That one will have sailed right over their heads, Rube...
No, it was in a book I read many years ago, "Careful, he might hear you". One of the things the boy heard was the word poofter. It was set in Oz. The word poof was also used in whatever that recent movie was about the rough young British boy who was determined to take up ballet. He let his friend kiss him, but admonished that he himself was not a poof.