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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Gay Grisette

The Gay Grisette 1898 – musical by Carl Kiefert and George Dance.

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Oddly when people complain about the use of 'gay' to mean 'homosexual' they should be complaining directly to G. R. Sampson!

2 comments:

  1. Sampson notes, in "Making Sense" that 'gay' is indeed a metaphor! He is never clear who was the first to implicate it. He implicates Angus Wilson! (He _had_ to implicate someone). Poor Angus (who was English alright but corrupted in South Africa) used the word, loosely, in one of his (of course, boring) novels. The usage, Sampson argues, _stuck_. Sampson fails to note that 'gay' was used to refer to FEMALE prostitutes, indeed 'grisettes' as seen in the streets of London. I have discussed this with S. Ward elsewhere: "Surely it means 'female prostitute': "I saw some 'gay women' in the streets" "Autobiography" -- How can he _see_ them cheerful? What he sees is that they are selling theirselves!"

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  2. The sad fact remains that, pretty much like "prick", there is NO WAY To Go Literal when it comes to sexuality! You cannot call a man hetty unless he is 'straight'. I was amused that the Biblical, 'straight and narrow' was meant to implicate 'strait and strait' -- for surely the straightness of the arcade is immaterial to a donkey getting in with the right amount of grist, if you get my drift. Etc.

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