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#19084 02/26/01 04:29 AM
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In reply to:

it was not from a very reliable source, so I'd appreciate correction if I'm off my cracker. Sometime in the 19th Century GAY was an acronym for "Green And Yellow", which served as a clothing color code for those in the know.


I've not heard the story before, and it seems most unlikely. Most word and phrases origins people seem to agree that acronyms were very rare before WWII.

Bingley



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#19085 02/26/01 01:31 PM
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I think there were quite a few during President Roosevelt's time. Only one I can think of is WPA - Works Progress Administration. They built a big field for football and baseball, using hundreds of guys with pick,shovel, and wheelbarrows. Republicans called it "We play all day"


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It was, I believe, I who said: The word children is almost extinct in common English usage.

It may be making a comeback. I heard a comment from Dubya the other day on NPR in which he used the word children.


#19087 02/26/01 03:28 PM
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This is beautiful, and your family is still among the minority, especially in the rural areas. People here in the Appalacian Hills are close knit and really do not let anyone else in---they are very leery--they are white and other white folks are sometimesnot accepted. But keep up the excellent work, and your son will carry on--the world will get better. Always accentuate the positive--but it is sooo hard.

enthusiast


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#19088 02/26/01 03:33 PM
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Regarding attitudes---If crayons are needed for schools---than perhaps this poem should be recited every morning in every school nationwide----it is beautiful.We could learn a lot from crayons. Some
are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull,
some have weird names, and all are different
colors... but they all have to learn to live
in the same box. Amen


enthusiast


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#19089 02/26/01 05:38 PM
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but they all have to learn to live
in the same box. Amen


Sorry, Bikermom - but I think this is drivel.


#19090 02/26/01 10:07 PM
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I was a film minor in school and in one of my classes we were told the first time "gay" was used to mean homosexual in a movie was Bringing up Baby, with Katherine Hepburn. Thus being a landmark for those who track meanings and connotations.

While new definitions have to be accepted I think it's sad that the old meaning seems to have lost validity, and fine examples of it's old use ridculed and snickered at as in Father Steve's example.


#19091 02/27/01 02:34 AM
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I have to agree with that last point - it's frustrating when a perfectly good word becomes a euphamism for something bad!


#19092 02/27/01 02:36 AM
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I'm not sure I agree with that song ("You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"). I think it's basic human nature to judge people by what we see on the outside, at least to some extent. I'm not saying it's right or good, but I think it's probably a natural tendency that you would have to be taught NOT to do.


#19093 02/27/01 04:34 AM
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In reply to:

it's frustrating when a perfectly good word becomes a euphamism for something bad!


Point proven, I think!

Bingley



Bingley
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