GOOK
1. n. [1920s+] (orig. US military.) a derogatory term for foreigners, especially south-east Asians, e.g. (in chronological order of use) Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese.
2. n. [1940s+] a foreign language spoken by one of the above peoples.
HAJI
1. n. Arabic word for someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca;
2. n. [2000s+] used by the US military for an Iraqi, anyone of Arab decent, or even of a brownish skin tone, be they Afghanis, or even Bangladeshis; the word many US soldiers use derogatorily for the enemy.
In the Vietnam war it was the "gooks" that needed killing. The term was used in the Korean War as well.
These phrases that reasonate with racial hatred became ingrained in the everyday chatter about the war among the US and Australian occupation troops in Vietnam:
"When you get to Vietnam, you'll have just one job", said the drill sergeant, "That's killing gooks."
"The only good gook is a dead gook."
"One VC KIA. Got us a dead gook, Captain"
"She wasn't bad looking for a gook."
Gooks, slinks and slopes just needed killing. And today in Iraq and Vietnam its "ragheads" and "hajis" that "need killing" as we see in this hate "home video" by a US soldier:
Can you stomach more? See Iraq's Funniest Videos.
