Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 01:16:47 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Gay Head, Money Talks ALEXANDER HAMILTON: That's the title? Gay Head Money Talks? POPIK: Yeah. HAMILTON: I'm not gay! I was shot by Aaron Burr! POPIK: Good grief! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- GAY HEAD I went through some of (Senior) Scholastic Magazine today, and while the kid stuff can drive you nuts, there are some slang items to be found. "Gay Head" appeared as early as the 1930s. I didn't have time to trace the first column of "Boy dates Girl." A traditional explanation is that "gay" comes from "gaycat." The problem I have is that "gaycat" was around since the 1890s, and the "gaycat" tramp of the hobo world was old news by 1941. Random House HDAS has a clear 1941 "gay"="homosexual." However, around this time, Gay Head's "Boy dates Girl" was extremely popular. If we can somewhere find a humorous citation of a Gay Head parody "Boy dates Boy," our life would be easier. A 1937 full-page Scholastic ad for the "Boy Dates Girl" book called Gay Head "your own Emily Post." Is she gay, too? The plot thickens.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- MONEY TALKS "Money talks" in 1666? I believe the first OED citation is 1903, by O. Henry. The first title I found on Worldcat is D. W. McClung's _MONEY TALKS: Some of the things it says when it speaks_ (1894)--somewhat after my 1886 cite. A 1902 song by J. Fred Helf is "If money talks, it ain't on speaking terms with me." Many other titles followed. "Money talks" is also in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, but I don't know if it appeared in the first edition. HAMILTON: Just asking, but how come your Belgian Frank with Albert II doesn't say anything?