In doing research for my book, Sex in the Name of God, I happened across some interesting words and ways.
For bible tidbits regarding homosexuality, which got lumped into the chapter called Beasts and Buttholes, I frequently did synonym searches for homosexual and gay, as well as penis and balls. The results list was staggering and more than amusing.
Of course fag and faggot made the grade. Older folks might recall common usage of the word fag to be a cigarette (drag a fag), and faggot was a bundle of sticks.
The fun has just begun.
As is typical with internet searching, one thing leads to another and somehow I came across faggot food.
It isn’t what you think, but runs along the same line of thinking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food) : Faggots are meatballs made from minced off-cuts and offal, especially pork (traditionally pig’s heart, liver, and fatty belly meat or bacon) together with herbs for flavouring and sometimes added bread crumbs.
I next stumbled upon testicle festivals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicle_festival : A testicle festival is an event held at several small towns in which the featured activity is the consumption of animal testicles, usually battered and fried.
No one can blame farming communities for wasting nothing after castration day. Besides, everything tastes good battered and fried.
Other common synonyms for male homosexuals include queens and queers.
The queer synonym reminded me of an old childhood game called Smear the Queer.
I found it in Urban Dictionary : “Smear the Queer” is a childhood game of tag involving an object that is held by the “it” kid until he is tackled and forced to give it up.
Queer used to mean odd, but now this word proudly stands as the Q in LBGTQ, which pertains to people who are questioning and/or working out their sexuality.
As you enjoy this piece of Americana, please appreciate how people and language have evolved. This is also a fine example of using the internet as an educational tool, and it makes for dirt cheap fun.
Wilfred Knight
Author of Sex in the Name of God
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