"Gay" is only "cheerful".

In old times the word "gay" meant only "cheerful","sprightly","vivacious","blithe" , "bright" ...
In those years for many peoples "Gay" was a nice first name.
Now "Gay" is for omosexual person.
Was possible an alternate term for "omosexual" different from "gay"?
(please,none vulgarity.
Thanks).
 
Yes, because language is flexible etc.

I have no idea what importance this may have later on if any. Why do you ask?
 
Actually, the sky is the limit here. Given the number of new words that were coined in the fifties and sixties (beatnik, hippie, groovy and more) it is surprising they would choose to re-define an established word.
 
Actually, the sky is the limit here. Given the number of new words that were coined in the fifties and sixties (beatnik, hippie, groovy and more) it is surprising they would choose to re-define an established word.

It's, IIRC, because gay was used as a code word by homosexuals to identify each other back when leaving the closet invited arrest.

For the OP I submit "Homies" as the ATL gay self-identifier...for teh ir0neez. :D
 
It's, IIRC, because gay was used as a code word by homosexuals to identify each other back when leaving the closet invited arrest.

For the OP I submit "Homies" as the ATL gay self-identifier...for teh ir0neez. :D
I've always liked my own theory that 'gay fella' is a variant of 'faygella' (the latter being a Yiddish term for the same thing). I seem to remember that my theory was shot down in flames by reference to facts, b/u/t/ I/ d/o/n't/ c/a/r/e/, it's a fun theory.

translate the Yiddish: Birdy?
 
It was at least in use back to the 1930s. Here's a clip from Bringing Up Baby that is very possibly its first use in the mainstream to mean homosexual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A8U6aUPW48

The story I've heard is that it was used in LA to advertise in the paper for like-minded roommates. "Gay 30-something seeks, etc."

If the beginning is that arbitrary you can imagine another adjective being picked. Neat or carefree or quiet or anything really.
 
In old times the word "gay" meant only "cheerful","sprightly","vivacious","blithe" , "bright" ...
In those years for many peoples "Gay" was a nice first name.
Now "Gay" is for omosexual person.
Was possible an alternate term for "omosexual" different from "gay"?
(please,none vulgarity.
Thanks).

Sorry for the nitpick, but it's homosexual, not omosexual. Omo- refers to the shoulder, so omosexual would be an odd construction indeed. (Noted because the usage of that twice indicated pattern and your posting suggests a non-native English to the ESL teacher. Hope you don't mind the correction. :))

As to the word gay, it has a pretty established history of "immoral" meaning.

The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1637.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gay

But, maybe glad would do? It's similar in sound and has some entertaining double entendre possibilities, such as glad hand and glad rags.

Actually, the sky is the limit here. Given the number of new words that were coined in the fifties and sixties (beatnik, hippie, groovy and more) it is surprising they would choose to re-define an established word.

Gay was already well in use by the fifties and sixties, but yeah, otherwise, spot on.

Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gay

I've always liked my own theory that 'gay fella' is a variant of 'faygella' (the latter being a Yiddish term for the same thing). I seem to remember that my theory was shot down in flames by reference to facts, b/u/t/ I/ d/o/n't/ c/a/r/e/, it's a fun theory.

translate the Yiddish: Birdy?

Interestingly, the Online Etymology Dictionary suggests that it "may also be reinforced by Yiddish faygele 'homosexual,' lit. 'little bird.'"
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fag

Do note that's reinforced by, not derived from.
 
The word "homosexual" has an H in it.

If you want a substitute euphemism then I guess it could be just about anything. Maybe if you want a word that is very close in meaning to "gay", perhaps "merry"?

Or maybe in the same way that "lesbian" is a reference to Sappho having come from the island of Lesbos, maybe there'd be a similarly historical euphemism for men. Like "athenian" or something, for Athens in Ancient Greece.
 
The word "homosexual" has an H in it.

If you want a substitute euphemism then I guess it could be just about anything. Maybe if you want a word that is very close in meaning to "gay", perhaps "merry"?

Or maybe in the same way that "lesbian" is a reference to Sappho having come from the island of Lesbos, maybe there'd be a similarly historical euphemism for men. Like "athenian" or something, for Athens in Ancient Greece.

Greek would work - even now "Greek" is slang for anal intercourse. Ohohoh, I just got a good one - "Platonic"! That would work well with the Greek aspect and with Expat's idea.
 
Greek would work - even now "Greek" is slang for anal intercourse. Ohohoh, I just got a good one - "Platonic"! That would work well with the Greek aspect and with Expat's idea.

Now let's take it one step beyond: what term would one then use to refer to an acquaintance of the opposite sex with whom one has an intellectual (as opposed to physical) relationship; i.e., that which is termed "platonic" in the real world? "Intellectual" is too pretentious for my money; perhaps in keeping with the Greek theme such a relation might be termed "Socratic"?
 
The word "homosexual" has an H in it.

If you want a substitute euphemism then I guess it could be just about anything. Maybe if you want a word that is very close in meaning to "gay", perhaps "merry"?

Or maybe in the same way that "lesbian" is a reference to Sappho having come from the island of Lesbos, maybe there'd be a similarly historical euphemism for men. Like "athenian" or something, for Athens in Ancient Greece.

"Theban" from the Sacred Band of Thebes. The Sacred Band
 
ISTR reading somewhere - I don't have the book(s) to hand at the moment - that "gay" already had a somewhat pejorative sexual meaning in pre-20th-century times, though not related to homosexuality as such.
 
Gay just meaning happy would be simple. Just pick another codeword.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

You should check this out for some likely candidates. They use 'blue', 'fruit', 'HP', meaning Homy Polone or effeminate gay man, 'so', as in 'is he so?', and a few others could be stretched into it.

Actually, looking over this article there are loads of words from here in common use, at least in the UK and Ireland.
 
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