"Gay"

[Queersetti]

Just out of curiosity, I've done a little research into the etymology of the word gay as a synonym for homosexual.

The word appears in written English at least as early as Chaucer, used in it's original definition to mean "Happy" or "merry".

In the 16th century it became a slang term for boys or young men who portrayed women on the stage, the first step on it's ultimate transformation.

It then developed into a term to describe any one of an immoral or sexually promiscuous nature, and it was used in that context well into Victorian time, when the expression "gaying it up" meant to visit a brothel. The use of "gay woman" to mean a prostitute persisted until at least the 1920s.

The first documented use in reference to a male homosexual came in a play titled "Young and Evil" in 1933. It is used in the 1938 film "Bringing Up Baby" to refer to a transvestite, and it appears as a term for gay men in the book Sexual Variations by Legman and Henry in 1941.

It appears to have spread in it's contemporary usage in the U.S. after World War Two and in Britain beginning in the mid-1950s. References to "gay boys" appear in print in Australia as early as 1951.

By 1970 it was in common use within the homosexual community, and was widespread in the general population by the end of the 70s.

 

[glamorilla]

Have you ever heard of palare?

 

[Queersetti]

Have you ever heard of palare?

No, I'm not familiar with that.

 

[glamorilla]

the lost language of gay hustlers.

hard finding information about it~i found different definations and conflicting origins. based in latin.

bona to vada!

 

[Queersetti]

I'll see if i can find out anything about it.

 

[lavender]

Are you aware of the history of the term homosexual? I think that provides far more enlightenment with respect to the way society views same-sex relations than the slang term "gay."

It is interesting to me that it didn't really become acknowledged until the last few centuries.

In fact, I told this to someone who was religious once, and they said "No, they referred to 'homosexual' acts in The Bible."

They proceeded to open the Bible - the King James version - and sure enough, the term "homosexual" was never used.

Foucault's analysis of the evolution of the term homosexual is splendid.

 

[Queersetti]

Are you aware of the history of the term homosexual? I think that provides far more enlightenment with respect to the way society views same-sex relations than the slang term "gay."

It is interesting to me that it didn't really become acknowledged until the last few centuries.

In fact, I told this to someone who was religious once, and they said "No, they referred to 'homosexual' acts in The Bible."

They proceeded to open the Bible - the King James version - and sure enough, the term "homosexual" was never used.

Foucault's analysis of the evolution of the term homosexual is splendid.

I'm familiar with Foucault on the subject, but for those who aren't, in a nutshell, Foucault pointed out that prior to the 19th century, the idea of "homosexual" as a separate category of person was non-existent.

People may have been considered "sodomites" based on their behavior, but there was no concept of classifying individuals as a distinct type based on that behavior.

It's a hallmark of the Victorian era that they thought every phenomenon in nature and society could be clearly defined and classified. Foucault points out that this mania for classifying was not based in scientific objectivity, but was an exercise of social power, designed to maintain the primacy of the status quo.

 

[oujray]

palare

I heard a story about Palare on NPR the other day--the story seemed to suggest that the language wasn't just a gay hustler language but a language used to an entire gay subculture in Europe. Evidently, a lot of Palare words have become British slang terms.

 

[Etoile]

Mmmm, etymology. You're turning me on.

 

[Netzach]

I still take perverse pleasure in an exasperated Cary Grant in a frilly robe shouting "because I just went GAY all of a sudden!!"