"Eccentric Bachelor Uncle" SMH

[NotHardUp1]

As I watched a 1998 clip of Antiques Roadshow in Rochester, a youngish man presented an Ives toy train set that he had inherited from his father, which in turn had been inherited by his father from "an eccentric bachelor uncle."

That immediately sounded like code for "gay" from a man young enough to be in the generation that began using "gay" as a blanket epithet for anything defective, effeminate, embarrassing, or weak. If that is what he was thinking, he found euphemisms for gay to not refer to his late relative that way. From his age and the anecdote, it sounded very much like he had only heard of him, but not met him.

It remined me of the old habit of saying "confirmed bachelor" as code for gay. And, both eccentric and confirmed were qualifiers to mean not eligible, so don't bother.

What euphemisms are still in use? What others have you found from literature, school, or the bathroom wall?

 

[Essex Boy]

He never married.

 

[Peloso]

Euphemisms or epithets? There's a thin line between the two.

 

[PalacePaul]

I'd love to be called "an eccentric bachelor"

 

[unloadonme]

Friend of Dorothy.

 

[rareboy]

I would love to be described that way on Antiques Roadshow or anywhere.

I am counting on the great-nephews at this point to make us epic.

 

[Alistair]

I would love to be described that way on Antiques Roadshow or anywhere.

I am counting on the great-nephews at this point to make us epic.

I see you more as a dirty old man

 

[Vannie]

I have people now come right out and ask.

Are you gay?

The nerve of some people!

 

[pigface]

 

[belamyi]

He dresses too well.

 

[gsdx]

Social Worker: "Are you a practising homosexual?"
Jodie Dallas: "I don't have to practise. I'm very good at it."

 

[me203]

I have people now come right out and ask.

Are you gay?

The nerve of some people!

Could be worse...

They could call you a stuffed cabbage addict!

 

[EddMarkStarr]

I'd love to be called "an eccentric bachelor"

I like math references, "are you Obtuse, or Oblique?".

 

[Essex Boy]

When I was a child the adults used to refer darkly to a man being "one of those". At junior school in the late 1960s, any boy who didn't play football or get into fights or have many friends was called a homo, although we were too young to have any real idea of what it meant.

I used to believe that "earnest" was a Victorian code word for gay and that it was the key to a hidden homosexual subtext in The Importance of Being Earnest. Apparently not:

The word "earnest" may also have been a code-word for homosexual, as in: "Is he earnest?" in the same way that "Is he so?" and "Is he musical?" are known to have been used. However, Sir Donald Sinden, an actor who had met two of the play's original cast (Irene Vanbrugh and Allan Aynesworth) and Lord Alfred Douglas, wrote to The Times to dispute suggestions that "Earnest" held any sexual connotations:

The first time I heard it mentioned was in the 1980s, and I immediately consulted Sir John Gielgud, whose own performance of Jack Worthing in the same play was legendary, and whose knowledge of theatrical lore was encyclopaedic. He replied in his ringing tones: "No-No! Nonsense, absolute nonsense: I would have known".​

The Importance of Being Earnest - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[NotHardUp1]

When I was a child the adults used to refer darkly to a man being "one of those". At junior school in the late 1960s, any boy who didn't play football or get into fights or have many friends was called a homo, although we were too young to have any real idea of what it meant.

I used to believe that "earnest" was a Victorian code word for gay and that it was the key to a hidden homosexual subtext in The Importance of Being Earnest. Apparently not:

I would trust Gielgud's recollection.

And "homo" wouldn't be a euphemism since it overtly means gay, but the story in interesting just the same.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Euphemisms or epithets? There's a thin line between the two.

I think euphemisms, whether they are merely indirect or malicious.

An epithet really approaches being a slur.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I have people now come right out and ask.

Are you gay?

I'd have to reply with a look from head to toe and "not at the MOMENT!"

 

[pigface]

 

[LilBit]

This is how I want my niblings to remember me: