xoder: (Default)
xoder ([personal profile] xoder) wrote2005-11-27 01:22 pm

RE:

Why does the other always start with "g"? Gringo, gaijin, goy/im, gay.
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[identity profile] ellf.livejournal.com 2005-11-27 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Stops. Most of the "hard" words you'll find in any language will have a glottal or palatal stop in them -- a tongue or throat movement that produces a hard, sudden sound.

I imagine that the evocation of spitting has something to do with it -- say "fuck" sharply enough, and there's a definite shower. It also may be related to the sounds we perceive predators as making -- low, dangerous, hard noises that indicate superiority or threat.

..not that I'm a geek.

[identity profile] nightstalker.livejournal.com 2005-11-27 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't forget Gwailo.

[identity profile] codepoet.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Now you're making me wonder who took the word that used to mean "happy" and applied it to homosexuals so much its original meaning was lost.

[identity profile] xoder.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it had something to do with extramarital sex w/o pregnancy repercussions as well as no pressure to marry.

[identity profile] codepoet.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
That would suggest (as I guessed) that it was adopted and embraced by homosexuals, in which case it doesn't count as an outsider-word.

[identity profile] xoder.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps. But also, it may have been impressed upon by straights feeling constrained by their societal obligations. Regardless, it is used as an outsider word on the playground, so it counts in my book.