blacksundae

List of terms for gay in different languages:

This is a list of terms which are widely used today to refer to “gay” in different languages and which derive from concepts unrelated to homosexuality (e.g. the words “gay” or “pederast”) or its common stereotypes. Their original meanings are also given.

My favorite is the Italian, frocio: “old term for the Swiss Pope guards in Rome.” LINK!

Ever wonder what the hell the name of that Ikea coat rack means? Check this out.

At my last job, we had an Ikea kitchen cart in the office. I insisted on referring to it by its weird-ass Ikea name: FÖRHÖJA. Turns out it means “augment.”

Will you be in or around San Francisco this Saturday? Do you like to say/hear naughty things? Check out the Swearing Festival!

Language Log:

A student in my Shakespeare class announced that the word “moist” (which I had uttered to describe Egypt in Antony & Cleopatra) is offensive to women. Some of the other women in the class concurred (not hostilely–just as a matter of information for a clueless male professor). I was somewhat flabbergasted, and nobody would articulate a reason for the offensiveness–except for one male student’s eventual suggestion that the word reminds women of sexual arousal. That association is not at all beside-the-point of my description of Egypt in the play–but why would such a connotation make the word offensive per se? As far as I could ascertain, “damp” and “wet” don’t carry whatever stigma attaches to “moist.” What am I missing here?!

I don’t know what to be more disturbed by: a completely legitimate word being thrown into the “offensive” ghetto, or women being offended by female arousal. Read on.