fag out

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Apr 7, 2007, at 9:03 PM, James Harbeck wrote:

>> so this is bleached "fag" (parallel to bleached "gay"), a slur that
>> has lost its specificity -- it's not about sexuality -- but has
>> preserved the component of derogation.  ("brokeback" went down this
>> road in a matter of weeks or months.)  packer was derogating rose,
>> but in the friendly, even affectionate, fashion of buddy-buddy
>> insults, which often turn on imputations of insufficient masculinity.
>
> I find this a curious statement, as it seems to assume that the
> meaning "homosexual" for "fag" is prior, when in fact the "work to
> exhaustion" meaning is prior.

you misunderstand.  all i was saying was that the noun "fag"
'homosexual' is prior to (and the source of) the generic slur "fag"
'worthless, weak, etc. person'.  that's a semantic development of a
very routine sort.

i took no position on the priority of the exhaust/toil verbs "fag"
and the slur nouns "fag(got)".  perhaps i should have made this
clearer, but these are clearly two different items now.  indeed, as
you point out, they probably have no historical connection (though
even if they did, speakers nowadays seem not to connect them, so
they're separate items in the modern language).

> ... I've certainly heard "fag" used meaning "exhaustion"; "brain
> fag" was
> once a medical diagnosis (OED has it as "exhaustion of the brain by
> prolonged mental strain"). It's a British usage, though, so no
> surprise it seems odd to North Americans.

nice fact.

arnold

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