...and miles to go before I sleep.

Oh I adore that poem olddude, it always brings tears to my eyes.

As a child, we often said things such as , "He's a queer sort of chap."
Or, "I'm feeling a bit queer."

But of course the word 'gay' meant merely brightly coloured or cheerful, as in 'gay curtains at the windows' or 'She had on a very gay frock."

I'm always terrified nowadays that I say something toe-curlingly awful by mistake. Agatha Christie's murder mystery was originally called 'Ten Little N***** Boys' We always thought that to say 'black people' was terrible, we'd say 'coloured people'. Even the word 'dear' is apparently patronising or insulting. Gulp. I'd best keep my mouth shut. (A suggestion my husband would heartily endorse.)