queer:
1. A term of contempt and derision for homosexual and homosexuality based on the notion of it being unusual or strange. This is one of many put-downs that have become a badge of gay pride; gay people are recuperating the word, turning it back on itself with slogans such as: Here, were queer / Were here (and) were queer / Were here! Were queer! Get used to it! A gay activist group calling itself: Queer Nation .ETYMOLOGY: In the Cant vernacular of the 17 th century, queer meant bad , the opposite of rum , meaning good: a queer-bird was a habitual criminal, a queer cole was fake money , a queer doxy was a slattern . The derogatory use of queer for male homosexuals originated, in the US, in the 1920s, moving to the UK in the 1930s. An article in Variety in 1925 associated the term with male homosexuality . To turn queer in England means to be or to become unwell .
QUOTE: Warren (Anthony Barrile) to an unsuspecting Frankie (Nick Scotti) in Kiss me Guido (1998): ' The truth is I'm US, grade A, 100%, fucking queer .'
2. In Britain, queer-bird / queer card / queer-cove / queer-fellow / queer-fish , refer to an odd person.
Link to this page: