Dick Lesch’s Gui to Seventi Gay Slang | The New Yorker

Contents:

• QUEER LGO 101: DEDG GAY SLANG FOR THE STRAIGHT CROWDEXPAND YOUR VOBULARY AND UNRSTANDG WH A SASSY, RMATIVE GUI TO LGBTQ+ TERMOLOGY.NATHAN CHEN·FOLLOW4 M READ·APR 17--SHAREPHOTO BY NICK FEWGS ON UNSPLASHHEY THERE, STRAIGHT IENDS! SO, YOU’VE FOUND YOURSELF THE FABULO WORLD OF QUEER LANGUAGE, AND NOW YOU’RE LOST? FEAR NOT! IT’S TIME TO S DOWN, GRAB A CUP OF TEA, AND LET’S SPILL ALL. WE’RE ABOUT TO DIVE TO THE WORLD OF GAY SLANGS, WH A HEFTY DOSE OF HUMOR, EXAMPL, AND EVEN SOME STRAIGHT-WORLD REFERENC FOR YOUR FORT. AND OF URSE, WE’RE KEEPG SASSY, HONEY!YAAAS!
• 12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!
• GAY SLANG 101
• THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?
• DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

QUEER LGO 101: DEDG GAY SLANG FOR THE STRAIGHT CROWDEXPAND YOUR VOBULARY AND UNRSTANDG WH A SASSY, RMATIVE GUI TO LGBTQ+ TERMOLOGY.NATHAN CHEN·FOLLOW4 M READ·APR 17--SHAREPHOTO BY NICK FEWGS ON UNSPLASHHEY THERE, STRAIGHT IENDS! SO, YOU’VE FOUND YOURSELF THE FABULO WORLD OF QUEER LANGUAGE, AND NOW YOU’RE LOST? FEAR NOT! IT’S TIME TO S DOWN, GRAB A CUP OF TEA, AND LET’S SPILL ALL. WE’RE ABOUT TO DIVE TO THE WORLD OF GAY SLANGS, WH A HEFTY DOSE OF HUMOR, EXAMPL, AND EVEN SOME STRAIGHT-WORLD REFERENC FOR YOUR FORT. AND OF URSE, WE’RE KEEPG SASSY, HONEY!YAAAS!

Acrdg to Pl Baker, a lguist at Lanster Universy England, the word n be traced to Polari, “a secret form of language, ed mostly by gay men, which flourished the early 20th century” the Uned Kgdom. Baker, who has wrten two books on Polari, cludg “Fantabulosa: A Dictnary of Polari and Gay Slang, ” the language is the product of “a very plited and nonlear cha” of events.

12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!

Baker said, Polari was spoken throughout the gay muny Bra, which had been driven unrground by the untry’s laws policg sexual Baker said the language allowed gay men to munite ankly and intify one another, but wh s irreprsible jnts, also celebrated the ctoms and spir of a margalized muny. Jonathon Green, who has spent the last 40ish years workg on a prehensive onle dictnary of slang, ced early age of the word — spelled as “zhoosh”— a 1977 article om the Brish newspaper Gay News: “We would zhoosh [‘fix’] our riahs [‘hair’], powr our eeks [‘fac’], climb to our bona [‘nice’] new drag [‘cloth’], don our batts [‘sho’] and troll off [‘cise’] to some bona bijou [‘nice, small’] bar.

”“It was gradually this ‘stylg’ sense that beme the domant one, possibly bee was more eful for gay men, ” Mr. Baker the 1960s, Polari shot to mastream awarens thanks to BBC rad’s popular edy program “Round the Horne, ” which followed the mpy adventur of out-of-work theater actors Julian and Sandy, played by Kenh Williams and Hugh Paddick, gay ins of Brish entertament. Green is tertg to note that the word’s current rurgence n largely be attributed to that bastn of 21st-century gay culture, “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, ” on which viewers lighted Carson Krsley admonishg his hapls new subject to “jje” up an ensemble by poppg a llar or rollg up a sleeve.

Though still means “dramatic” or “over the top, ” many members of the gay muny view the abily to be over the top wh their sexualy as liberatg.

GAY SLANG 101

The publitns clu Xtra, an onle Canadian magaze sharg news and opns om the LGBTQ muny, and cyXtra, a Florida-based onle gay news and opn publitn. Many untri around the world have their own versn of queer slang, om Brish gay slang rived om the rhymg slang Polari to beki – the Philipp’ queer language that borrows om a slew of sourc, cludg pop culture, Japane, Spanish, and the untry’s lol languag. While the gay slang terms and languag serve jt as much attentn, one article wouldn’t be enough to ver everythg.

To hi their inti pla sight of other queer people, gay and bisexual men would refer to each other wh nam. But the Onle Slang Dictnary c 1960s gay male culture as the earlit known source, particularly rtoonist Joe Johnson’s characters “Miss Thg” and “Big Dick”, which appeared early issu of The Advote. Homosexualy remaed illegal across the Uned Stat the mid-twentieth century – that is, until Illois beme the first state to crimalize same-sex relatns 1962.

In the 60s and 70s, gay men even had a “hanky ” – a system that volved wearg bandanas wh lors that signified whether you were a top, bottom, to BDSM, etc. One of the most well-known phras to e out of this time is “iend of Dorothy”, which is for a gay man. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy the film, was also a queer in who patronized gay bars and often surround herself wh queer iends.

THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?

In the 60s, Lesch was the print of a gay rights anizatn lled the Mattache Society and me up wh the “Sip-In” – a monstratn held at New York Cy bars that banned service to out gay people.

Lesch scribed nti as “agg or middle-aged homosexuals, offtim effemate character” and people of “settled meanor who utns agast temperate acts”. “Fl” is a 50s slang term for a gay person that was popularized by the novel Catcher the Rye. Another siar term, “light the loafers”, is a somewhat rogatory phrase that is ed to scribe someone who acts or appears to be gay.

The drag fai beme a refuge for gay, trans, and genr non-nformg youth who were turned away by their own fai or experienced homelsns due to poverty.

DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

We’re about to dive to the world of gay slangs, wh a hefty dose of humor, exampl, and even some straight-world referenc for your fort.