| Revision as of 20:48, 3 January 2007 view sourceCovenantD (talk | contribs)16,549 edits Phelps and his ilk are not reliable sources← Previous edit | Revision as of 04:28, 8 January 2007 view source GameRoyalty (talk | contribs)6 edits ←Replaced page with '{{Wiktionarypar|faggot}} <!-- Please DO NOT put "x or y person is gay" or "faggot describes x person". This is not the place for it. I repeat: This is NOT the plac...'Next edit → | ||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
| <!-- Please DO NOT put "x or y person is gay" or "faggot describes x person". This is not the place for it. I repeat: This is NOT the place for it. Do not make personal attacks on others or you may be blocked. --> | <!-- Please DO NOT put "x or y person is gay" or "faggot describes x person". This is not the place for it. I repeat: This is NOT the place for it. Do not make personal attacks on others or you may be blocked. --> | ||
| '''Faggot''' or '''fag''', in modern ], ] and ] usage, is a generally ] term for |
'''Faggot''' or '''fag''', in modern ], ] and ] usage, is a generally ] term for Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III of the incredibly homosexual band, Fall Out Boy. | ||
| ==Etymology== | |||
| The origins of the word in this sense are rather obscure. | |||
| It is often claimed that the derivation is associated directly with ''faggot'' meaning "bundle of sticks for burning", since homosexuals were supposedly burnt at the stake in medieval England. Alternatively, the Bible is claimed to refer to homosexuals stoking the fires of hell (Sodom and Gomorrah). Admittedly the practice was not unknown elsewhere in Christian Europe, and burning was used in Britain for heretics and witches, but this ended centuries before the word ''faggot'' became associated with gay people. <ref> Morton, Mark (2005) ''Dirty Words: The Story of Sex Talk''. London: Atlantic Books; see also: www.etymonline.com. </ref> | |||
| More significantly, the word has been used since the late sixteenth century to mean "old or unpleasant woman". <ref> ibid. </ref> Female terms are often used with reference to homosexual or effeminate men (cf. ''nancy'', ''sissy'', ''queen'') and this seems the most likely derivation. | |||
| The Yiddish word ''faygele'', lit. "little bird", is claimed by some to either be an origin or an influence on its usage, and it is unlikely this would be true. It is more likely a simple coincidence, as faygele most likely comes from German ''Vögelein'' meaning "little bird" as well. If the word has or has had a usage in the past in Yiddish-speaking areas, referring to homosexual or effeminate men, it is likely that it was because of the feminine connotations of "bird". | |||
| ==British meanings== | |||
| ==="Faggot"=== | |||
| The word ''faggot'' is occasionally used in parts of ] to denote a silly or foolish person, presumably as an extension of its earlier association with old women. In the pilot episode of the 1960s British comedy '']'' from ], undertaker ] is killed in an accident at work. After the funeral, widow Ivy receives the condolences of her old friend Amy Jenkins, who says, "He heard the call. He answered it. And he fell in the line of duty. No man can ask for a better epitaph than that." Ivy thanks her, says good-bye, and then turns to her nephew, Billy, as soon as the door is shut and says in reference to Amy, "Silly old faggot! 'He heard the call?' 'He answered it?' The only call your Uncle Jeremiah ever heard was, 'Time, Gentlemen, please!'." | |||
| The term is also used, especially in ] and the ], to refer to a kind of pork meatball covered in ]. See ]. | |||
| ==="Fag"=== | |||
| In British English the term ''fag'' (though not ''faggot'') most commonly means a ]. A military marching song popular with the ] during the ] featured the line ''"while there's a ] (]) to light your fag..."''. This is derived from the original meaning (] 1) of "fag-end" :"the last part of a piece of cloth", which by extension became used (] 2, 1st citation 1612) for "the last part or portion of anything". When cigarettes were invented, this was applied to the unsmoked part, and then came to mean the whole cigarette. But the various historic British uses of "fag" and "faggot" were always distinct. | |||
| "]" was a term used for a junior boy who acted as a servant for a senior boy at ], near ], and other British public schools. This practice, known as "fagging", was ended in the 1970s. Since the homosexual meaning was not common in the UK at this time and seems to have been first attached to ''faggot'', not ''fag'', this is not a likely origin for the American use of the word. | |||
| ===The American Meaning in Britain=== | |||
| The use of ''fag'' and ''faggot'' to mean ''homosexual'' have become understood as an ] in ], primarily due to their use in ]s and ] imported from the United States. When Labour MP ] was heard supposedly using the word in a bad-tempered informal exchange with a straight colleague in the ] lobby in November 2005, he was criticised for using homophobic abuse. | |||
| ==Usage in popular culture== | |||
| "Fag" and "faggot" have historically been two of the most offensive terms that could be addressed to an American man or adolescent boy. Even so, in recent years, both terms have become employed by gay men in a defiant, self-consciously empowering or self-mocking way, much in the way some ]s have taken to using the word "]" among themselves. A common example of this would be usage of the term "]" to describe a woman who associates with (and may prefer as non-sexual social partners) gay men, though this use, too, was originally pejorative. When used as a ], however, it is still a powerful term of abuse. The term is often used by young people as a ] for words such as ] (i.e. "What a jerk!" becomes "What a faggot!"). Among many gay men, use of the term (especially by perceived outsiders) is considered offensive or impolite. The term has been used to describe lesbians or other homosexual women. | |||
| Originally confined to the United States, the homosexual sense of "fag" and "faggot" has been spread by American popular culture to other English-speaking countries, where it has partly displaced terms such as "]" or the British "]" as colloquial or abusive terms for gay men, particularly among heterosexual youth. However, the continuing use of "fag" and "faggot" with other meanings in the British isles has severely limited adoption of the American usage there. | |||
| On ], ] American ] ] ] said that the former ] (]) was a "total fag", and that former ] (]) was a "latent homosexual", while being inteviewed by ]'s ]<ref>http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid35054.asp ] magazine - "When hate speech becomes accepted"</ref>. Coulter caused a major controversy on the ] community; and ] and other ] organizations demanded to know the reason why such an offensive usage of the word was permitted by the network. ] later responded in defense of Bill Clinton by calling Coulter an "evil, crazy bitch" on his '']''. | |||
| The observational comedian ] once pointed out the fine distinction between "faggot" and "queer" from his youth. He said that "queer" meant homosexual, whereas "faggot" merely meant "unmanly". As he put it, "A faggot was someone who wouldn't go downtown on Saturday night and help beat up queers!" | |||
| In the '']'' episode "]", when the Drunken Clam, the bar that ], ], ], and ] frequent, is purchased by British men, Cleveland states that all he knows about British English is that fag means ]. Peter then comments "Then, could somebody tell this cigarette to shut up?" | |||
| The ] song ] makes notable use of the epithet 'faggot' in apparent reference to the singer ], although later version of song have the offending lines excised, and in live performances ] will use such ]s as "mothertrucker" in place of "faggot". | |||
| A song on New York punk band ]'s second album, ], is titled "Faggot." | |||
| Another example of the word's use in rock music is in the song "The Great Deceiver" by ]. The line "health food faggot" opens the album ], although no gay reference is intended: 'faggot' instead refers to a ] ]. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| <div class="references-small"> | |||
| <references/> | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * on The Straight Dope. | |||
| * on Urban Dictionary. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 04:28, 8 January 2007
Faggot or fag, in modern American, Canadian and Australian English usage, is a generally pejorative term for Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III of the incredibly homosexual band, Fall Out Boy.