There is some discussion here of different usages/meanings of the word faggot. I remember hearing another use of the word that I've wondered about for many years. In the movie "Tom Brown's Schooldays", filmed in 1951 but set in the 1830's, whenever an upperclassman wanted a young newbie to do a chore for him, he would shout the word faggot and a young boy would come running. At the time I saw the movie, some 50 years ago, I only knew the word as meaning a chunk of firewood. I wondered if because fetching firewood was one of the most common chores that the word had become a catchall for any service required of lowerclassmen.