikia.com/wiki/Lucas_Troy
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 8:59 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> I've never heard of "Luke the Spook," but see HDAS for "Luke the Gook"
>> of
>> >> Korea and Vietnam (largely a USMC term, acc. to the printed evidence).
>> >>
>> >> Here's a 1946 ref. to the Kilroyesque "Luke the Spook" in Life
>> Magazine:
>> >>
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/ybumpprj
>> >>
>> >> Scroll down to p.8.
>> >>
>> >> The early GB evidence for "Luke the Spook" as a syn. for Kilroy is very
>> >> thin. Most of the exx. refer to a supposed ghost, and obviousness
>> suggests
>> >> that was the original sense. ("Who's that round-headed cartoon with big
>> >> round eyes peering over the fence? Looks like Luke the Spook".)
>> >>
>> >> What's the evidence that the B-29 "Luke the Spook" was named for the
>> >> cartoon rather than for the ghost? The alleged nose art, which might
>> >> settle
>> >> the matter, seems not to be online.
>> >>
>> >> JL
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 6:20 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 5:33 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > > I don't know why the reference was made on Archer, but isn't Luke
>> the
>> >> > Spook
>> >> > > a Kilroy-like image? I have no idea which came first, the doodle or
>> >> the
>> >> > > nose art.
>> >> > >
>> >> >
>> >> > Neither do I. I wasn't paying any attention till I heard "Luke the
>> >> Spook."
>> >> > unfortunately. But you are correct. sir, WRT the Kilroy connection.
>> The
>> >> > graffito is older than the nose-art. The reference to a photo of the
>> >> > nose-art on the B-29 in 'Pedia is wrong. However, there's enough
>> other
>> >> info
>> >> > available for me to say that Kilroy and Luke were the same "person."
>> >> >
>> >> > I came across a letter-to-the-editor from an ex-GI who wrote that he
>> was
>> >> > familiar only with Luke the Spook as the graffito's name and that
>> Luke
>> >> was
>> >> > the *Army's* version of Kilroy. My personal, *childhood* memory is
>> only
>> >> of
>> >> > Kilroy, from cartoons and funny-books. So, I'm not willing to
>> contradict
>> >> > the memory of someone who was actually in the Army and an adult,
>> During
>> >> The
>> >> > War.
>> >> > --
>> >> > -Wilson
>> >> > -----
>> >> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to
>> >> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >> > -Mark Twain
>> >> >
>> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> >> truth."
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > -Wilson
>> > -----
>> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> > -Mark Twain
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org