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Cocks, asses and gay people

2006/12/05 23:29

Donkey and Rooster
Originally uploaded by 24hourmoon.

English has, for better or worse, changed the semantics of some words. A cock used to be a male hen, an ass used to be a donkey, and gay used to mean “merry”.
However, in modern English these words have almost entirely taken on new senses, and native speakers have adapted to this. However, I’m told a Parisian museum recently opened an exhibition of photos of cocks (and no, it was not a porn exhibition), and I have encountered language teachers abroad who refused to accept that gay doesn’t mean “merry” any more. This is probably not helped by the fact that dictionaries are often a few years behind, and some list senses by etymology, not by current frequency.

Filed under lang • en • linguistics

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