Reversing Slang with Dr Strabismus

Let’s start with a word that has been in use since the 13th century — ‘gay.’ It means carefree and happy, and the saying of the word captures something of this quality. Unfortunately, this little sound-byte has fallen victim to political correctness, and has been imbued with a sexual significance which is not intrinsic and which dulls its original lustre.

So far has the process of deterioration gone, that the latest slang usage is equivalent to ‘trashy,’ which shows how a really nice little word can be thoroughly rubbished. Does it matter? One factor against the twisting of ‘gay’ to mean what it doesn't, is that there is no discernible humour in the exercise, and slang without humour is simply uninteresting.