Re: "gay vague"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

It hasn't made it to North Carolina yete, so far as I can tell. Someone is
trying to create a term, I guess.

In a message dated 6/21/05 8:22:47 AM, stevekl at PANIX.COM writes:


> I'm nominating "gay vague" for something next January, not sure what.
> Probably most unnecessary.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/fashion/sundaystyles/19GAYDAR.html
>
> The weird thing about reading this article is that almost all of the
> quotations sound stilted, like the reporter asked the people to use "gay
> vague" in a sentence. I find it odd that that many people would
> spontaneously produce this phrase to describe this "phenomenon".
>
> (It's not new to 2005, per
> http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?mode=4 it
> appears to have been coined in 1997. But unless it dies a quick death, it
> will be newly prominent this year thanks to the NYT exposure.)
>
> I find it odd for something coined in 1997 that has only about 800 google
> hits being featured in an article where people are dropping the term into
> their quotations left and right, as though it were a phrase on everyone's
> tongues. (I have never heard it uttered out loud, myself. Maybe Boston's
> just too parochial.)
>
> It's also not that productive: "gay vagueness" gets 19 hits.
>
> New Yorkers: is this phrase bandied about on the streets the way this
> article would have us believe?
>
> -- Steve K
>