Words Society Has Distorted

MORE WORDS SOCIETY DISTORTS

Gay does not mean homosexual, yet means merry and joyful.

Lesbian derives from Lesbos which means forested and woody, not homosexual.

Fag derives from Fag-end which derives from the word Remnant and Remnant means what’s left or remaining around and does not mean homosexual.

Fagot derives from Fagotto which means bundle of something or sack of something and does not mean homosexual.

Gigolo derives from Gigolette which derives from Gigue which means Irish dance and ette which means smaller form of something and does not mean a man who has sex with different women for money.

Prostitute derives from pro which means before, for and statuō which means to set up, to erect and does not mean a female who has sex with different men for money.

I empathise with this author’s intent, and I congratulate him for his attempt to reduce Fundamentalist hate-mongering.  It’s just that correct English usage, better research, and valid assertions would have been so much better.  Out of six claims, he only got all of them wrong – and all for the lack of the word ‘just,’ or ‘only.’

The Woke term ‘Presentism’ means, to apply the morals and social values of today, to actions which occurred in the past.  This writer is doing the exact opposite – ‘Pastism’??  He wishes to still apply the definitions of yesteryear, to today’s situations.

The English language is an amorphous, ever-changing entity.  I’ve said that it’s like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree.  Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive.  They reflect the definitions that the majority of people currently use.  What a word meant a week ago – a month ago – a year ago – a decade ago, it doesn’t JUST/ONLY mean now.

These derogatory terms have been in use, longer than he’s been alive.  While they’re not nice, they are part of modern speech.  ‘Gay’ is still used occasionally to mean merry and joyful, but despite any dispute, it now definitely means homosexual.  (It also means lesbian, as we’ll see next)

Homosexual is not the same as lesbian, in the same way that actor is not the same as actress.  If two men have sex, they are homosexual.  If two women have sex, they are lesbian.  They are all ‘gay,’ which indicates same-sex attraction.

Like the myth of the Amazons, the island of Lesbos was once thought to be populated entirely by women, who satisfied their urges with each other.  The island was, and still is, forested and woody – but that’s not what the Greek name Lesbos means.  It comes from the Hittite word Lazpa, which means, land, realm, or city.

A faggot (British – fagot) was a bundle of something, particularly wood for burning.  One piece from the bundle, represented by a cigarette, was called a fag.  A fag-end was a cigarette butt, or some other valueless scrap.  While the expression means something that is left, it did not come from the word ‘remnant.’  It also did not come from Fagotto, which is an Italian bassoon, but from the Greek, ‘phakelos’ = bundle, and it still currently means gay.

Gigolo is the masculine derivative of gigolette – woman of the streets or public dance halls.  The modern spelling is Boy-Toy, or Cougar-bait, but they still exist.

The continuation of the word prostitute’s meaning, ‘to erect,’ – (and there’s a Freudian allusion) is to then present to the public for sale.  It seems a very apt definition.  While these can be judgmental and insulting terms, they are definitely part of modern speech, like it or not lump it.