[TonyRony]

I hate to take this topic in yet another direction, but I cannot help thinking that the many times I've heard service members loudly sounding off with this now-popular expression, to ME it sounded as if they were saying "Oo-uh" which is close to the version you give as the Army's version.

When I was in the service, I had NEVER, EVER heard this term used in formations, nor in large gatherings of military personnel.

However, I AM familiar with this phrase for having served in Viet Nam for two years. "Oo-uh" is the Vietnamese for "yeah"; the word for "yes" sounds very different.

I and many others over the years have used the phrase when wanting to simply say "yes" or respond affirmatively, but saying it using this familiar Vietnamese word was a way to "distinguish" (for lack of a better word) ourselves, assert ourselves as part of the brotherhood of Viet Nam veterans, and in a very simple way, remind ourselves of some of the slang we used while stationed in "The 'Nam," as we used to say.

And that's about it. I'm not arguing the point, nor trying to make anyone believe me. I'm just telling you what I think about it.

Oh, and if anyone brings up the topic of the denigrating term, "gook," I have a theory on that too. It's entirely possible that the term originated with Korean War veterans. I say that cause I was stationed in Korea for 5 years, but well after the war ... from '75 to '80.

But my point is that "Korea" is not the Korean word for "Korea." It's "Han gook." You know how the German word for "Germany" is "Deutschland"? Well, the Koreans pronounce the name of their country as "Han gook." Therefore, I'm speculating that some Korean War vets may have referred to Koreans as "gooks" and passing it along to the Viet Nam vets in the early 60's is entirely possible.

Thanks for the chance to post.

Tony Rony

[Larry Lucido]

Geez, Tony, how did you dig this thread up? I'm scrolling through, reading posts from harpseal, doing a double-take, wondering if he's back with us again, until I checked the date.

[Travis McGee]

I don't have any idea about possible VN origins of "hoo ya!" The SEAL and UDT Teams were using it like an ancient tradition it seems to me, back as far as 1979 when I went through BUD/S, at least.

We had old team "cruise books" (like thin soft-bound HS yearbooks) from UDT Teams going back to WW2. If anyone wants to know for sure about the origins, I'd look in these platoon deployment "cruise books." Then you would be able to see where the first use of "hoo ya" ina team context occurs.

And of course, you can't dismiss the similarity to the USMC "Ooh-rah!" or the US Army's "Hoo-ah!"

The similarity of these three military war cries cannot be a coincidence. My guess would be Chinese, Korean or VN. For example, the USMC's "gung-ho" comes from the Chinese for "working together."

[Rockpile]

You know, one of the slang words used by US troops to describe the the insurrectos in the Philippines a century ago was "googoos". I have no idea what it comes from but it was definitely in vogue. I used to think that "gook" was a corruption but the Korean angle sounds more believable.