Re: "Luke the gook," "Gook" and "Bug out"

["John R. Carpenter" <jrcrin001@cox.net>]

Hello Korean War Roots List,

Time to put in my "two bits" worth.   This is a variant of "two cents"
worth.  A "bit" is 12.5 cents and two bits is a quarter.  Due to inflation
the "two cents" of days of yore is now "two bits."

I heard the term "Luke the gook" several times in 1973/1974 while at Fort
Ord or at the nearby Language School at the Presido of Monterey from several
old timers.  They were NCO Korean War vets.

There was even a chant that went something like, "Luke the gook is goin to
come. / Shoot your (his) ass  / then you get to go on home."

The following web pages have modern reference to "gook" in a more positive
manner - as in names.

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~younggoo/

http://www.ahn-gook.com/

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/kt_sports/200102/t2001020515490347117.htm

I could go on and on on current uses.

As in generations of military "persons," certain phrases are often born in
the prior generation and passed down to the new generation.  These phrases
were accepted AT THAT TIME, PLACE, AND SITUATION.  As word meanings and
situations change, so do the "correctness" of their use.

"Gook" as in "gobbledy gook" or "gobble de gook" comes from the World War
Two generation because of the bable of strange languages encountered during
that war.  Chinese was especially "gobbledy gook".  Remember the Chinese
were our allies in World War Two (WW2)!  We had our own choice words, not
"gook" for the "Sons of Nippon" that we were then fighting.

The phrase "Gook" may have had its roots even farther back to the turn of
the century (1900).  "GuGu" (GooGoo) was used by American & our allied
Filipino Scouts during the Filipino insurection.  "GuGu" was a local
reference to evil demons or the insurectionsts.  The concept of giving the
evil eye and other supersitions were popular then as today.

Think about how the current version of "Goo Goo" is used!  IE "making goo
goo eyes at ..."  or "The baby was making goo goo eyes."  Americans love
importing words and changing or modifying the meaning through slang.

The pre-WW2 Asian Campaign GIs - especially those old China Marines - used
"Gu Gu uck" and "Gu-uck" which was a variant of "GuGu" and "Uck".  "Uck" as
in the then and current "Ucky" which means sticky and usually dirty.  The
old China Marine slang referring to a dirty, sticky finger, yellow demon of
a person of mainland Asia may have been the most likely creation of the
Korean War version of "GOOK" (Guuck).  Those darn fancy pants Marines!

Everywhere the Marines went, there went the reference to "Gook."  Sailors,
airmen and other ground pounders began mimicing those fancy talking
"gy-rines."  As slang the meaning became generic to mean almost any person
from the south east and east of Asia.

"Gook" had modifications and clairifications also.  "Yellow Gooks", "Red
Gooks,"  "Going Gook," "Gook Happy," "Mister Gook" and not to forget "Missus
Gook."

For the more morbid was the reference to dead, squashed, fried, crispy and
"the only good gook is a dead and buried gook."  For those dealing and
living with death and those trying to make you dead, nicknames (often vulgar
and cruel) were and still are a way of dealing with the stress.  No one that
has never been in such a situation, especially in todays PC world, can seem
to understand this survival technique.   For the naive, Americans are not
the only culture who makes up dirty words and phrases!

Whether this was right or wrong is inmaterial.  This was accepted and used
AT THAT TIME, PLACE, AND SITUATION.  This word is now part of our history.

As a side note, the Korean "Kuk" (as in Kook) which is a suffix of
nationality, as in "Chungkuk," "China", "Mi-kuk", "America," et cetera is
often thought of the fore runner to the Korean War "Gook" but as noted
above, this was not the case.

Another Korean War phrase ...

"Bug out" also comes from WW2.  As in reference of the little bug getting
out of the way.  Its reference was shortened to "Bug out" or "Bugging out."
This instead of saying "Due to the overwhelming odds facing us and to avoid
the enemy rolling over us with superior mechanical assets we conducted a
tactical retrograde movement to prevent undo loss of life and to facilitate
movement to superior defensive posture."  The simple version I like is,
"Getting the hell out of the way!"

The phrase "Bug out" may have come from American cartoons. This where the
little bug scrambles out of the way of a giant foot coming down to try to
squash it.  The plucky bug kept on going despite all odds against it.
"Cleaning Day" is the name of the first of these type cartoons. Variants are
still seen in cartoons and comedy today.

This bug stomping routine was a version of slapstick comedy.  Many people
could relate to this during the Depression years (1930s).  Those WW2 GIs
facing Japenese Banzai attacks or those monster German tanks could relate to
being a bug and knew if they were "plucky" enough they could survive even if
they had to "scramble the hell out of the way!"  As a general note, this
phrase was more noted in the European theater of operations.

Early references such as "getting the bugs out," "shaking out the bugs," and
"bugs in a rug out" reference cleaning carpets and drapery by shaking or
pounding with a broom were probably fore runners to this phrase.  This
phrase has nothing to do with "bugs" in electronics.

Just in case you think "Bug Out," the insect killing brand, came before or
doing the Korean War, you would be wrong.

I was ASA - Army Secuirty Agency - and attached to a Special Forces reaction
team.  While I never got to Vietnam, I got my three combat related injuries
and ticket out serving with these crazy (CAMFs) "dudes."  They were never
(REMFs) "Garret Troopers" with spit shined jump boots.  We got to go hunting
banditos in Panama and terrorists in Germany.  I was the youngest of them
(most were mid to late 20s and all were "real" combat vets) and I was
referred to later as "the kid" or the "junior spook," "spooky junior"  just
"spooky."

We had our own nicknames like any other group out there doing a job.  Below
are some of them.

Ivan - generic term of a communist from the USSR.

SOJ - "sow" - Son of Joe (Josef Stalin) - a negative, bigotted "commie."

Tio Juan or Tio Ivan or Tio SOJ - Uncle Juan or Uncle Ivan or Uncle Son of
Joe - a spainsh speaking communist from polite to less polite.  In Vietnam
the variant was "Uncle Ho."

FNG or FNK - This was a "fresh" new guy or "fresh" new kid.  The later, a
less polite version, often pronounced "FiNK" and the former a neutral (don't
know his name yet and maybe don't want to know it yet) always spelled out (F
N G).

AMF - "aamph" - as in "that friggin AMF."  Also used on politicans, news
reporters and other "no gooders" that could not understand the current
SNAFU.

CAMF (camph), REMF (remph), and AMF (aamph) were all related.  Here are some
hints: "A" for the slang of the thing between the glutius maximus muscles of
the left and right buttocks. "C" for crazy. "R" for rear area. "M" for
mother.  I'll let you figure the slanf for the "F."

"Later"

John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Janet Valentine" <valent03@bellsouth.net>
To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ku.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 4:11 PM
Subject: Re:


> Mike,
>
> Thanks, I own the volume, but had missed that reference.  However, I'm
> wondering if naming that particular hill "Luke" isn't just a creative bit
of
> soldier rhyme, with gook remaining the slang for the enemy.   Can any list
> members recall refering to the enemy as "luke?"  I'd really appreciate
> hearing about it if you do.
>
> Janet