Readers and students of Vietnam's history must build a familarity with special language -- terms in the Vietnamese language, other terms, slang, and abbreviations. Books and documents, even novels and other forms of literature rooted in the Vietnam Wars, contain special terms and language. The following Glossary only begins to illustrate a voculabulary all students will build on their own and by which they will communicate with each other about readings and the history of the Vietnamese Experience. Students are expected to contribute other entries for this Glossary as our study continues.

dan cong - porters or transporters, many of whom were women who carried supplies

dau tranh - literally, "struggle," the key concept of People's War

Indochina - coined by the French for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

"long-haired army" - women fighters, first against the French, later against Americans
Used mostly to identify southern women within the National Liberation Front; Duiker, however, uses the term for women warriors in the north as well as the south.

punji stakes - the primary weapons prepared and used by women warriors; bamboo crafted into sharp poles and used in booby traps within covered traps

"Southeast Asia" - term in use since World War II. Formerly Kun Lun or Nan Yang, Little China to Chinese. Today the modern states of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, the Phillippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia

 

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