0
Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Usage of 'gay'
Hi,
The word 'gay' can be used both as a noun as well as an adjective according to Merriam Webster Dictionary. There are no problems intuitively with the adjective part, 'he is gay', 'we are going to a gay bar' etc are fine. But when gay is used as a noun, 'he is a gay', it seems wrong (and many people on the internet agree). And yet it sounds fine when used as a plural e.g. 'the bar was full of gays'. Can anyone explain?
Thanks
The word 'gay' can be used both as a noun as well as an adjective according to Merriam Webster Dictionary. There are no problems intuitively with the adjective part, 'he is gay', 'we are going to a gay bar' etc are fine. But when gay is used as a noun, 'he is a gay', it seems wrong (and many people on the internet agree). And yet it sounds fine when used as a plural e.g. 'the bar was full of gays'. Can anyone explain?
Thanks
Top answer
Hi, It's really just a matter of common usage. We usually just say 'He's gay'. We don't normally hear 'He's a gay', so it sounds odd.
- Hi, It's really just a matter of common usage.
- We usually just say 'He's gay'.
- We don't normally hear 'He's a gay', so it sounds odd.
- Actually, where I live, we seldom talk about an individual's sexual orientation at all.
- It is usually considered a private matter.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
Hi,
It's really just a matter of common usage.
We usually just say 'He's gay'. We don't normally hear 'He's a gay', so it sounds odd.
Actually, where I live, we seldom talk about an individual's sexual orientation at all. It is usually
It's really just a matter of common usage.
We usually just say 'He's gay'. We don't normally hear 'He's a gay', so it sounds odd.
Actually, where I live, we seldom talk about an individual's sexual orientation at all. It is usually
00
AnonymousBut when gay is used as a noun, 'he is a gay', it seems wrong (and many people on the internet agree). And yet it sounds fine when used as a plural e.g. 'the bar was full of gays'. Can anyone explain?Strange, but true. I'm stumped. I can't think of any other adjective-noun pair where this happens grammatically - though it's possible that bisexua
0
Related Questions