Date:  Fri, 19 Jan 1996 09:05:10 -0500

From:  Jesse T Sheidlower <jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PANIX.COM>

Subject: Re: Flaming



Ron Butters wrote:

> On Wed, 17 Jan 1996, Kathleen M. O'Neill wrote:

>

> > Anyone know the etymology of the term "flaming"

> > as it applies to homosexuals?

>

> The idea of 'heat' is often associated with male homosexual acts, e.g.,

> the common German term is SCHWUL, derived (as I recall) from a phrase

> meaning 'hot brothers'. It was, I believe, Andy Warhol who made a movie

> in the 1960s (?) called FLAMING CREATURES with a queer theme. Bruce

> Rodgers in THE QUEENS' VERNACULAR: A GAY LEXICON (1972) does not list

> FLAMING, but he does list FLAME (IT UP), which he defines as 'to

> overemphasize, often deliberately, . . . the effeminate." He derives it

> (or maybe just associates it--it is hard to tell) from/with the phrase

> TURN UP THE FLAME (which he dates from 1972; I'm sure FLAME is much

> older). He lists CAMP as a synonym.



The earliest example we have found in the Random House Historical

Dictionary of American Slang is from Gershon Legman's homosexual

glossary in Henry's Sexual Variations: _Flaming queen,_ a homosexual

who attempts to...attract attention and drum up trade. This is

from 1941. Our next examples are from 1958-9 and 1969. (This is for

_flaming_ '(of a homosexual, esp. a man) blatant or conspicuous'.)



Jesse Sheidlower

Random House Reference

<jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>