Gay Defn & Meang - Merriam-Webster

Contents:

• GAY (ADJ.)
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY
• THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• THE MEANG OF GAY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO USE IT
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• THE ORIG OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ S HOMOSEXUAL NTEXT

GAY (ADJ.)

240]The associatn wh (male) homosexualy likely got a boost om the term gay t, ed as far back as 1893 Amerin English for "young hobo, " one who is new on the road, also one who sometim do jobs. Gay ts were severely and celly abed by "real" tramps and bums, who nsired them "an ferr orr of begs who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum — as were a jackal followg up the kg of beasts" [Prof.

McCook, "Tramps, " "The Public Treatment of Pperism, " 1893], but some acunts report certa olr tramps would domate a gay t and employ him as a sort of slave. In "Soclogy and Social Rearch" (1932-33) a paragraph on the "gay t" phenomenon not, "Homosexual practic are more mon than rare this group, " and gey t "homosexual boy" is attted Noel Erske's 1933 dictnary of "Unrworld & Prison Slang" (gey is a Sttish variant of gay) "Dictnary of Amerin Slang" reports that gay (adj. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] not a male prostute g gay reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostut) London's notor Cleveland Street Sndal of 1889.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

[John Boswell, "Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy, " 1980]As a teen slang word meang "bad, ferr, unsirable, " whout reference to sexualy, om (n.

In the 1890s, the term “gey t” (a Sttish variant of gay) was ed to scribe a vagrant who offered sexual servic to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and the pany of an olr man.

GAY

In 1951, gay appeared the Oxford English Dictnary for the first time as slang for homosexual, but was most likely ed this way “unrground” at least 30 years earlier.

THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’

” This le (ad-libbed by Grant) n be terpreted to mean that he was behavg a happy-go-lucky or lighthearted way but is accepted by many as the first e of gay to mean homosexual a mastream movie.

When gay is ed today to mean stupid or unsirable ( has only been ed this way sce the 1990s), rri wh a history of negative judgment and rigid ias about who or what is acceptable. The word “gay” seems to have s origs around the 12th century England, rived om the Old French word ‘gai’, which turn was probably rived om a Germanic word, though that isn’t pletely known.

Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostute and a gay man was someone who slept wh a lot of women (ironilly enough), often prostut. In terms of the sexual meang of the word, a “gay man” no longer jt meant a man who had sex wh a lot of women, but now started to refer to men who had sex wh other men.

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

Gay men themselv seem to have been behd the drivg thst for this new fn as they felt (and many still do), that “homosexual” is much too clil, soundg like a disorr.

As such, was mon amongst the gay muny to refer to one another as “gay” s before this was a monly known fn (reportedly homosexual men were llg one another gay as early as the 1920s). Sce then, gay, meang homosexual male, has steadily driven out all the other fns that have floated about through time and of urse also has gradually begun supplementg the word ‘lbian’ as referrg to women who are homosexual.

THE MEANG OF GAY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO USE IT

Bee even mentng someone was a homosexual was so offensive at the time England, people who were thought to be gay were referred to as “sporty” wh girls and “artistic” for boys. That same year, Pieters beme a natnal spokperson for AIDS awarens and gay polil activism after his historic terview wh televangelist Tammy Faye on her broadst, which fied the work's homophobic tennci. Jenna Lyons, the first openly gay hoewife, and Jsel Taank, the first Indian hoewife, jo the diverse st tend to better reprent all of the different kds of New Yorkers.

As our age note on the term stat, “up until 1973, homosexualy was listed The Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM), psychiatry’s standard reference on the classifitn of mental illns. ” In fact, the term homosexual was liberately rejected by early gay rights activists bee, acrdg to The New York Tim, “they did not want to be intified as exclively sexual begs. Gay, on the other hand, n be ed to scribe a person of any genr who experienc same-sex attractn, although is most often ed to scribe a man who is attracted to men.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

On June 28, 1969, the New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a bar equented by gay and genr-nonnformg people (at a time when terms like LGBTQ didn’t yet exist). Queer lerally means “strange or odd om a nventnal viewpot, ” and by at least by the late 1800s, queer was ployed as a rogatory term for an effemate or gay man. It’s Pri Month and one of the most lourful words the English language – wh more makeovers than Madonna and more dramatic life stori than Liza Mnelli – is the word ‘gay’!

Like every hero, ‘gay’ has an orig story, but even today, scholars are disagreement over the precise journey took to reach the level of fame (or famy) mands nowadays. Sometime between the 11th and late 15th centuri, ‘gai’ crossed the English Channel and end up as ‘gay’, but kept s French meangs – ‘cheerful’, ‘happy’, ‘merry’, and ‘lively’. By the 1970s, the term ‘gay man’ had bee firmly entrenched s current meang, referrg only to ‘homosexual men’, which was a far cry om jt a hundred years earlier, when meant ‘womaniser’ or ‘sexually unhibed man’.

’ This age is found most often among younger mal North Ameri/the UK and rearch shows that young men wh iends the LGBTQ+ muny e the word ‘gay’ a much ls pejorative way than those whout.

THE ORIG OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ S HOMOSEXUAL NTEXT

Adjective, gay·er, gay·, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr: A gay uple strolled by on the, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted only to people of their own sex or genr: Gay and bisexual men are both discsed this, ditg, or supportg terts or issu pertag to gay people or the gay muny: He giv charable ntributns to a gay anizatn.

A person, pecially a man, who is sexually or romantilly attracted exclively to people of the same sex or of gay1First rerd 1275–1325; Middle English gai, om Old French “happy, cheerful, ” om Germanic; pare Old High German gāhi “fast, sudn”age alert For gayThe sexual orientatn meang of the word gay has bee so predomant that people hate to e the term s origal sens of “merry, lively” and “bright or showy. After World War II, as social attus toward sexualy began to change, gay was applied openly by gay men to themselv, first as an adjective and later as a noun.

Other words om gaygay·ns, nounnon·gay, adjectiveWords Nearby gaygawkgawkygawpGawragawsygayGayagayalGaya MaretangayatrigaydarOther fns for Gay (2 of 2)nounJohn, 1685–1732, English poet and dramatist.