LGBT slang

LGBT slang, LGBT speak or gay slang is a set of slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBT people. It has been used in various languages, including English and Japanese since the early 1900s as a means by which members of the LGBT community can identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to other LGBTs.[1][2]

Summary

Because of sodomy laws and threat of prosecution due to the criminalization of homosexuality, LGBT slang also serves as an argot, a secret language and a way for the LGBT community to communicate with each other publicly without revealing their sexual orientation to others.[2][3][4]

Cultural research

Since the advent of queer studies in universities, LGBT slang and argot has become a subject of academic research among linguistic anthropology scholars.[5]

Cultural impact

Many terms that originated as gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. For example, the word drag was popularized by Hubert Selby, Jr. in his book Last Exit to Brooklyn. "Drag" has been traced back by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the late 19th Century. Conversely, words such as banjee, while well-established in a subset of gay society, have never made the transition to popular use.

English

Slang is ephemeral. Terms used in one generation may pass out of usage in another. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the terms "cottage" (UK) and "tearoom" (US) were used to denote public toilets used for sex. By 1999, this terminology had fallen out of use to the point of being greatly unrecognisable by members of the LGBT community at large.[6]

United Kingdom

During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres with established LGBT communities.[7][8]

Although there are differences, modern gay slang has adopted many Polari words, as detailed in the table below:

Source: Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang[9]
Glossary of gay slang taken from Polari
Word Approximate meaning
basket the bulge of male genitals visible through clothing
bear a large, often hairy man
bumming the act of anal sex
chicken/fox/twink young man
cottaging having or looking for sex in a public toilet
cub a young bear
gym bunny/Muscle Mary A person who works out merely for aesthetics
Hada Blow-Job
Kuda speaking
howdy touching another male/female's behind
Uros Anal Sex
wolf a man who tends to fall evenly between a fox/twink and a bear/cub
zhoosh style
twink usually young or young-looking, bodily-hairless man

North America

The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang of the time.

Scruff launched a Gay Slang Dictionary app in January 2014.[10] It includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community. Some of these cross over with the British slang, and some are only American.

Source: Scruff - Gay Slang Dictionary[11]
Glossary of U.S. gay slang taken from Scruff
Word Approximate meaning
bear a large, often hairy man
bear chaser a man who pursues bears
bottom the receptive sexual partner, receives rather than gives
Cub typically heavier, hairier, and younger gay man.
daddy typically an older financially established gay man
discreet gay man who is reserved, private, or secretive about his identity
kink non-standard sexual activity, fetish, or interest.
NSA no strings attached; casual sex.
otter thinner, hairier gay man
poz HIV positive person
top the inserting sexual partner, gives rather than receives
twink a small, often bodily-hairless guy

H. Max published a short book including gays language in the late 80s. It also includes commonly used slang terms in the United States from the gay community.

