Do Russians usually refer to Vietnamese as g***?

[Ricemarine]

So right now I'm in Vietnam, and I was staying at a resort (not anymore). Anywho, I was swimming in a pool at the resort, and there was apparently a Russian navy officer and his son swimming near us. During the swim though, the son was apparently yelling something in Russian and using the g*** word repeatedly and screaming it at us. But also, the navy officer was talking using the word and so I'm wondering if the guy is just racist, or if it's usual.

 

[RapidSnail]

I do not know what "g***" means.

 

[Tiamat]

that is the word that is used to refer to Vietnamese, and other south-east asians (chinese, Koreans) world-wide as far as I know. Although, its not very nice.

G***

Edit: Wow, the AT filters screwed up my link. Well, it was a direct link to Ethnic Slurs page, and G O O K

 

[Alistar7]

He is not a racist, he is a bigot. If you want to assume he represents all Russians, well, then you two would have something in common.

 

[Vageetasjn]

Here are the possibilities:
1. Maybe that word means something else in Russian. Doubtful.
2. You found yourself a couple of idiots who happen to be Russian.

No need to generalize to an entire nationality due to two ignorant people.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
that is the word that is used to refer to Vietnamese, and other south-east asians (chinese, Koreans) world-wide as far as I know. Although, its not very nice.

G***

Could you type the whole word?

 

[cKGunslinger]

I assume we're talking about "g o o k"?

 

[ppdes]

Haha, wiki says it is derived from the word for United States:
>?miguk? is the common word for the United States.[26] American troops thought "miguk" sounded like "me ...

Amusing that part of it ended up used for the opposite.

 

[RapidSnail]

I think it's both sad and funny that stupid meaningless words get turned into racial slurs for no reason. I mean g o o k? What the hell!

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

I'm surprised that word is still being used. I know if anyone ever called me that they would get a fist to the face.

 

[Feldenak]

I don't know about Russian sailors but my dad still refers to Vietnamese as g00ks. By the same token, my grandfather referred to Japanese as Japs and Germans as Huns until his dying day.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

That just got me thinking. For the Japanese people on here, is the word "Japs" considered derogatory? Serious question.

 

[evident]

a black kid in second grade called me a g 0 0 k. needless to say, i had a talk with the principal about what happened afterwards. parents still teach their kids racism everywhere

 

[imported_quasi]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
That just got me thinking. For the Japanese people on here, is the word "Japs" considered derogatory? Serious question.

Whenever this comes up, there's always a group of people that say it's derogatory and another group that claims its a valid abbreviation.

I'm half-Japanese and consider it derogatory.

 

[lyssword]

I speak Russian, and I am not aware that g*** exists in Russian slang. It was originally coined by U.S military during Vietnam/Korean wars. Unless those assholes learned from American tourists or something... Are you sure it sounded exactly like that? Maybe there is a variation of that actually means something in Russian. But if it was exactly g o o k, there is no such word in Russian, Gooba/e (lip/lips) or Groob (rude) are close though. Usually Russians would refer to Vietnamese of course as Viet-nah-mets or ahzeeat (asian). Then again, there are assholes, from whatever place, who just want to piss people off..

 

[randay]

maybe the little kid was imitating some racist he heard earlier and then the parent was telling him not to use the word?

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Americans use it.

 

[Nerva]

yeah i am pretty sure g o o k is an american incarnation. you should have figured out the derogatory term for russians and said it right back, repeatedly.

 

[Farang]

Where in Vietnam?

 

[jiggahertz]

The PC police probably haven't gotten to Russia yet.

 

[Saint Michael]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz
The PC police probably haven't gotten to Russia yet.

That's a pretty safe guess, Russians don't generally tolerate petty bullshit like this.

 

[FoBoT]

racism/bigotry is only socially unacceptable in the USA and perhaps a few other areas, but overall, racism/bigotry is alive an well in most parts of the world

 

[BoomerD]

In boot camp, we were taught to hate the "G O O K's" Trained to kill the hated Vietnamese enemy, and I did the job as well as I possibly could...

A couple of years later, after the fall of Saigon, the first waves of Vietnames refugees started coming to the US. MANY ex-military couldn't separate the Vietnamese we were trained to kill from those who were leaving because of the Communist take over...Once I left Vietnam, I put that bullshit behind me. You just can't go through life hating everyone because they're different than you.

FYI, Wikipedia sez:
*****
(U.S. military slang) an Asian person, especially an enemy (e.g. Koreans or Vietnamese during the Korean and Vietnam wars). By extension, any Asian person. Derived from the Korean words ?hanguk? and ?miguk?. Guk is from the Chinese word guo, which means country. ?Hanguk? refers to Korea[25] and ?miguk? is the common word for the United States.[26] American troops thought "miguk" sounded like "me *****" (i.e. "I am a *****"). The word persisted during the Vietnam War, perhaps also because the Vietnamese people have a similar word ?qu?c?, meaning "country". "*****" was also used by white soldiers in Africa to designate enemy insurgents.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Saint Michael

Originally posted by: jiggahertz
The PC police probably haven't gotten to Russia yet.

That's a pretty safe guess, Russians don't generally tolerate petty bullshit like this.

So you think calling an Asian person a g o o k should be acceptable?

 

[Eug]

"Jap" is most definitely derogatory.

However, it also can be used in a different context. "Jap" is sometimes used to refer to "Jewish American Princess". It's also a derogatory term, but is used by some Jewish girls about other Jewish girls who are spoiled. I just had to laugh when a person I know overheard this being used like this (by a Jewish person), but didn't realize the context, and went on some diatribe about it being derogatory to the Japanese. Or maybe he was coming to the defense of Japanese Jewish American Princesses?