Saturday, May 24, 2008

New words to learn

When I was young, "gay" meant bright and happy. It comes from the latin word “gaudium” which means joy.

Gay was a word we used a lot in our childhood; to say how we felt and how we acted as well as describing the nature of objects. When we were out of sorts without knowing the cause we felt "queer". We also used this word to describe something that was strange. It never occurred to us that these words might have different meanings in the future.

Times have changed and so have these words.

Felix

Felix Rodriguez González, a philology professor, specialising in the areas of lexicology, lexicography and the sociolinguistics of English and Spanish languages at the University of Alicante, has produced a new dictionary with 1,500 words related to homosexuals and lesbians.

The learned professor apparently visited many bars and places frequented by homosexuals; he consulted various forums on the Internet and conducted historical research into the meaning of many of the words he came across. So now, thanks to his work, we can find the meaning of words like "bolliscout", "gayeria", and "gaylandia".

PS Did you know that the favoured car in gaylandia was the BMW 3 series? As it got larger though it was replaced by the BMW 1 series. BMW are apparently regarded as one of the "gay friendly" car companies. Acura, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki and I dare say Skoda aren't!

PPS I imagine a "gayeria" is a shop specialising in selling products for homosexuals; not to be confused with a "joyeria" which sells jewellry.

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