Source: Max, Gay(s) Language[12]
Glossary of U.S. gay slang taken from Max
Word Approximate meaning
Angel food Air Force serviceman
Artiste gay who excels at fellatio
ass blow to lick and/or suck anus as opposed to blow job
Auntie older, often effeminate, gossipy gay
baby butch young boyish lesbian
balls testicles
bang, to active role in anal or vaginal intercourse
basket male genitalia
baths, the bathhouses frequented by gays for sexual encounters
bathsheba gay who frequents gay bathhouses
B/D bondage and discipline
beach bitch gay who frequents beaches and resoles for sexual encounters
bean queen non-Latin gay who seeks Latin males - from rice-and-beans in Latin cuisine
beat off to masturbate
beatmeat masturbation and/or ejaculated penis
beef gravy semen
beefcake masculine male
bent gay as opposed to straight
bilingual to lick and/or suck penis and anus
BJ blow job
black jack black penis
blind, to make see to fellate uncircumcised penis
blind cock uncircumcised penis
blinds foreskin
blinds, to draw the to fellate uncircumcised penis
blow job fellatio as opposed to ass blow
blueberry pie sailor
bone penis
bottom man passive partner in anal intercourse as opposed to top man
box female genitalia
boygul girlish youth
brown out to lick and/or suck anus
brown, to to perform anal intercourse
brownie queen gay who prefers passive role in anal intercourse
brush teeth, to to perform fellation
bucket boy passive partner in anal intercourse
bugger, to to perform anal intercourse
bull dyke mannish lesbian as opposed to baby butch or dinky dyke
bung hole anus
buns buttocks
butch masculine appearance and/or behavior as opposed to femme, nelly or swish
butcher knife penis
buttplug sex toy designed to be inserted in rectum
cafeteria repeated fellatio in backroom or bathhouse
camp, to to act effeminate, bitchy
campy effeminate, bitchy
candy cane penis
casting couch seduction with promises of career advancement
catcher passive partner in anal intercourse as opposed to pitcher
cha-cha queen effeminate Latin gay
cheeks buttocks
cheese dried accumulation underneath unclean foreskin
chicken underage boy
chicken dinner to fellate underage boy
chicken hawk gay who preys on underage boys
chicken queen gay who seeks underage boys
chubby chaser gay who seeks obese males
circle jerk group multiple masturbation
clone San Francisco/New York Greenwich Village gay type with exaggerated macho behavior and appearance
closet, in the to deny one's homosexuality as opposed to come out
closet queen gay who hides his homosexuality
clusterfuck group gay sex
cock penis
cock ring pubic ring used to prolong erection
cocksucker one who practices fellatio, also gay male
cum semen
come out to admit one's homosexuality as opposed to in the closet
cum, to to ejaculate
comedrum condom
Copenhagen capon transsexual
cornhole, to to perform anal intercourse
cream semen
cruise, to to seek a casual gay sex encounter
cum semen
cupcakes small, well-rounded buttocks
curtains foreskin
curtains, to draw the to fellate uncircumcised penis
cut circumcised

Other slang that is not included in either.

Source: N/A
LGBT Slang
Word Approximate meaning
Power Bottom Dominant in bed, but receives rather than gives
Spaghetti Someone who is straight until in a sexual situation with the same sex

Japanese

Although many slang words used in modern Japan are "loanwords" from American English, many native Japanese slang words remain in Japan's LGBT community such as the term "okoge", which serves the same purpose of the English slang word, "fag hag" – a "woman whose friends are mostly homosexual men".[2] Although the literal English translation of okoge is burnt rice that sticks to the bottom of a pot, it is a reference to the Japanese equivalent to "faggot", okama (御釜, お釜, or 御竈; pot).[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Paul Baker (2002). Polari – The Lost Manguage of Gay Men. Routledge. p. 119. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Long, Daniel: "Formation Processes of Some Japanese Gay Argot Terms", American Speech, Vol. 71, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 215–224. Duke University Press, 1996.
  3. ↑ Ken Cage and Moyra Evans (2003). Gayle: The Language of Kinks and Queens: A History and Dictionary of Gay Language in South Africa. Jacana Media. p. 16. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Lena Hamaida (2007). "Subtitling Slang and Dialect" (PDF). EU High Level Scientific Conference. p. 5. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  5. ↑ Proschan, Frank: "Review: Recognizing Gay and Lesbian Speech", American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 164–166.
  6. ↑ Leap, William, ed.: Public Sex/Gay Space, Columbia University Press, 1999. p. 61.
  7. ↑ Paul Baker (2002). Polari – The Lost Language of Gay Men. Routledge. p. 1. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  8. ↑ Quinion, Michael (1996). "How bona to vada your eek!". WorldWideWords. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  9. ↑ Paul Baker (2002). Fantabulosa: The Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. Continuum. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  10. ↑ "SCRUFF, Gay App, Launches 'Gay Slang Dictionary'". Huffington Post. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Scruff, Gay Slang Dictionary". Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Gay(s) Language: A Dic(k)tionary of Gay Slang. Banned Books. 1 January 1988. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-934411-15-8.
  13. ↑ McLelland, Mark (2000). "Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern Japan". Intersections: Gender, History & Culture in the Asian Context (3). Retrieved 24 February 2007.

Further reading

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