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Anon makes up a word
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this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024
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May I just point out the elephant in the room?
"Gook" is a nasty slur for asian person. This word literally means 'unintelligible like the nonsense languages of asians'
Let's just let this word fade away like so many other bullshit slurs, thanks.
Most sources indicate that it's about turkey noises.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/gobbledygook
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobbledygook#word-history
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gobbledygook_n?tl=true&tab=etymology
Ah yes, gobble is turkey sounds. Where, in those sources, does the etymology of the rest of the word get examined?
Nowhere, except by 'elephant in the room' inference: "first used by Texas politician Maury Maverick (1895-1954), ... chairman of U.S. Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II"
Hmm.
"so prevalent was the use of the word gook during the first few months of the 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." [wikipedia]
Hmmmmmm.
"In modern U.S. usage, "gook" refers particularly to communist soldiers during the Vietnam War and has also been used towards all Vietnamese and at other times to all Southeast Asians in general. It is considered to be highly offensive." [wikipedia]
It's not complicated or obscure. No need to whitewash this. Anyone early genX or older (edit: who grew up in North America) will remember.
According to wikipedia:
Please do a better research next time before writing an reply about some other word and making up causations where there are just correlations. Just because a word contains "gook" does not mean it's related to the word "gook"
I actually remain unconvinced by the non-scholarly sources people are providing, authoritatively claiming etymology on scant evidence, and believe they are relying on the self-reported motives of Maverick.
'Gook' is only generally used as a slur, and other uses are obsolete by a century or extremely regional and rare. In 1944 the slur was the predominant usage, particularly around Maverick.
Do you have a more authoritative source?