Originally posted by Zakath
Why don't you ask Ms. Linda Cloutier-Namdar, editor of the Vermont edition of United Church News, who also serves as the Director of Children's & Youth Ministries at First Congregational UCC in Burlington, Vt....
Ask most philologists and they'll agree that exact entymologies of words can be diffcult to pin down. The difficulty with the idea that a "faggot" of wood has anything to do with homosexuals is that calling a homosexual a faggot is only done in English speaking countries while in England homosexuals were hanged, not burned, for their crime. It seems likely that the association of the term with homosexual behavior derived from a mispronunciation of the foreign (to English) word baggage which, in French and Italian, can take the meaning of "slut" or "whore."
On the other hand, there is some historical evidence that the Albingensians recommended homosexuality as a way of not "defiling oneself with women" (as the Bible so charmingly puts it in Revelation). Historical records show that when, during the 13th century CE, Albingensians were burned at the stake, usually after being tried and convicted by Church officials, homsexuality was often one of the charges read.
Another association of homosexuals and burning may have come from the Churches' treatment of those accused as witches during the Middle Ages and later. These peole were often associated with alleged bisexual activity, and they were not infrequently burned at the stake...
IIRC, Joan of Arc was officially convicted and executed for the crime of transvestitism (with its implications of lesbianism) and burned at the stake...
[Zakath settles back and gets ready for the inevitable No True Scotsman argument...]
More on the origins of "faggot" and a few other terms. Too bad the learned whats-her-name didn't quote the source of her speculation on the origin.
source I didn't go through and connect all of the links--ir y'all are truly fascinated, go to the source link above.
In modern American
United States of America
(U.S. Flag) (U.S. Great Seal)
National Mottos
(1776 - ): E Pluribus Unum
(Latin: "Out of many, one")
(1956 - ): In God We Trust
Official language None at Federal Level,
Some States Specify
English; de facto, Spanish spoken by growing minority, especially in the West
..... Click the link for more information. _and Canadian Canada, historically the Dominion of Canada, is the northernmost country in North America. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy and formed in 1867 through an act of Confederation. It is bordered by the United States to the south and to the northwest. The country stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. Canada also reaches the Arctic Ocean in the north where Canada's territorial claim extends to the North Pole.
..... Click the link for more information. _usage faggot or fag is a generally pejorative A word or phrase is pejorative if it expresses contempt or disapproval about the thing or person described. Most pejorative expressions may also be used in a non-pejorative way, however, and (as with any implied meaning) determining the intent of the speaker is problematic.
Although pejorative means the same thing as disparaging, the latter term may be applied to a look or gesture as well as to words and phrases.
..... Click the link for more information. _term for gay For people whose family name is Gay see the .
Gay, in addition to meaning "merry", "joyous" or "glad", also means homosexual.
The word gay has had a sexual meaning since at least the nineteenth century (and possibly earlier) – in Victorian England, female and male prostitutes were called "gay" (because they dressed gaily). Eventually,
..... Click the link for more information. _men. The origins of the word in this sense have been clouded by mythology.
It has been frequently said that it derives from faggot in the sense of a bundle of sticks, because homosexual men were burned at the stake for sodomy Sodomy is a term used in sodomy law for various forbidden sex acts. It is commonly used to describe the specific act of anal sex, but has also been used to include non-coital sexual acts such as oral sex and zoophilia.
Etymology
The term sodomy derives from the name of the ancient city of Sodom, which according to the Bible was destroyed by God for its misdeeds (see Sodom and Gomorrah). In today's common language it identifies the practice of anal intercourse, even if Sodom in the Bible was not primarily or exclusively condemned for homosexual acts.
..... Click the link for more information. _and faggots were used as kindling. A variant on this is that homosexual men were themselves used as kindling. The gay liberation The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexuals (homosexual, bisexuals), and the transgendered - despite the fact that it is typically refered to as the gay rights movement, members also promote the rights of groups of individuals who do not necesarily identify as being 'gay'. (Compare Homosexuality and transgender.) These views are considered controversial by some, and the gay rights movement is opposed by a variety of individuals and groups including some religious and political (traditionally though not exclusively right-wing) groups.
..... Click the link for more information. _movement of the 1970s promoted this supposed derivation to highlight the historical oppression of homosexual men.
There is, however, no historical evidence for these supposed derivations, and the use of the term faggot for gay men goes back only to the 19th century. The fact that the word appeared in the United States
United States of America
(U.S. Flag) (U.S. Great Seal)
National Mottos
(1776 - ): E Pluribus Unum
(Latin: "Out of many, one")
(1956 - ): In God We Trust
Official language None at Federal Level,
Some States Specify
English; de facto, Spanish spoken by growing minority, especially in the West
..... Click the link for more information. , and not in Britain The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK or less accurately as Great Britain or Britain. The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly distinct nations of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland under a single government in London. The greater part of Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1922 and is today the Republic of Ireland, whilst the north-eastern portion of the island, Northern Ireland, remains part of the United Kingdom.
