# "Excuse me miss, but my baby is NOT a 'half'."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 12, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675 "2002-05-12T20:24:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675/61 "2002-05-20T06:22:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Ryan \*
> \*\*
> OED:
> gay A 2 a
> Addicted to social pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose or immoral life.
> \*\*
True. But…you’re suggesting Phlip was using it in that sense? Doubtful. I think that’s pretty irrelevant.
He was (I would say) using it in the Post-homosexual sense (post homosexual 🙂 ?) of lame or pathetic. However it is reasonable to conclude it started to mean “pathetic” BECAUSE it meant homosexual, which would be why homosexuals would understandably take umbrage.
On the other hand there are homosexuals who use the term themselves…I think there’s a big long thread about this here somewhere.
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### Author:  [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675/62 "2002-05-21T18:52:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by betenoir \*
> True. But…you’re suggesting Phlip was using it in that sense?
NO, I’m saying that there is an etymology other than the hoosexual one which is both older and more consistent with the meaning, and is therefore more likely to be the true etymology.
> [@](#):
>
> which would be why homosexuals would understandably take umbrage.
So would it be understandable for cripples to take umbrage at your use of the word “lame”?
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### Author:  [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675/63 "2002-05-22T03:50:38Z")
SIZE=1]quote:[/SIZE]
Originally posted by The Ryan
> [@](#):
>
> So would it be understandable for cripples to take umbrage at your use of the word “lame”?
Uhm, I actually take umbrage at your use of the word “cripples”.
And incidentally, the OP reminded me of a similar problem I tend to encounter when at restaurants with non-disabled friends…
[hijack]
I tend to be referred to, by the host/hostess, as “the wheelchair”. As in, “You have two and a wheelchair?”, or, “Where do you want the wheelchair?”. Bah.
[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-miss-but-my-baby-is-not-a-half/108675/64 "2002-05-22T05:33:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cosmopolitan \*
> Uhm, I actually take umbrage at your use of the word “cripples”.
Why?
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