smiff.

clark, just trying to get a girl to like him:

Hi, thank you for acknowledging this and trying to spread awareness. I'm going to piggyback off of @gukyi's post with various links about the matter.

I understand that this is a controversial topic, and there are split opinions about using the word in reference to Jungkook's name.

However, the term that you are referring to, g with two Os and a k, is a slur created by American war soldiers against East Asians and South East Asians (primarily Koreans, Filipinos, and the Vietnamese). It comes from the Korean word 국가 (gukga), meaning "country." In Sino-Korean, it originally derived from traditional Chinese, the dialect that I grew up on, stemming from 國 (gwok3), also meaning country.

During times of war, Koreans and the Vietnamese would refer to G.I. soldiers as 미국 (mee guk) and mỹ quốc, Americans, respectively. They come from the same term in traditional Chinese, 美國 (mei5 gwok3), meaning beautiful country. G.I.'s began to use these words against natives in a derogatory way, mocking them for their language, thinking that they were introducing themselves as "me, guk." To arrogant white people, the slur then became g, double o, k.

Jungkook's name, 전정국, is romanized in a variety of ways, and yes, Jeongguk would also be accurate. When using ㄱ, G and K are sometimes romanized interchangeably. In the same way, sometimes ㅜ is spelled as OO or U. It is spelled as Jeongguk on his passport, and it used for formal occasions like the United Nations conference. 

Jungkook has stated in a 2014 interview with Haru Hana that his grandfather named him, speculating that it means "pillars of the nation." In fact, his name in Hanja is 田柾國, referring to the wheat/farm of the country. Notice the last character? Once again, his name is in reference to the word for country, and it is in no way a nod to the slur. Jungkook's name has never been romanized using that derogatory term. Although it sounds the same, people are insinuating that Jungkook's name and the diminutive of it is offensive. 

You have to remember that his name exists in the Korean language. To be honest, romanizing languages like Korean or using the pinyin system is a way to accommodate for non-native speakers as we do not use the Latin alphabet. So not only have white people tokened parts of our language, but they’ve also occupied our land and claimed our culture, expecting a thank you as our white saviors. 

I think we all understand that this term was made to disparage Asians, but I don’t know why people are taking Jungkook’s name out of context then falsifying and invalidating it. Don’t twist it so that it fits a narrative that is made to harm us.

Yes, the word g, double o, k is a slur used in English. It’s made to oppress East and South East Asians. Please do not ever use that. And no, Jeongguk’s name is not related to it whatsoever. He has a Korean name that is romanized in a similar way, but it is not equivalent, and it was never meant to be. 

It feels a little backwards for white people to coin a word from my language, let alone a word that praises them for being beautiful, use it offensively against me, and then tell me I'm wrong for ever using it. It’s a word that belongs to my people. To the Chinese, the Koreans, the Vietnamese, and any other East and South East Asian who shares it linguistically. 

Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this about his father, who died of cancer on September 1st, 1982. At his father’s funeral, Billie cried, ran home and locked himself in his room. When his mother got home and knocked on the door to Billie’s room, Billie simply said, “Wake me up when September ends.”