Korean Job Discussion Forums

[guido]

When the Americans first landed here in Korea in the 50s...the Koreans were running around screaming MIGOOK, MIGOOK....the Americans thought they were saying Me Gook...so thats how they got the nickname gook....aint dat fascinating

[nicholas_chiasson]

-Actually the word predates the 1950's.

[guido]

[rumdiary]

awful/awesome
Why is only having some awe better than being full of awe?

[Hater Depot]

Awful used to mean awe-inspiring.

[mistermasan]

in chinese, america is mei guo. koreans say this as migook. the western derogatory term gook is probably an imitation ala the baba in babel, babylonia and barbarian.who ever the first gooks were it is my guess they sounded quite gutteral.

the etymology of derogatory terms is fascinating. if you ever have a friend from niger listern to how he says niger. with their french influence it is real easy to see the start of the n word. similarily, growing up we had a word that was just as scandalous to use as the n word: jigaboo. we kids thought it was just a term crabby old guys used. it wasn't until many years later i met someone from djiubuti and the etymology of that one came into clarity.

[nicholas_chiasson]

gook
1899, U.S. military slang for "Filipino" during the insurrection there, probably from a native word, or imitative of the babbling sound of their language to American ears (cf. barbarian). The term goo-goo eyes "soft, seductive eyes" was in vogue c.1900 and may have contributed to this somehow. Extended over time to "Nicaraguan," "any Pacific Islander" (World War II), "Korean" (1950s), "Vietnamese" and "any Asian" (1960s).

[schwa]

[guido]

whatever the truth of origin is, I really love the image of a bunck of Koreans running around screaming MIGOOK MIGOOK

[nicholas_chiasson]