gay

adj

1.

homosexual. In late-medieval English gay often had the sense of showy or affected as well as happy and light-hearted. In

British slang of the 18th and 19th centuries it was a euphemism for sexually available or living an immoral life, and was invariably applied to women, usually prostitutes. In the early 20th century it was adopted as a code word by the British and American homosexual community, an innocent-sound-ing term which they could use of themselves and each other. The word had the secondary purpose of reinforcing homosexuals' positive perception of their sexual identity as opposed to the derisive or disapproving terminology of the heter-osexual world. Gay was widely used in the theatrical milieu by the mid-1960s and, when homosexuals began to assert themselves openly in the later 1960s, it supplanted all alternatives to become the standard non-discriminatory designation.

2.

bad, in poor taste, socially inept or unsophisticated. This non-homophobic use of the term has been in vogue among teenagers in the USA since the 1980s and in the UK since 2000. It was given prominence by its use in 2006 by British radio DJ Chris Moyles.

► That show was, like, so gay.

► Don t be gay!