Gay old time

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jan 10 22:43:29 UTC 2012


On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 5:10 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> The OED paraphrases Burchfield about the word "gay," saying, "...gay in its earlier meanings of ‘carefree’ or ‘bright and showy’ cannot readily be used today without at least a sense of double entendre".
>
> The expression "gay old time" is probably one of the best way to illustrate that, though the OED does not include it.

"High old time" is another.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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