while trolling the OED...

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/18/2012 10:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
I noticed this gloss for the 'non-gay' sense of
>_straight_ (attested since 1941):
>
>6 d. slang (orig. U.S.). Conventional,
>respectable, socially acceptable. Also
>spec.  (a) heterosexual; not practising sexual perversions
>
>I know this probably just means the "S" entries
>haven't been revised yet, but perhaps this one
>should be giving special attestion, lest the
>Santorums (Santora?) of the current political
>scene leaf through their no doubt well-thumbed
>copy of the OED to prove their point in this
>regard, now that they can no longer support the
>view that same-sex partners are incapable of
>love (and that arranged marriages are abnormal)
>by citing the late, unlamented sense 4a of
>_love_, n., that was on the books until 2008:
>'That feeling of attachment which is based upon
>difference of sex; the affection which subsists
>between lover and sweetheart and is the normal basis of marriage.'

Since homophobes are too dumb (or bigoted) to
understand that the semicolon means "or", I agree
with Larry's implied argument that 6.d. "spec."
should at least be separated into an (a) and a (b).

Joel

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