Theriomorphism in a Los Angeles Gay Community

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Feb 12, 2010, at 8:49 AM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:

> 3. Bruce Rogers

that's Rodgers

> records TWINK in 1972 in his lexicon of queer slang. He calls it
> "rare," but the listed meaning is quite close to the meaning that
> has been VERY common in gay lingo since the 1980s.

as i noted in my Language Log posting, OED has it from 1963 -- and
that;s in an AmSp article on word uses, so it's surely earlier.

but, yes, it seems to have really caught on in the 1980s (maybe a
little bit earlier).

arnold

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