[ADS-L] gay = bri ght, lively, cheerful

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I'm not sure what happened here. This was SUPPOSED to read (as per the ad 
itself):

"... *Produces Gay Masses of Blue-Violet Flowering Spires ..."

The ad goes on with a quite conventional list of virtues of hardy lavender:

"*Blooms Year After Year From June to Fall"
"Enchanting 'Old English Fragrance" 

etc.

In a message dated 2/25/08 5:05:02 PM, RonButters at AOL.COM writes:


> The use of GAY in any sense other than (1) 'homosexual' or (2) the slang
> usage 'undesirable' seems to have all but passed from the scene except in 
> archaic,
> frozen uses (e.g., "Don we now our gay apparel").  I was therefore somewhat
> surprised to find the following in an advertisement for nursery plants in an
> insert in my local newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel (the insert was a 
> slick-paper
> coupon national advertising insert that I assume was put into newspapers
> throughout the USA):
> 
> "... Produces Masses of Blue-Violet Flowering Spires ..."
> 
> The plant being thus marketed is "hardy lavender"; the marketer is Spring
> River Nurseries, Hartford, Michigan. While the color "lavender" has, like 
> the
> word "gay" itself, long been associated with homosexuality, the ad shows no 
> sign
> of intending any sort of association with queer subculture.
> 
> ADS-L will not let me attach a pdf of the actual ad, but I will be happy to
> send a copy to anyone who asks for it. The ad does not appear on the Spring
> River Nurseries web page.
> 
> 
> **************
> Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video
> on AOL Living.
> 
> (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duf
> fy/2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 




**************
Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
      
(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org