I have a curious questions. Today we use the words gay, homosexual, lesbian, etc. Back in the day the word gay use to mean happy or glad. What were gay people called back in the 1800's, 1700's and so on and so forth? Is this too weird a question?
2006-11-02 11:54:54 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
sodomite - comes from biblical times,
fa99ot I am not sure of - but is certainly old - curiously Yahoo censored this word - hence modifying spelling. It is not used beig used in a derog way so hopefully not a problem
Just a minor point, from time to time, you will hear someone trot out the old sentence:-
"isn't is a shame/disgrace/etc that they hi-jacked the word "gay" - it used to be a lovely word" etc.
Well what they might not know is that the word gay comes from Plato's time - and at that time "gay" referred to the colourfully dressed homosexual young men as opposed to the rather dowdy looking girls.
A "gay youth" would be a homeosexual man, clad in beautifully coloured robes - and would typically be a happy, joyful character.
Over time, the straight community hi-jacked the word and made it refer to colourful / bright / cheerful things in general - but NOT homoeosexual.
All that happened is that the gay community finally took posession of the word back again for it's full range of meanings.
2006-11-05 13:20:24 · answer #1 · answered by Mark T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think back in the day they just used the words homosexual and homosexuality to describe same sex attraction. They were more on using the proper words instead of using slang.
2006-11-02 12:05:10 · answer #2 · answered by Allan M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Homosexual is actually a scientific term and not slang as you seem to think. Homo meaning same, which translates into being attracted to people of the same sex.
I have no idea what type of slang they used way back then, sorry.
2006-11-02 12:01:52 · answer #3 · answered by Rageling 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bent meant gay at one time.....there is a very powerful play called Bent WW2 era
Musical was a slang term once....but I don't remember when
Of course we all have seen the changes in usage around the word Queer over the years.
2006-11-02 12:08:12 · answer #4 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, i think that back in the day there were more people who stayed in the closet because they didnt really understand what they felt, but if they did use a word, i tihnk they would have used Homosexual, being as it isnt a slang word, just using homo is
2006-11-02 12:09:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
poof or poofter is what my not so understanding grandmother uses
f@g-get was the one my grandfather used
i don't know when that can in but they are pretty old and seem to speak proper
i find those words could be offensive but then again i thing the word gay is to.
2006-11-03 01:45:45 · answer #6 · answered by Zara3 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Clinton, Gore, Kerry, come to mind.
2006-11-02 14:15:03 · answer #7 · answered by scary g 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I dont reckon they called them anything, they wouldnt have lived long enough, they would've been hung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2006-11-02 12:35:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