Slang used predominantly among the LGBT community
LGBT slang, LGBT speak, or gay slang is a set of slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBT people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBT community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.[1][2]
History and context
Because of sodomy laws and threat of prosecution due to the criminalization of homosexuality, LGBT slang has served as an argot or cant, a secret language and a way for the LGBT community to communicate with each other publicly without revealing their sexual orientation to others.[2][3][4] Since the advent of queer studies in universities, LGBT slang and argot has become a subject of academic research among linguistic anthropology scholars.[5]
The Butch and Femme society
During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres of the United Kingdom within established LGBT communities. Although there are differences, contemporary British gay slang has adopted many Polari words.[1][6] The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang in the United States at that time.[7][8] SCRUFF launched a gay-slang dictionary app in 2014, which includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community.[9] Specialized dictionaries that record LGBT slang have been found to revolve heavily around sexual matters.[10]
Slang is ephemeral. Terms used in one generation may pass out of usage in another. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, the terms "cottage" (chiefly British) and "tearoom" (chiefly American) were used to denote public toilets used for sex. By 1999, this terminology had fallen out of use to the point of being greatly unrecognizable by members of the LGBT community at large.[11]
Many terms that originated as gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. For example, the word drag was popularized by Hubert Selby Jr. in his book Last Exit to Brooklyn. Drag has been traced back by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the late 19th Century. Conversely, words such as "banjee", while well-established in a subset of gay society, have never made the transition to popular use. Conversations between gay men have been found to use more slang and fewer commonly known terms about sexual behavior than conversations between straight men.[12]
In the Philippines, many LGBT people speak with Swardspeak, or "gay lingo", which is a more extensive use of slang as a form of dialect or way of speaking. Other argots are spoken in southern Africa (Gayle language and IsiNgqumo) and Indonesia (Bahasa Binan).
Terms describing gay men
Bears at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City
- artiste – a gay man who excels at fellatio (US)[17]
- auntie – an older, often effeminate and gossipy gay man (US)[17]
- bathsheba – a gay man who frequents gay bathhouses (US)[17]
- chubby chaser – a man who seeks overweight males (US)[17]
- cockstruction worker – a gay, bi or queer man who works in construction industry[49]
- cupcake – young attractive man, usually a jock type, with a good body.[citation needed]
- daddy – a typically older gay man (US)[42]
- Finocchio (from Italy, meaning fennel)[50]
- Flit[51]
- Flower[52]
- Friend of Dorothy[53]
- Gaysian, referring to a gay Asian[54]
- Light in the loafers, Light in the pants, or Light in the fedora
- punk – a smaller, younger gay man who, in prison settings, is forced into a submissive role and used for the older inmate's sexual pleasure[25]
- Queen[25]
- Bean queen (also taco queen or Salsa queen), gay man attracted to Hispanic men[56]
- Brownie queen, obsolete slang for gay man interested in anal sex (used by men who disliked anal sex)[57]
- Chicken queen, older gay man interested in younger or younger appearing men[58]
- Grey queen, a gay person who works for the financial services industry (this term originates from the fact that in the 1950s, people who worked in this profession often wore grey flannel suits).[59]
- Potato queen, gay Asian man attracted mainly to white men.[60]
- Rice queen, gay man attracted mainly to East Asian men.[60]
Slurs
- Anal assassin (UK) or "anal astronaut"[61]
- Arse bandit[62] or Ass bandit[63]
- Backgammon player (late 18th century Britain)[64]
- batty boy – a slur for gay or effeminate man (Jamaica and U.K.)[65][66]
- Bent, bentshot or bender[67]
- bixa/bicha (Brazil)[68]
- Brownie king or brown piper[69]
- Bufter, bufty (mainly Scottish) or booty buffer[61]
- Bum boy or bum chum,[70] also bum robber[71]
- Butt pirate,[72] butt boy, butt rider, butt pilot, or butt rustler[72]
- Chi chi man (Jamaica and the Caribbean)[73][74]
- Homo[75]
- Homo thug[76]
- Faggot,[77][78][79] Fag[80] a slur against gay men first recorded in a Portland, Oregon publication in 1914[25]
- Fairy – a slur reclaimed by gay men in the 1960s[25][81]
- Flamer[82]
- Fruit (also fruit loop, fruit packer, butt fruit) – a slur against gay men; originally a stereotype of gay men as "softer" and "smelling good"[25][83]
- Fudge packer[67][84]
- Maricón or marica (in Spanish)
- Ogay[85]
- Pansy[86]
- Poof/Poofta/Poofter (Australian slang)
- Sod (from Sodomy)[87]
- viado or veado – a gay male or an effeminate man (lit., a corrupted form of "deer", derived from desviado, meaning deviant) (Brazil)[88]
LGBT subgroups
The following slang terms have been used to represent various types of people within the LGBT community:
- Bear – a larger and often hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity. The bear subgroup is among the oldest and largest of the LGBT community. Pride.com says "Bears are on the heavier side, either muscular, beefy, or chunky. They wouldn't dream of shaving their body hair (which comes in abundance) and they usually have a full beard to match. They exude masculinity, and are some of the kindest men you'll meet in your entire life."[170] Attitude magazine says bears are "typically older" with a big build, a belly, and lots of hair.[171] There are many bear subtypes, including the black bear (Black or African American men), the brown bear (Hispanic men), the grizzly bear ("dominant bears of extreme stature or hairiness"),[172] the koala bear (Australian men),[173] the panda bear (men of Asian descent),[174] and the polar bear, which represents an older bear with white hair.[170]
- Cub – A cub is a younger bear.[171] Pride.com describes cubs as "baby bears" or "large, hairy guys in their teens and 20's who are on their way to becoming a bear".[24][42][170]
- bear chaser – a man who pursues bears[42]
- Bull – Pride.com says a bull is a "hunky, muscular" bodybuilder who weighs 200 pounds or more. The website says, "These men are big, strong and have muscles you didn't even know existed."[170] Attitude says bulls have a "super-muscular build" with any hair style, and can be any age.[171]
- Chicken – A chicken is a young twink.[170] Attitude says chickens are "hairless and young" with a slim or skinny build.[171]
- Chickenhawk – A chickenhawk is "an older man who sexually pursues younger chickens" or twinks, according to Pride.com.[170]
- Otter – According to Pride.com, an otter is "someone who's in between a twink and a bear. Medium build and hairy. Otters come in all ages with all different types of facial hair. Otters often trim their chest hair and manscape their bodies, but always leave at least some hair."[170] Attitude says otters are "typically younger" with a slim or lean build and lots of hair.[171] PinkNews describes an otter as "a man who is especially hairy, but is smaller in frame and weighs considerably less than a bear".[42][175]
- Pig – A pig is someone who is "more focused on sex than anything else, often into kinkier and somewhat seedier sexual practices", according to Pride.com.[170]
- Puppy – In animal roleplay, a puppy is a man who wants to be treated like a puppy, "with love and affection", by a handler.[170] Attitude says pups are "young and submissive" with a slender build and little hair.[171]
- Silver fox – A silver fox is a grey-haired man who is "older with some body hair" and has a "muscular or athletic build", according to Attitude.[171]
- Twink – a young or young-looking gay man, with little body hair and a slender build[176][24][42]
- Twunk – a twink with well-developed physique (hunk)[177][178]
- Wolf – Pride.com says, "Similar to an otter, a wolf has some hair and is in between a twink and a bear. However, there are some key differences between wolves and otters. Wolves typically have a lean, muscular build and are sexually aggressive."[170] Attitude says wolves are "typically older and masculine" with a "muscular/athletic build".[171][24]
