Origin of "flamer"?

Jesse Sheidlower jester at PANIX.COM
Thu Dec 14 15:46:12 UTC 2006


On Thu, Dec 14, 2006 at 07:41:12AM -0800, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> On Dec 14, 2006, at 7:26 AM, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>
> >I know of "flamer" as a gay man and I remember first hearing it
> >sometime in
> >the mid-90's, though I never heard a good reason why that word was
> >chosen.
>
> i *think* i recall "flaming queen" and "flaming faggot" as even older
> than "flamer".

Yes, Legman has _flaming_ in the 1941 glossary in Henry's _Sex
Variants_.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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