From hliu at mindspring.com Fri Jun 4 21:25:16 1999
Margaret wrote:
>
> Henry wrote:
>
> >In the Vietnam War, "I am going get me a Charlie" is a racist
> >remark.
>
> I disagree, Henry. 'Charlie' was a shortened form of
> 'Victor Charlie', they being the military-phonetic
> codes for the letters V and C, which of course stood
> for Viet Cong.
You are technically accurate. Yet the term Charlie has
followed the GIs back to America and many Vietnam refugees in
this country, in Texas for example, were addessed with
hostility as Charlie and they resent it bitterly.
Then why didn't you say ``Today in Texas, "I am going to get me a Charlie" is a racist remark.'' ...?
Sheesh.
/jordan