did gay always mean, well....gay?

So, it could have been a bit gay, but not 'very' gay in the more modern palare.

However, it is very cheerful and fun and so on.

But "gay" also meant "gay" as in "delightful" for quite a while there. So it's hard to say.

Let's put it this way: if Cole Porter had used the word "gay" in a song in the 40s or even 30s (or even 20s) he would have meant it in both senses.

(Always nice to see you drop in, Erik. How is the drawing going?)

I was just reading an article about this, I wish I could remember where.

"Gay" as in lively or merry has been around since Middle English.

Your search - gay handover - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:
- Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.
- Try fewer keywords.

Well I'm pretty certain that in the mid-to-late-ish 20th-century Soviet Union there existed textbooks of English whose Lesson One started with lines like "It is the 1st of September. Young boys and girls are going to school, all fresh and gay."

1178, "full of joy or mirth," from O.Fr. gai "gay, merry," perhaps from Frank. *gahi (cf. O.H.G. wahi "pretty"). Meaning "brilliant, showy" is from c.1300. Slang for "homosexual" (adj.) is first recorded 1951, apparently shortened from gey cat "homosexual boy," attested in N. Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang;" the term gey cat (gey is a Scot. variant of gay) was used as far back as 1893 in Amer.Eng. for "young hobo," one who is new on the road and usually in the company of an older tramp, with catamite connotations. But Josiah Flynt ["Tramping With Tramps," 1905] defines gay cat as, "An amateur tramp who works when his begging courage fails him" Gey cats were also said to be tramps who offered sexual services to women. The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays. The word gay in the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1637. Gay as a noun meaning "a (usually male) homosexual" is attested from 1971.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/ (near the bottom)

A guy from here?:

http://www.naturalist.co.uk/maps/Lesbos.gif

I'll never hear the Flintstones theme the same way again.

"WE'll HAVE A GAY OLD TIIIIIIIME!"

Maybe they had the cold.

@ned & chris: hello sailors!

"Gay" = gay just went mainstream after Stonewall. I remember John Simon lamenting the loss of "gay" in its old meaning. Dude, it wasn't that great a word...

I'm writing about something that I want to describe as "popular among gays." Something about the baldness of "gay" as a noun is bothering me, though.

Strangely, I don't have the same issue with "popular among gays and lesbians." But I'm not sure that's the language I want to use.

"...gay people"? "...homosexuals"? Help.

"in the gay community"?

those fancy dans

Don't worry about it, jaymc. Besides, we're not a "community."

as long as gays can claim a fucko like me as one of their own, we won't be a community.

"Gays" is fine.

"popular among gaybros"

I hate being called a "gay"

"in the gay community" is more ~correct~ but i'm w/alfred, always disliked the term.

"homosexuals" is kind of hilariously clinical, though. Use that. Or the word "queer"

gives boners to guys who normally give boners to each other (>_o)

"something kevin spacey would probably like, ~just sayin~"

popular w/ the rainbow flag brigade

catamites, sodomites – fine with me.

in the sphere of the queer

"popular among friends of Dorothy"

"known to appeal to chutney-ferrets"?

"boffo with buggers"?

"in among inverts"?

"inverts" is so awesome. Yay, Proust!

Don't worry about it, jaymc. Besides, we're not a "community."

Yes, I wanted to avoid the implication of monolithicism.

"with a notable gay following"

I hate being called a "gay"

I would never use it in an individual context -- as in "Stevie, a local gay, told me..." -- because this reduces you to your sexual orientation. But pluralizing it in the context of a anonymous group seems to make it more acceptable, because that's what binds the group, that's the only reason the group is being talked about as a group.

Yes, I wanted to avoid the implication of monolithicism.

isn't the original statement the kind of generalisation that implies this already though?

i guess i might go for "...with a significant gay following" or something: conveys what you want it to without implying that every gay is a follower

"with a notable gay following"

I like that in general.

However, I now have to admit that I didn't give you guys the exact wording.

It's actually, "...earned a loyal following, especially among teenagers and ____"

(You now may be able to guess what I'm writing about.)

isn't the original statement the kind of generalisation that implies this already though?

Yeah, probably. It's tough.

Yeah, the statement already implies a singular viewpoint, so I'd go with 'gay community' or 'gay people', rather than just 'gays'.

are you writing about nicki minaj?

Ha, no. About Glee.

(And, fwiw, my editor was the one who wanted me to insert this.)

ugh fuck glee fuck glee fuck glee, it does not have THIS gay following. fwiw a minor bugbear of mine recently has been seeing it associated with the gays!

i was gonna guess "sex"

OK, just talked to another editor, and we decided to kill any mention of demographics at all. Which I think is probably the best decision.

gays totally love glee

i was gonna guess amyl nitrate tho

transcontinental side-eye for plax

OK, just talked to another editor, and we decided to kill any mention of demographics at all

thumbs up

loooool @ amyl nitrate though. But no, it's true, Glee and Gaga seem to have become these huge signifiers of "the gay community" (the social one where ppl immerse themselves in being gay)

idk maybe the person who said it didnt realise that y was not out or gay or w/e and their blitheness implied that the closet as a barrier was sortof nbd w/n that soc. space.

uh wrong thread

lol max

I wish teenagers were into amyl nitrate.

I had no idea Glee had a huge gay following, apparently church-attending conservative homebodies are all gay.

The only thing I know about Glee is teens who like it dress like Orville Redenbacher. I say this with confidence as I get all my Teen News from "Gil Thorpe":

http://joshreads.com/images/11/01/i110105gilthorp.jpg

Gil hasn't had a plot about poppers yet...I will let you know if it happens. It seems like the kind of thing that would happen in Milford.

all i do is talk about glee to ppl

Back in my day, Glee used to mean happy...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/3749157820_606af569e4.jpg?v=0