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Faggot or fag, in modern American usage, is a generally pejorative term for gay men, or for men who are judged to be "unmanly", weak or effeminate. Its usage has spread to varying extents elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

Faggot (slang term)- Gay man

Usually used as a slur to insult one who's attracted to another man. Also used by mid-aged teens (teenagers) as one who is not welcome into one group (or "clique") reason being a certain teen not having the latest style of clothing, or one who is not liked because of his or her pshyical features. One who is not liked by certain people. Also another name to call boasters (big mouths)examples: Randy Lamp (the second ) because he is a faggot!

Earliest written uses

The earliest known reference to the word in print was in the 1914 Jackson and Hellyer A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang, with Some Examples of Common Usages which listed the following example under the word, drag:

"All the fagots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight."

The word was also used by a character in Claude McKay’s 1928 novel Home to Harlem, indicating that it was used during the Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, one character says that he can't understand:

"a bulldyking woman and a faggoty man"

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 or self-mocking way, much in the way some African Americans have taken to using the word "nigger" among themselves. A common example of this would be usage of the term "fag hag" 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 pejorative, however, it is still a powerful term of abuse (for example, Fred Phelps in his "God hates fags" campaign). Among many gay men, use of the term (especially by perceived outsiders) is considered offensive or impolite.

Originally confined to the United States, "fag" and "faggot" in their homosexual senses have been spread by American popular culture to other English-speaking countries, where it has partly displaced Commonwealth English terms such as "queer" and "poof" as colloquial or abusive terms for gay men, particularly among heterosexual youth. However, the continuing use of "fag" in British slang to mean cigarette and "faggot" to mean a bundle of sticks (or a fool) has severely limited adoption of the American use of the terms in the British Isles.

The ever-politically-incorrect observational comedian George Carlin once pointed out the fine distinction of this term in 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!"

The lyrics for the 1985 song hit Money for Nothing by Dire Straits were based on comments that the song's writer overheard being said by an applicance delivery man. It includes the lines "the little faggot with the earring and the makeup; yeh, buddy, that's his own hair; the little faggot got his own jet airplane; the little faggot is a millionaire". The repeated usage of the term, although used mockingly by the songwriter, nonetheless caused some controversy. It is another use of the term ridiculing the manliness, but not necessarily the sexual orientation, of the comment's target. That presumption in this song is underscored by the delivery man's repeated assertion, "Money for nothing, chicks for free".

External links

• How did "faggot" get to mean "male homosexual"? on The Straight Dope.
• Entries for faggot on Urban Dictionary.

• LGBT terms
• Profanity
• Pejorative terms for people