What does "Gung ho" mean? Someone wrote an email to me today which said "Bush is so gung ho regarding Iraq!"
Gung ho
And It is not an English word by origin. It is borrowed from Japanese language if my memory serves me right.
Gung ho is originated from Chinese word "工和".
It literally means work together.
It literally means work together.
<It literally means work together. >
Does it mean that in the thread statement above?
Does it mean that in the thread statement above?
<Does it mean that in the thread statement above?>
Sorry, I don't get what you mean.
Anyway, Gung(工) means 'work'.
Ho(和) means 'together, harmony or peace'.
In Japanese, 工和 is pronounced like 'go-wa'
In Korean, 工和 is pronounced like 'gong-hwa'.
Sorry, I don't get what you mean.
Anyway, Gung(工) means 'work'.
Ho(和) means 'together, harmony or peace'.
In Japanese, 工和 is pronounced like 'go-wa'
In Korean, 工和 is pronounced like 'gong-hwa'.
<<Does it mean that in the thread statement above?>
Sorry, I don't get what you mean. >
Here...
"Bush is so gung ho regarding Iraq!" Does it mean "work together" there?
Sorry, I don't get what you mean. >
Here...
"Bush is so gung ho regarding Iraq!" Does it mean "work together" there?
No, it means "enthusiastic", as Oy stated. "Work together" is just the original meaning in Chinese. Here's a definition: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/gung%20ho
It's very typical for words to change meaning as they enter other languages. For instance, in Spanish (and, according to Wikipedia, also Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, and Swedish!), the word "smoking" means tuxedo. Now, you might wonder, what on Earth does smoking have to do with a tuxedo? It makes more sense if you know that it came from "smoking jacket", a garment that was popular in Victorian times when smoking a pipe or a cigar, so the smoke won't cling to your other clothes. Somewhere along the line, the garment somehow got confused with a tuxedo, and there you have it.
Japanese is full of English loanwords like that. "Manshon" (from "mansion") means "apartment"... "baikingu" looks and sounds like "biking", but actually comes from "Viking", and the meaning is "smorgasbord", a traditional Swedish buffet.
- Kef
It's very typical for words to change meaning as they enter other languages. For instance, in Spanish (and, according to Wikipedia, also Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, and Swedish!), the word "smoking" means tuxedo. Now, you might wonder, what on Earth does smoking have to do with a tuxedo? It makes more sense if you know that it came from "smoking jacket", a garment that was popular in Victorian times when smoking a pipe or a cigar, so the smoke won't cling to your other clothes. Somewhere along the line, the garment somehow got confused with a tuxedo, and there you have it.
Japanese is full of English loanwords like that. "Manshon" (from "mansion") means "apartment"... "baikingu" looks and sounds like "biking", but actually comes from "Viking", and the meaning is "smorgasbord", a traditional Swedish buffet.
- Kef
<Japanese is full of English loanwords like that. "Manshon" (from "mansion") means "apartment"... "baikingu" looks and sounds like "biking", but actually comes from "Viking", and the meaning is "smorgasbord", a traditional Swedish buffet. >
"Sabiro" is a great example and a has a nice background story to it.
"Sabiro" is a great example and a has a nice background story to it.