While watching the Virginia Tech vs UVA game, listening to the “The Good Old Song” with the line “We come from old Virginia, where all is bright and gay”, after which the students yell “not gay”, I began to wonder how the word gay came to be used for homosexuals. This article has the answers. Now if only the UVA administrators could get the students to stop yelling, “not gay” during ‘The Good Old Song’. Try as they might, they haven’t yet been able to enforce political correctness on the Cavalier student body.
How Gay Came to Mean Homosexual
written by Jeanine Martin
November 28, 2015
8 comments
Jeanine Martin
Also known as Lovettsville Lady, I am a Republican activist in the wilds of western Loudoun County.
8 comments
my mother grew up in the 30s/40s, when there was no higher praise for a get-together or outing than to say “we had such a gay time!”. It was very difficult for her to re-learn the word when “gay” became “Gay”, not because she disliked or irrationally feared gay people (she had many coworkers and associates she liked and respected, with whom she worked and socialized just fine, and their sexual orientation was not an issue with her–that was their business), but because it came naturally to her to use the word for something it no longer generally meant.
Perhaps the students yelling “not gay” are just clarifying that they mean the old definition and not the new one? Remember how South Park handled the “f” word in the motorcycle episode? Even Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave were on board with a change in the definition of the word, once they understood that it was not being used as an attack on them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F_Word_(South_Park)
Now that is logical Barbara.
Also, to add to the unscientific analysis of the echo cheer…maybe those yelling “gay”, are in sync with those yelling “not gay”, and it’s impossible to tell the difference.
This whole issue is ridiculous. I am amazed at how homophobic someone can be these days.
another thought I had–is this song the one heavily (mis)quoted in the infamous Rolling Stone rape fantasy?
Perhaps that targets the song too, if anyone adds “not” to the line with “gay” when singing such an evil vestige of white cisnormative racist patriarchal oppression! (said with tongue firmly thrust into cheek 😀 )
Your homophobia is showing. Get over it.
I’m not homophobic and you’ll just have to get over it.
How long is it going to be before the UVA administration changes that song?
I am happy that the students are yelling “not gay”. It shows that not all the millennials have accepted SSM and political correctness.
We could clearly here the students yell “not gay” during the singing of the song after touchdowns.