I have a friend who insists the word "gay" was invented by homosexuals so they would be more accepted in society. She said it is even documented somewhere. I find this all rather difficult to believe but if someone can tell where this so-called documention is located, I will be open-minded and read it. That doesn't mean I have to belive it!
2007-03-01 16:21:49 · 18 answers · asked by txcutiepie 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
gay means happy or joyful as far as i know
2007-03-01 16:24:59 · answer #1 · answered by no_bsht 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gay means Happy ,
there were a lot of young bucks joking , drinking and wenching in the beer houses,in the 19th century who were called Gay caveliers,some of them were a bit over friendly with their friends as well
much later on after the midlle of the 20th century
homosexual adopted the word gay
there are still a lot of songs in the 50ties with the word gay meaning happy ,nothing to do with sexuality
gay as in homosexual is a very new meaning barely 40 years old or less
2007-03-01 16:28:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The use of the term gay, as it relates to homosexuality, arises from an extension of the sexualised connotation of "carefree and uninhibited", implying a willingness to disregard conventional or respectable sexual mores. Such usage is documented as early as the 1920s. It was initially more commonly used to imply heterosexually unconstrained lifestyles, as for example in the once-common phrase "gay Lothario",or in the title of the book and film The Gay Falcon (1941), which concerns a womanizing detective whose first name is "Gay". Well into the mid 20th century a middle-aged bachelor could be described as "gay" without any implication of homosexuality.
2007-03-01 16:25:44 · answer #3 · answered by Bonita Applebaum 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"the "good-natured word 'gay'" has been leading a double life. Although many people believe "gay" simply meant lighthearted or cheerful until it was shanghaied by the preverts, the truth is the word has long had a secondary connotation of sexual licentiousness. As early as 1637 the Oxford English Dictionary gives one meaning as "addicted to social pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose and immoral life"--whence, presumably, the term "gay blade." In the 1800s the term was used to refer to female prostitutes; to "gay it" meant "to copulate."
2007-03-01 16:27:50 · answer #4 · answered by Siren 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't think it was invented by homosexuals. I think gay, like queer, was used by heteros to describe individuals that may have been abnormally cheery or odd. I'm not sure if it was originally a derogatory term like it is now, but I know words like "fag" and "queer" have been reclaimed by some gay people. Maybe that's what your friend is referring to?
yahoo won't even let me write f a g...
2007-03-01 16:31:33 · answer #5 · answered by karen 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's not true. The word gay had another meaning before homosexual gave it a new meaning. look it up in the dictionary, you'll see the original meaning. It meant happy.
2007-03-01 16:26:13 · answer #6 · answered by IKB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
your friends just being an ***.....if that is documented somewhere it is recent document which means it not old enough to be believable....back in the day gay used to mean happy when u heard it not when u hear the word u think of queer......
2007-03-01 16:26:39 · answer #7 · answered by iyishab08 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The true definition of gay is to be happy or carefree. Homosexuals took this term made it their own and perverted it. Go ahead and hate me because I tell the truth.
2007-03-01 16:25:20 · answer #8 · answered by Jayson Kane 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually the first outwardly homosexual man was the infamous "Ben Gay" of San Francisco. Ben had to come out of the closet in order to explain to the doctor why he had a candlestick stuck in his butt.(The 49ers stadium was initial named in honor of him) Ben later became the inventor of the medicine named after him that acted as a lubricant with the added benefit of easing the pain that followed the trauma of having such a large projectile rammed in your anus.
2007-03-01 16:41:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
gay (gā)
adj., gay·er, gay·est.
1. Of, relating to, or having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex.
2. Showing or characterized by cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement; merry.
3. Bright or lively, especially in color: a gay, sunny room.
4. Given to social pleasures.
5. Dissolute; licentious.
n.
1. A person whose sexual orientation is to persons of the same sex.
2. A man whose sexual orientation is to men: an alliance of gays and lesbians.
[Middle English gai, lighthearted, brightly colored, from Old French, possibly of Germanic origin.]
2007-03-01 16:25:28 · answer #10 · answered by epimetheus2004 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Never heard of that document.
The first and only document I have ever seen with that word on it was my birth certificate!!!!!
It is my middle name!!! GAY!!! It means Joyful!!!!!
2007-03-01 16:28:21 · answer #11 · answered by GiGi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