Hatrack River Forum: My Gay Marriage

This is topic My Gay Marriage in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :

Gay, to me, has three meanings now: happy, blithe; homosexual; tacky in a pretentious way

If I said I had a gay marriage, I could mean any of the following:

I have a happy, fun marriage.
I have a homosexual marriage.
I have a tacky, pretentious marriage.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm curious to see what our etymology people have to say.

[ March 02, 2004, 03:27 PM: Message edited by: Jenny Gardener ]

Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :

**starts throwing tomatoes at Jenny**

Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :

Mmm, yummy tomatoes.

Posted by The Editor-in-Chief (Member # 5014) on :

Are the etymology people supposed to say something? I'm a little confused.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

Yeah, Porter and I have a really gay marriage! [Big Grin]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

1000 points to the first person who can find an example of a marriage that meets all three definitions!

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

We get 1.25 out of 3.

1 -- Yes. We are happy and have fun.
2 -- No. Neither one of us is homosexual.
3 -- Partly. I am not pretentious (I don't think I am!), but I do enjoy tacky. Not all the time, but enough to really annoy my wife.

Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :

Rosy and her wife?

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Interesting...

I've never heard the "tacky/pretentious" use of the word "gay." Is that something you think of when you hear the word or have you actually seen the word "gay" used in that fashion.

Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :

[ROFL]

Jenny, you will be the death of me.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

That is so gay.

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

Bob,

Teenagers use it that way all the time. One of them will do something lame/stupid or tactless, and the others will say, "that is SO gay!" in a condescending way.

Farmgirl
edit: beverly beat me to it!

[ March 02, 2004, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]

Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :

Around here, Bob, gay in that sense is a slang term. I probably picked it up from the teenagers. For instance, a really tacky kitsch lampshade might be described as "gay". Or a person who is flaunting a tacky fashion item might be described as "gay". So that definition has entered my brain now. Some movies are "gay", as are some musicians - nothing to do with their sexuality, just pretentiousness and shallow copying of styles.

Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

This thread is a lot less interesting than the title implied. [Mad]

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

Do homosexuals find that slang offensive?

Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :

Made ya read it!

[Kiss]

Beren.

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

My brother once made my mother laugh by saying that if he became a homosexual, he would be a lesbian. So he might be able to have a gay marriage in every sense. If his wife were into the third definition.