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From: manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vince Manis)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: Nomenclature - Gay/Homosexual/Lesbia
Message-ID: <1219@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 12:45:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.1219
Posted: Fri Aug 16 12:45:08 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 04:50:26 EDT
References: <10900001@ada-uts.UUCP> <1529@bbncca.ARPA>
Reply-To: manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vince Manis)
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science
Lines: 23
Summary: 

In article <1529@bbncca.ARPA> rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) writes:
>3) they're misleading or poorly chosen names: "homosexual" was coined
>   in late Victorian times, using a Greek prefix & Latin suffix (the
>   ancient world had no terms for either homo- or heterosexual).

I've always objected to the word ''homosexual'' on linguistic grounds:
it doesn't convey the sense of ''attracted to'', but only the sense of
''the same sex''. For that reason, I marginally prefer ''homophile'', 
seems to have disappeared completely since Stonewall (along with the
North American Conference of Homophile Organisations, NACHO). 

It's ironic that the word ''homosexual'', which we quite correctly tag
as the mark of the oppressor, was coined by a Hungarian gay, Kertbeny,
as part of a plea for tolerance, and was popularised in English by
Havelock Ellis. I've often wished that Kertbeny, Ellis, and George 
Weinberg (the inventor of the word ''homophobia'') had been linguistically
more careful.

I used to use the standard etymological arguments about the origin of
the word ''gay'', but I've given up. To me, it's now a simple matter
of courtesy. If John Simon insists on talking only of ''homosexuals'',
then I can equally reserve the right to call him ''Dreedle Slushthumper'',
regardless of *his* wishes in the matter.