"gay vague"

[Jonathan Lighter]

We haven't had a SOTA in a while, but "don't care less" comes close.



JL


David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: David Bowie
Subject: Re: "gay vague"
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From: "Steve Kl."

> 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".

My favorite linguistic bit in the article was actually the new-to-me
creative riff on "couldn't care less" and "don't care":

"If you don't care less, it just adds to your appeal now," said
Kate White, the editor of Cosmopolitan.



--
David Bowie http://pmpkn.net/lx
Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.


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