The Pink Letter

According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (referenced at thefreedictionary.com),

• A reclaimed word is a word that was formerly used solely as a slur but that has been semantically overturned by members of the maligned group, who use it as a term of defiant pride. Queer is an example of a word undergoing this process. For decades queer was used solely as a derogatory adjective for gays and lesbians, but in the 1980s the term began to be used by gay and lesbian activists as a term of self-identification. Eventually, it came to be used as an umbrella term that included gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Nevertheless, a sizable percentage of people to whom this term might apply still hold queer to be a hateful insult, and its use by heterosexuals is often considered offensive. Similarly, other reclaimed words are usually offensive to the in-group when used by outsiders, so extreme caution must be taken concerning their use when one is not a member of the group.

So, hear that all you straight-ies? You better show some respect to us fags! If you're not part of our club, you had better tread carefully (that's Mister Bottom to you!). Actually, if my penetrating wit is not making it obvious, I'm not particularly uptight about people referencing my sexual orientation in whatever way they happen to express themselves. When that hot homophobic straight guy saw me kiss my date a couple years ago and said under his breath (but loud enough to make sure he was heard) "f***ing faggot," I just smiled and said, "No, that comes after dinner." (Note that, in addition to being hot, he was also pretty short, so I figured I could out-run him if necessary.)

Today, as I read that paragraph from the dictionary, I thought about the fact that the term queer has really gone through an evolution much more active than most words. Today it is becoming more and more a positive, pro-gay "political" label after years of being a term of malignment. However, any sexual connotation good or bad is only applicable during the fairly recent life of the word. Before that it had the meaning simply of being "odd." I love running across queer and gay in classic literature, because, in light of modern usage, it makes me giggle, and I can enjoy being shallow and erudite simultaneously (think "Beavis and Butthead do Shakespeare").

Some examples:

"The man made a queer noise in his throat." (Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter)

• Jimmy Bean! What are you sucking on?
  

"For, as night came on, a queer, empty feeling at the pit of his stomach reminded the Marionette that he had eaten nothing as yet." (The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi)

• Do you know why Jiminy Cricket got kicked out of Geppetto's workshop? Because he kept sitting on Pinocchio's nose and yelling "Lie to me!"
  

"You can't conceive how queer it all seems to a country person like me, as queer as that gentleman's nails I saw at your place." (Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy)

• All romantics resemble one another, each disturbing fetish is disturbing in its own way.
  

"It is a queer man-pride that leads one to drink with men in order to show as strong a head as they." (John Barleycorn by Jack London)

• ...taken from the Sidetrack mission statement, I assume
  

"Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in." (Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)

• Don't try and fool me no more, Tom; I know what it means! Huck Finn. Huck Nasty! You didn't go up there to fish!
  

"Since she had been living in other people's houses and had had no Ayah, she had begun to feel lonely and to think queer thoughts which were new to her." (The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett)

• No wonder Mary was always staring dreamily at the bushes....
  

"This is a queer country, and we may as well take people as we find them." (The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum)

• I was ready to take the Tin Woodsman when I found him. Got him all oiled up, but then I realized a heart was not the only thing he was missing.
  

"Very well; now steer toward the wharf where the big ship with the queer flag is." (Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott)

• First-ever documented gay cruise advertisement.
  

"I doubt if I looked as queer as you." (Turn of the Screw by Henry James)

• C'mon...Turn of the Screw? That's way too easy!
  

"Now, the people of the Pequod had been baling some time in this way; several tubs had been filled with the fragrant sperm; when all at once a queer accident happened." (Moby Dick by Herman Mellville)

• Aw Moby! You got it on my pillow! You and your damn dick!
  

"I knew he wanted to make his queer noises for me--to bark like a dog or whinny like a horse--but he did not dare in the presence of his elders." (My Antonia by Willa Cather)

• And on that note, have a fabulous day!