BS: Why gay, and not Gay ?

Subject: RE: BS: Why gay, and not Gay ?
From: PHJim
Date: 11 Jun 10 - 02:15 PM

Emma said:

Interestingly, according to Wiki

"Bringing Up Baby (1938) was the first film to use the word gay in apparent reference to homosexuality. In a scene where Cary Grant's clothes have been sent to the cleaners, he must wear a lady's feathery robe. When another character inquires about his clothes, he responds "Because I just went gay...all of a sudden!"
However, since this was a mainstream film at a time when the use of the word to refer to homosexuality would still be unfamiliar to most film-goers, the line can also be interpreted to mean "I just decided to do something frivolous."
There is much debate about what Grant meant with the ad-lib (the line was not in the script).


Cary Grant did not use the word gay to mean that he was suddenly attracted to men. Cross dressing is not a fetish that is confined to gay men. As many, if not more, straight men enjoy cross dressing as gay men. Bringing up baby used the word gay, but not to refer to homosexuality.

Subject: RE: BS: Why gay, and not Gay ?
From: meself
Date: 11 Jun 10 - 02:54 PM

Re: "squaw". It is derived a word that simply means "woman" in one if not several Aboriginal languages. What the speaker was no doubt referring to was the fact that over the centuries it has taken on negative connotations, to the point that today it is considered offensive.

Now back to our regular program.