Occasionally I like to read popular novels and watch mainstream movies from the same period, about the same period. This time I chose the first half of the twentieth century. The word gay came up frequently. I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me was that I couldn't recall when the use of it had changed or why. Furthermore, I couldn't think of any other words that had changed so dramatically over such a short period of time. I could only think of words that have come and gone or have changed over a longer period of time.

Can anyone think of a word that has changed its use in culture so dramatically in such a short period of time (1950-1960?)? I'm sure there are many, but I scanned the bean for a good 15 minutes and didn't come up with one.


MrNO