Gook

Gook (/ˈɡuːk/ or /ˈɡʊk/) is a derogatory term for people of East and Southeast Asian descent. The slur is frequently directed toward foreigners, especially non-European, and even more especially people of Philippine, Korean, or Vietnamese descent. It was originally predominantly used by the U.S. military during wartime, especially during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the origin of the current usage is unknown. There are three suggested possible origins:

Mencken reported the earliest use of the word gook: he wrote that U.S. Marines occupying Nicaragua in 1912 took to calling the natives gooks and that it had previously been a term for Filipinos. He further mentions that the natives of Costa Rica are sometimes called goo-goos. The first written use was in 1920 and mentions that the Marines occupying Haiti used the term to refer to Haitians. U.S. occupation troops in South Korea after World War II called the Koreans "gooks". After the return of U.S. troops to the Korean Peninsula, so prevalent was the use of the word gook during the first months of the Korean 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. The term was even used in British Army despatches 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". Although mainly used to describe non-European foreigners, especially Asians, it has been used to describe foreigners in general, including Italians in 1944, Indians, Lebanese and Turks in the '70s, and Arabs in 1988. This dual usage is similar to the offensive word wog in British English.

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