Talk:Gung ho

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The derivation seems plausible, but it would be nice to know the original Chinese phrase. I found one source that suggested it was Cantonese. Any ideas? Markalexander100 08:56, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I found some info online at http://www.bartleby.com/61/49/G0314900.html which looked accurate, so I'm putting it in there until someone smarter comes along. Also, I know nothing about the Chinese transliteration; if I did it wrong and someone else wants to correct that, go ahead. Omnipotent Q 01:49, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The 'he' syllable has two different tones in this article. I looked it up and it the character is usually second tone (the way it's written in the long version). I think I should change the abbreviated gong1he4 to a gong1he2. I assume it's just an oversight or a typo. User:NeonGeniuses 02:49, 03 Mar 2005 (UTC)

What I heard, growing up in Singapore, is that the phrase is an anglicization of "Kung hao", literally "good strength", the same "Kung" as in "Kung fu", and "hao", meaning good or well.

Also, my understanding is that the USMC has been using the term since the days of the Boxer rebellion, when US Navy boats occasionally patrolled Chinese rivers.

This is what the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) has to say about it (relevant parts quoted). [1]

Gung ho: Also kung-hou. Chin. (kung work + ho together.)

A slogan adopted in the war of 1939-1945 by the United States Marines under General E. Carlson (1896-1947); hence as adj.: enthusiastic, eager, zealous.

1942 Times Mag. (New York) 8 Nov. 13/4 Borrowing an idea from China, Carlson frequently has what he calls ‘kung-hou’ meetings... Problems are threshed out and orders explained. 1943 Life 20 Sept. 58, I [sc. E. Carlson] told them of the motto of the Chinese Co-operatives, Gung Ho. It means Work Together... My motto caught on and they began to call themselves the Gung Ho Battalion.

--Yuje 11:03, Jun 26, 2005 (UTC)

I'd be interested to know if the phrase was orginated from Mandarin. :-) — Insta ntnood 19:56, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

Well, it has been stated in the article. Lo and behold, the first sentence should give you the answer. ;P -- Jerry Crimson Mann 20:31, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

On Wikipedia many articles on phrases originated from Chinese are provided with Mandarin pronuncations, but such phrases may not actually be originated from Mandarin. — Insta ntnood 20:42, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

Disambiguation needed?

I was going to start a page on the Ron Howard starring Michael Keaton until I got here. It looks like a disambiguation may be needed. Osakadave 17:01, 6 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Cantonese?

Hmm... i don't know about the transliteration, but i'm a native speaker of cantonese, "Gung Ho" in cantonese, literally means "Even better" or something of that nature - such as "Enthusiastic" . I doubt it's mandarin because the phrase originated waaaaay before the communists took over.

BTW, the cantonese explanation i provided actually sounds like the phrase "Gung-ho". whereas "gōnghé" doesn't.

That’s what I thought as well, when I first heard it, but I think it’s just a coincidence. Non-Cantonese/Mandarin speakers normally can't pronounce Cantonese/Mandarin words accurately so the deviation doesn’t surprise me. ~ KilliMcgee

The link of the second reference doesn't work. ~ nuyuohz

Chinese pronunciation of the phrase: 更好

I believe it is the pronunciation of the phrase, 更好, meaning "better" or "even better".

Gung-Ho is Cantonese

Gung-Ho is short form of Gung-yeh-zou-ho and I saw it from "Mail Call" of the History Channel.

I ask people who can understand Chinese military slang in the 1940s and the anwser is that it is Cantonese, which means "(You) Must Finish it Today!"

Gung-yeh = Today

Zuo-ho = Finish the work

Therefore, the literary translation of Gung-yeh-zuo-ho is "Must Finish it Today".

I think this explanation is more correct than the article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LQY (talk • contribs) 00:26, 29 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

To the USMC, Gung-Ho means TEAMWORK. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 214.13.141.100 (talk) 05:48, 6 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ironic?

The last line of the article says, "It is now often used in the ironic sense of excessively enthusiastic, overzealous." But reading the article doesn't describe the way it was used before so I don't understand why the current way is ironic. Perhaps someone could clarify this. Brainsik (talk) 20:38, 8 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Explanation of Reversion

I took the liberty of undoing the version which (without offering an explanation) cut out the information from Alfred Moe's article which seems relevant to understanding the phrase and which answered several of the questions on this discussion page. ch (talk) 19:14, 15 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I left a message on the talk page of user User talk:86.160.201.172 (who undid my recent additions -- twice) saying that I would be happy to see if she or he would explain if anything I posted was wrong. ch (talk) 00:43, 17 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]