An Exclusively Male Term for "Gay"?

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Oh, we have a lot of Latin loanwords too. But to complicate things (we love to do that), there is usually also a colloquially used German word that means exactly the same. Educated people or specialists, such as doctors and lawyers, prefer to use the Latin terms, which laypeople without a higher education often don't understand.

For example, a castle is usually called Burg or Schloss, but posh folk call it Kastell. Culmination means Höhepunkt or Gipfelpunkt, but an intellectual would rather call it Kulmination. A gastroscopy means Magenspiegelung in colloquial German, but medical professionals and show-offs speak of a Gastroskopie.

It's the same with French words. French used to be the language of choice among the German nobility and the social upper crust. We borrowed a lot of it, but we never abandoned the German counterparts of French loanwords. An alley can either be a Gasse or an Allee. A wallet is either a Geldbörse or a Portemonnaie, and an epaulet is both a Schulterstück and an Epaulette.

This inflates the German vocabulary quite a bit, and makes it even harder for foreigners to learn the language than it already is thanks to utterly illogical things like our randomly assigned grammatical gender. The English have been a lot more consequent in their adoption of loanwords.

The thing about labels is that they generally don't fit the entire spectrum and then some one wants an exception for themselves. I've heard a guy say, " I might be gay but I'm no queer." What does that mean?

Homosexual male
GayGuy
Gayboy
Gayman
Bear
Twink
Musclemary
TWunk
Otter
Top
Bottom
Versatile
Chaser


As a fag hag on the gay scene for the last 20 years I hear all the above and they aren't seen as derogatory at all. Just labels that help manage what you want.

"Gay boy" is definitely an insult, though.

These terms are merely "gay man" rammed together.



These are specific subcultures of gay men - bears are large and hairy, twinks are in their early twenties (as opposed to chickens, who are teenage gay men/lads) and a muscle mary spends all their time at the gym. You also missed "clone" (blond hair, blue eyes - both of which are optional - and a tendency to white T-shirts and jeans. You'll see dozens of them at any club).


I don't think I've heard these ones, or I've forgotten them.


Again, subsets. Tops, er, like to give. Bottoms like to receive. I don't know how appropriate it would be to spell it out further than that. A guy who's versatile can go either way.


I generally know this as a suffix - eg. "chubby chaser", a gay man who's into fat guys.

Sexual slang is remarkably complicated, isn't it?

Of course it is. For two reasons:

1) Sex is remarkably complicated. The myriad combinations arising from who is doing what to whom alone create a plethora of vocabulary.

2) We are generally squeamish about speaking openly of sex, and in particular of sexual activity. So we express ourselves in euphemism.

Absolutely not when used in the scene. 'Gay lads, Gay boys' All used by fag hags and the gay community and have been for along time.

Many of us older gals and guys use it as a term of enderment in the scene for younger twinks and noobs on the scene. Or just as an expression when in a mixed bar ' where are all the fit gayboys tongiht?'

It'll also used as a collective motherly term for a women who has lots of gay friends. I don't call them my 'gay men'. I call them my 'boys' however old they might be. Or ma 'gayboys' when I am talking to straights.

Never EVER an insult and nor do they think of it as one. However, the word 'gay ' has come out recently ( last ten years) as a derogatory term for anything bad in the teen straight world so maybe taht's what you mean?

I do not see how being called a 'gayboy' could be insulting as there is nothing wrong with being gay in anyway shape or form ! !! ! Stand gay stand proud I say!!