The Rittenhouse Review

A Philadelphia Journal of Politics, Finance, Ethics, and Culture


Monday, December 01, 2003  

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT THE MEANING OF “GAY” IS
Take Your Pick, Hicks

The definition of “gay,” according to the first dictionary I pulled off my bookshelves (the Scribner-Bantam English Dictionary), is:

gay [OF gai] adj 1 light-hearted; joyous; 2 showy, bright-colored; 3 dissipated, dissolute; 4 colloq homosexual || SYN lively, merry, sportive (see cheerful, showy)

If it weren’t sad enough that certain people can’t cope with a word in their native tongue that can convey the meanings listed in both definitions one and four, above, now it seems we must add this as well:

5 colloq, regional a bad word (see vulgarity, swear word, curse)

Guess it’s time to get a new dictionary.

If anyone in Louisiana has an, ahem, up-to-date local edition he can spare, please let me know.

(Link via Atios.)

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