Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 18:24:39 -0500
From: RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM
Subject: No subject given
Al Futrell is right, of course, about GAYCAT dating from the earlier part of
the century than GAY 'homosexual' (as I recall, the OED recortds it)--and he
is definitely right that new words and meanings are used in speech long
before they are written down (though I don't think that any lexicographer I
know of would dispute that). However:
1. I think it extremely unlikely that GAY 'homosexual' is related to the term
GAYCAT that Al describes; and
2. Even written transcripts of likely conversations from the 1930s and
earlier do not use GAY 'homosexual'--nor do any of the gay cult novels of the
1920s and 1930s--though they do use GAY often in other senses. (RANDOM HOUSE
DICTION ARY OF SLANG lists one possible cite from such a novel, but I dispute
it and it is at gesrt ambiguous.)
For all of those who have asked for a copy of my article ("What Did Cary
Grant Know and When; Did He Know It?"): I will post it as an attached file
later on this month when I get home from Florida. I'm flattered at your
interest.