..... Click the link for more information. , where burnings for sodomy did take place until the 17th century, makes this derivation unlikely.
The more likely derivation is that faggot was originally a derogatory term for street prostitutes, female and male, because they were associated with "the gutter," where "faggot-ends" of meat were thrown by butchers. The term "faggot girls" for prostitutes is attested from the late 19th century. It is also possible that the expression "fag" meaning a cigarette-butt, something which is used and thrown in the gutter, contributed to the derivation of the word.
"Fag" was also a term used for a junior boy who acted as a servant for a senior at Eton College Eton College, is a public school (that is, an independent, fee-paying secondary school) for boys in Eton, Berkshire near Windsor.
It boards approximately 1,200 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 who enjoy some outstanding facilities at a cost of over £23,000 (GBP) a year. As at most 'public schools', its pupils achieve very good exam results. 'Public schools' in the British sense are not state funded or run, rather they are the top independent secondary schools.
..... Click the link for more information. _near Eton, Berkshire Eton is a town in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by a bridge. Until 1974 Eton was in Buckinghamshire.
The town is best known as the location of Eton College, an exclusive public school.
..... Click the link for more information. , England England
(In detail) ( In detail )
Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit
(French: God and my right)
Official language None; English is de facto
Capital London
Capital's coordinates 51° 30' N, 0° 10' W
Largest city London
Area
_- Total Ranked 1st UK
130,395 km²
Population
_- Total (2004)
_- Density Ranked 1st UK
..... Click the link for more information. . This practice, known as "fagging", was ended in the 1970s.
Faggot has historically been one of the most offensive terms that could be addressed to an American male; even so, in recent years it has come to be used by gay men in a defiant or self-mocking way, rather as African American An African-American is an American predominantly descended from black Africans. Over the years, the term has supplanted, in succession, the equivalent terms, "colored," "negro," and "Negro," and commonly is used interchangeably with "black."
Virtually all persons who refer to themselves as African-Americans are descendants of persons brought to the Americas as slaves or indentured servants between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
..... Click the link for more information. _men have taken to using the word "nigger The word nigger is a highly controversial term still used in many countries to refer to people with dark skin, particularly those of African origin. It was once used freely in standard English.
It carries a strong connotation of personal inferiority and even unpleasant exoticism, which makes it so highly pejorative that most people no longer use it, particularly in public. See the Wiktionary entry for more relating to this.
..... Click the link for more information. ". When used as a pejorative, however, it is still a powerful term of abuse. (See for example Fred Phelps Fred Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, United States, which is best known for its web sites godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com. Gay rights activists have denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda.
Biography
Fred Phelps was born in November 13, 1929, in Meridian, Mississippi. Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church in 1955. While running the church, Phelps also attempted to work as a lawyer. His peers, however, came to believe that Fred Phelps had little regard for ethics, and he was disbarred by the Kansas Supreme Court for ethical violations.
..... Click the link for more information. _and his "God hates fags" campaign.)
Originally confined to the United States, faggot has been spread by American popular culture to other English-speaking countries, where it has begun to displace British-English terms such as queer "Queer" is a controversial word, literally meaning unusual, used by and for people whose sexual orientation and/or gender identity are against the normative: a unifying umbrella term for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, and/or intersex. In this usage, it is usually a synonym of such terms as LGBT or lesbigay. "The term 'queer' itself, as positive nomination rather than hurtful slur" dates from 1990 (Thomas 2000 and Berlant and Warner 1995) and was popularized by the activist group Queer Nation.
British English is a collective term for the forms of English spoken in the British Isles. In particular, when used by other English speakers, it often refers to the written Standard English and the pronunciation known as Received Pronunciation (RP), the term is often used to make a distinction from American English. In such context the written form is sometimes called International English, since few other English-speaking countries have adopted the changes in spelling introduced by nineteenth century US lexicographers.
..... Click the link for more information. as colloquial or abusive terms for gay men, particularly among heterosexual youth. However, due to the use of the slang term fag in British slang for cigarette A cigarette is a disposable smoke delivery device, used for the purpose of inhaling smoke after being ignited on one end.
A cigarette is a small (generally less than 10cm in length and 10mm in diameter) cylinder of cured and shredded or cut tobacco leaves, wrapped in paper, which is ignited and allowed to smolder for the purpose of inhaling its smoke. Tobacco smoke is being drawn in by the mouth from the non-smoking end. The term, as commonly used, typically refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs.
..... Click the link for more information. , the usage is nowhere near common, with words such as poof and batty boy Batty boy is Jamaican slang for a homosexual man. It stems from the Patois word batty meaning bottom and means someone who likes anal sex.
But it doesn't look like I'm going to get a serious one on this thread either...
