gung ho

Meaning

Adjective

• Overly enthusiastic or energetic.
• Cocky, undisciplined, contemptuous of rules

Origin

• From a catachresis of Mandarin , interpreted as + to mean "to work together", itself an acronym for . The interpretation "work together" was created by U.S. Marine Evans Carlson, who was posted in China during the 1930s. It became the motto and nickname of the enthusiastic battalion Carlson commanded, leading to other marines adopting the term to mean overly enthusiastic. It was popularized in the United States by the 1943 war film Gung Ho!, which profiled the battalion's leadership of the Raid on Makin Island during World War II.