Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00157)

At 02:26 PM 5/3/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Aleixis writes:
>
>>>I'm not the only Gay person on this list
>>>and I take very strong exception to words like "fag" and "fruitcake"!
>>
>
>I believe it was Keith who used this term and we should ask him what he
>meant by the term?
>
>But in one of my dictionaries [THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE
>ENGLISH LANGUAGE, Third edition, "fruitcake" is defined as a cake or a
>second definition is:
>
>"2.  Slang.  A crazy or an eccentric person."
>
>Alexis, maybe you are confusing "fruitcake" with the term "fruit" which is
>defined in the same
>dictionary as:
>
>"7.  Offensive Slang.  Used as a disparaging term for a gay or homosexual man."
>
>Fruitcakes usually have nuts in them and MERRIAM WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE
>DICTIONARY,
>Tenth edition, gives one definition of fruitcake as "nut", ie., "a foolish,
>eccentric, or crazy
>person."
>
>DHC
>
>
>Dan:

You are obviously not a Gay Man, but forget about the Dictionary...in this
instance the dictionary is irrelevant. We know what we're called and we have
long and unhappy experience with a large variety of pejoratives. As I told
Jim Meier, Franklyn Jones is a Gay man and describing him as a "Fat, Anglo,
Fruitcake" gives one very strong rounds for suspicion. In this instance,
your referring to written authority is useless, for only a Gay Man or
Lesbian is the authority.

alexis