gunsel

[paulzjoh]

I remember the phrase "punked out" as prison slang for forcing someone
to take the subservient role in a homosexual relationship.

Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Seems to me that "gunsel" was already in Hammett's 1929 novel, and that the emergent sense of "gunman" owes a lot to the 1941 film. A "gunsel" was, essentially, a "raw youth" and did not always imply homosexuality.
>
>Cf. the precisely similar range of meanings attached to "punk." The latter is almost unquestionably from the 16th-century term for a prostitute or kept mistress - eventually extended in prison and similar situations to young men.
>
>JL
>
>"Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
>Subject: Re: gunsel
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Jan 10, 2005, at 10:45 AM, Bill Mullins wrote:
>
>
>
>>As far as "The Maltese Falcon" goes, I believe you are right. But Cook
>>seems to be the stereotype of the second OED defintion, as well -- a
>>cheap hood whose job it is to shoot, or get shot. Check out his
>>listings in the IMDB.
>>
>>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>>Poster: paulzjoh
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
>>>Subject: Re: gunsel
>>>--------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>I thought that Bogart was calling Cook a faggot when he said gunsel.
>>>When I first saw the movie I was too young to know about
>>>homosexuality, little else sex, but rewatching the movie on
>>>TV, it seems that there is a Hollywood euphuism at work there.
>>>
>>>
>
>as i understand the situation, the writers wanted to get the 'catamite'
>attribution across, but were having trouble finding an expression they
>could get past the studio. then the yiddishly knowledgable among them
>realized that "gunsel" might work, because most viewers would connect
>it to "gun", the character Wilmer being a gun-toting hoodlum. this
>seems to have succeeded, and produced a 'gunslinger' reading for
>"gunsel".
>
>so, not euphemism (or euphuism, for that matter), but a kind of
>deliberate invitation to misunderstanding, conveying one apparent
>meaning to most people while getting another meaning across to the
>insiders.
>
>arnold
>
>
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