#queer language

[queerslurheritageposts]

okay so I added this to the FAQ recently but I wanted to make it its own post bc it's important.

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I'm [insert queer identity] can I call myself a fag/dyke?

yes.

But I'm nervous because [identity related nuance or specifics].

Still yes.

Can I call myself a tranny?

Look, you can call yourself whatever you want if you feel it fits you. I don't actually care that much nor do I have the authority to grant you a faggot pass or whatever. You can do whatever you want forever and you need no one's permission. I love you be free

[intersexcat-tboy]

"what" is a type of pronoun btw. I think that's cool

[bnyrbt]

how do you usually spell this word?

“non-binary” (with a hyphen)

“non binary” (with a space)

“nonbinary” (no separation)

some other way (please elaborate)

more than one way/i alternate

see results

Voting ended onOct 15, 2025

[a-queer-seminarian]

Marwan Kaabour, The Queer Arab Glossary (2024)

My fave part from the above:

“When I attended my first Lebanese gay party in Beirut, I was flabbergasted… Our language and dialect were the same, but their use of certain words and phrases made no sense to me. I was an outsider among this group of gay men. …If I wanted to belong, I needed to learn this new language.

The first time I had sex with a Lebanese man in Beirut was both the sweetest encounter and a disaster. We'd be fucking, and he'd say something romantic, and I'd ask him where that phrase came from (what can I say? I'm a writer). Worse, he'd say something sexual, and I would begin to giggle. We ended up spending the night in each other's arms, going over the various speech permutations of the Lebanese language of queers.”

[adhd-languages]

I have a lot of new followers so just to make it clear I love trans people and neopronouns are cool as fuck and linguistically interesting and it/its pronouns are also awesome and whatever pronouns or language you use to describe yourself is real as fuck.

[that-disabled-girl]

Alright I'm out of better ideas so it's time to ask tumblr, does anybody have an unabridged copy of The Language of Homosexuality: an American Glossary by Gershon Legman, 1941? So far I've tried:

-Google Scholar -My general science mentor -all the major science "piracy" websites -The Language and Sexuality Reader (this one has the abridged version) -Two linguists -4 library assistants -1 regular librarian -2 research librarians

and I've found nothing, but this is a foundational text of queer linguistics and it's cited EVERYWHERE, so surely there is an unabridged copy of it somewhere???? Please, I've been looking for over a year, someone help me find this paper before I lose my last marble.

[9ine9ine9ine6ix]

it does suck that we all basically talk like late 80s black drag queens without ever acknowledging their influence on language but im still so happy "crack the egg" and "egg" are back. like HEY YOU! have you ever looked at your gender in the mirror and asked what you love about yourself? WHY THE FUCK NOT? GO APPRECIATE WHAT YOU GOT YOU MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING AND THEN BECOME AN INGREDIENT IN A PHENOMENAL RECIPIE ​become an omelette before society makes you humpty dumpty!!!!!!!!!!

[variousqueerthings]

Alan Alda: [in conversation about the social evolution of words] which reminds me of the singular "they," which everybody is needing to get a little more familiar with, and more accepting of. You say a very interesting thing about how some of us have trouble accepting that "they went into a store and had a soda," where we're talking about "Mary went into a store and had a soda," you're talking about one person. But originally - or a long time ago - we said "thee" and "thou" and changed it to "you," which is- which was plural, and we don't have a problem with my talking to you and calling you "you," I don't need to call you "thou." And I don't say, "you is," I say "you are."

Valerie Friedland: I think it's really funny because if we look back 300 years - which often we don't do, and that's why we hate the things we say today - we could find the same kinds of complaints about using you as we can find using singular they today. So grammarians like Robert Lowth and Lindley Murray would complain about how it was ungrammatical to use "you" as a singular. and not only that but most people don't realize that "you" is actually objective case and not nominative case, which means in plain English it's not meant to be used for subjects at all, it's supposed to be used for objects.

"Ye" is actually a subject case. So when you had a subject saying "you did this," it would be "ye did this." Not only did we move "you" to the subject position, we also started making what was once plural, singular. and then to top it off we started using plural verbs with it. All of this happened before any of us were born, so all of us do it without any problems today. Singular "they" is essentially the same sort of shift, pronouns have always changed over time - in fact "they" is not the original one in English either, it was brought it in by the Vikings -- so now it's just a matter of getting used to this grammatical shift, because a lot of the time in our grammar in our head we have it linked to being plural. And so it's just a matter of adjusting our knowledge to say " oh it's actually also singular." Now I can use a plural verb and it's going to be like "you," and take a plural verb whether I'm talking about one "they" or two "theys."