A gay meaning

However, around the early parts of the 17th century, the word began to be associated with immorality. Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostitute and a gay man was someone who slept with a lot of women ironically enoughoften prostitutes.

Those were just accepted definitions, along with the other meanings of the word. Around the s and s, however, the word started to have a new meaning. Bythe word gay now officially acquired the new added definition of meaning homosexual males. At this time, homosexual women were referred to as lesbians, not gay.

Enjoy this article? Your article left out some important information. While the use of gay did become used in reference to homosexuality in much the way you say, it was by far NOT the most common term in use, nor the prefered term prior to about The name chosen by this important early activist group is the main reason gay became the politically correct term instead of any of the many more common terms in use before then.

Says exactly what it is! Being physically and emotionally desirable of men, is only a portion of who we are. We needed something to help us feel a sense of belonging. The original Bible was written in Hebrew, then it was translated into Greek, then eventually it was translated into over different languages including English.

Actually, you are wrong. Also it meant frolicsome, impetuous, lascivious and lewd almost like a leprechaun or some clown like archetype. Happy but in the superficial sense is what the word gay came from. I guess some people are just overly PC, which is annoying because they can come across as quite self-righteous sometimes, and I despise self-righteousness with the passion….

We also, in America, use the term gay in a negative way. More so within heteronormative culture by straight people. I personally want to redefine what gayness means. Great response Pat Smith. Google it and join us. Heels and Hills is not to be missed. Is was great to see that Doma is No-mora.

A victory, but the work continues. I was born in and, from earliest youth, have always been deeply interested a gay meaning English-language usage and also majored and minored in foreign languages. Sir, your article a gay meaning some errors, probably because you relied, not on personal experience, but on untrustworthy sources.

The history of the word “gay”

There is no such thing as an official definition in English because there is no governing style. The only way something can be official in language is if there is a governing party that regulates it, and that is not the function of a dictionary or style guide. I have a four-year a gay meaning degree in English and study lexicography, particularly descriptive linguistics.

There is zero evidence whatsoever to support the idea that there is such a thing as an official definition of a word, only the most popular way people have been observed to use a word in the past. Dictionary entries for words themselves are listed in that order because lexicographers who research past word usage keep tabs on how frequently particular words are used and how they are used by observation, not by rules and the first definition is the most popular way to use it, the second the second-most, and so on, down to a threshold the publisher arbitrarily on their own decides is low enough to stop listing.