I'm just curious, in what year did the word gay change its meaning from happy to homosexual?
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It hasnt26% Voted for by petethemeat, Weydon, Kazrith, Dienush, cosmosis.
It is still used as happy but this is less common nowadays.
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Ha26% Voted for by Energizer Bunny, Weydon, Kazrith, cosmosis, Mainzy.
It was a gradual occurance. Like most words and trends, it evolved.
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.21% Voted for by cosmosis, black rose spirit, looking4realtruth, bob2314.
every one should stop making a big deal just because the word "gay" now is associated with homosexuals. get over it. plenty of words change over time to mean different things
life before the computer:
Memory was something you lost with old age
an application was for employment
a program was a tv show
a cursor was a person who used profanity
a keyboard was a piano
A web was a spider's home
A virus was a flu
A cd was a bank account
A hard drive was a long trip home
A mouse pad was a mouses home
And if you had a 3 1/2 inch floppy, you just hoped no-one ever found out...
even more:
SPAM was a tinned cold meat spread.
A site was where you built a house.
A link was part of a chain.
Home was where the family lived.
Click was the noise you could make with your fingers.
Return was a type of bus fare.
Search was what you did when you lost your keys or watch.
so all of these words changed but none of you would say anything about them being "high jacked" by computer companies or Bill Gates nor would any of you say that these words should only be used for their original meaning. so before you start blabbermouthing about how the word gay is being used "inapropriately", first look at these.
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1920s to 194010% Voted for by tieed, looking4realtruth.
The word homosexual was coined by Victorian-Era scientists to describe same-sex attraction, and they regarded it as a mental disorder or ailment. Due to this stigma the homosexual community began to use the word 'gay' instead. The transition of gay from meaning happy to reffering to a homosexual happened--probably--from 1920 to 1940. In the 17th century 'gay' began to have sexual connotations, and by the 1920s a few books and poems used the word to denote same-sex attraction or the subject experiencing it. Oscar Wilde also had a hand in it's transformation, as several of his works use the word and one of his venues was the Gaiety Theatre. In the 1930s the word was used in America, by Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby. Over time it started to be used by homosexuals in America as a way to identify each other. Another explaination is that it could come from the french word gaie--which was used as slang for a homosexual man. However, the true etymology of the word is a bit cloudy.
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Hijacked by homosexualsVoted for by wisdomsearch.
"Gay" is a perfectly lovely word. It irks me that I can no longer use it without conjuring up images of men performing "sex" acts on each other. I do not know who is responsible for the hijacking of this word. Was it the detractors of homosxuality, trying to mock the so=called idyllic "happiness" of homos? Or did homosexuals themselves steal this word to convince themselves and others what they were doing really led to happiness>
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Why call homosexuals "gay"?Voted for by rock on.
Probably during the same time that fag (a cigarette/ a stick) or faggot (a bundle of sticks) became appropriate to call homosexuals. Are these "names" supposed to be hurtful? Who came up w/ these terms that really don't make sense? Am I missing something? Please inform me if I am.
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your point is valuableVoted for by Wanderer1976.
The word gay shouldn't be used for homosexuals.....Rather, it must be used in its old meaning i.e. happy, free, lively, delighted etc.
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Kazrith
June 24, 2006
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March 23, 2007
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