| Huh?
Welcome to Australia, 1900. When a faggot was a bundle of
sticks and a poof was a stout, free'standing cushion to
rest feet on and to be gay was to be joyous, not "flamboyant"
as the media now likes to euphemise.
So
how did these innocent words morph into insults and are
they insults still? The 'fag' story goes like this: once
upon a time, which frighteningly was not so long ago, it
was considered evil for men to be attracted to fellow men.
So vigilante groups would hold witch hunts where homosexuals
were sought, tied to posts and burned alive. The fuel to
light these fires were the aforementioned bundles of sticks
called faggots and this term was then extended to include
the men they helped to kill. Not the nicest of fairytales
is it?
The
derogatory term, 'poof', first came into use in 1817 and
'poofter' entered Aussie slang at the beginning of the 20th
century. However, in an attempt to reclaim the names that
condemn, like 'wogs' before them, homosexual men in the
21st century can be heard calling each other 'silly old
poofs' and wearing the label proudly. Fowler's Modern English
Usage says that 'gay' was a self'ascribed term too. When
it first came to mean homosexual in 1935, the gay community
"wanted the public at large to use it too", instead of the
derogatory alternatives.
Now,
gay hardly means homosexual at all. "Ugh, that's so gay"
is more or less a translation of "that's pretty pathetic"
and even this meaning is changing. With chick mags labelling
'fag hags' as hip and 'gay' (yes, all things categorised
gay ' lesbianism, fashion, token friends) as in vogue, the
connotations of the word will adapt further. But for now,
'gay' is slowly returning to its asexual state even if it's
in a new, not so happy form.
So
what's left to offend us? 'Fuck'? It's lost shock value
and no one really gives a fuck about people's sensibilities
when saying it any more. 'Cunt'? Well this one still draws
a gasp from a lot of women and maybe a bit of a 'bitch'slap'
if used in reference to one present. But hang on, The
Macquarie Dictionary gives one definition of 'cunt' as
"sexual intercourse". What the fuck? How is it that so
many offensive words just end up meaning the same thing?
Like
'bugger', for instance. Lazy bugger, little fucker and
stupid cunt all mean the same thing now. Just an affectionate
assessment of a friend really, if said with list or a
gentle half'smile.
So
what's next? In the 90s we were singing, "I'm a bitch,
I'm a lover", in the noughties, it's "Fuck you, I don't
want you back". Who knows, maybe soon, we'll be naming
our kids Cunt, instead of that lovely girl's name of old,
Gay. How words change.
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