fag out

[James Harbeck]

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: fag out
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>
>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.

No argument on that. I plead quick reading after a late evening of
song and beverage.

Ciao,
James Harbeck.

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