a gay

[Charles C Doyle]

I may have reported on this list some years ago my surprising discovery that the monosyllabic singular noun "Jew" is sometimes found to be offensive (by Jewish students and others).

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of geoffrey nunberg [nunberg at ISCHOOL.BERKELEY.EDU]

I posted on this in the Linguist List back in 1992.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/3/3-855.html

 Note that this affects both 'gay' and 'black', both of them group terms derived from monosyllabic adjectives. "He was sitting next to a black" is as suggestive of a disparaging attitude as "We have a gay living next door" is. Also, this isn't a matter of sg/pl but of specificity. "There are two gays (blacks) on the commitee" produces the effect, whereas "There are no gays (blacks) on the committee" doesn't, nor does the kind-denoting bare plural: "Gays (blacks) have been supportive of the policy" -- cf also "some gays/blacks," "many gays/blacks" etc.

The effect seems to be pretty robust when I check with other speakers, but I'm at a loss as to why things should fall out this way.

Geoff

> From: Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Date: December 28, 2010 10:28:49 AM PST
> Subject: a gay
>
>
> This has been mentioned here before, if I am not mistaken. In fact, I've
> mentioned it before--in the context of non-native speakers saying "I am
> [not] a gay," or something to this effect.
>
> OED gay C. n. 5. a. has "chiefly in pl." but every single example is
> "gays" (or "gays and lesbians") and 5. b. has "the gay" as a social
> class. Here's one now in print (so no more anecdotal stories about
> Italians):
>
> http://goo.gl/HbT6k
>> "If an open gay does his job, I think he'll be accepted," said retired
>> Rear Adm. George R. Worthington, a former Navy SEAL.
>
> Just wanted to add that Worthington's language is not accidental and
> falls into a pattern of people apprehensive about "the gay" using the
> singular version of 5.a.:
>
>> "I don't think there is going to be that many of them that want to
>> sign up for SEALs anyway because of the closeness and the tightness of
>> the training," Adm. Worthington said.
>> "My opinion is that they're probably more clerical oriented. Medical
>> profession. Corpsmen. Stuff like that."
>
> and
>
>> "Put the word out," said Adm. Worthington. "If you hit on somebody,
>> you're going to get in a fistfight. You may not like it. I just think
>> if they maintain their composure, they don't bother anybody.
>
> So this seems to fall into the social pattern--I am assuming this has
> been previously identified, although I don't recall any specific
> discussion to this effect.
>
>    VS-)

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