First, welcome to the Board. Hope your other post on the Board doesn’t get you canned.
Can you give me any cite/source for the Yiddish faygala being pronounced as fag gayla? I doubt it. According to Leo Rosten(RIP), it’s pronounce FAY geh leh. He would know. I doubt you do.
Second–it’s possible that the Yiddish phrase is connected, but VERY unlikely.
As to the “fag” connection, see How did “faggot” get to mean “male homosexual”?
Rosten is quite correct. It’s the same vowel shift whereby German “schön” becomes Yiddish “shayn” (as in “Bei mir bist du…”). And the accent’s on the first syllable. The word is cognate with English “fowl”.
Moderator interjecteth:
Actual Comment by Wheelz:
samjones: in post #14 above, you have changed Wheelz quote within quote marks. This is a Rules Violation: See: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697048#post7697048
If you want to paraphrase someone, do it in quotation marks. Use of QUOTE tags are subject to the same rules as formal quotation in a research paper or article: you may not make such changes without the usual editing remarks (sic, …, square brackets, etc.)
I’m issuing a formal Warning to be sure that you see this; it won’t go on your permanent record. You’ve only just joined, so I’m assuming ignorance as an excuse. and please read the other Rules while you’re at it so you don’t goof again.
No, it’s ‘queer.’ It basically means ‘other, not completely straight.’ It includes those who just aren’t sure, those who are in a relationship with a transperson that started while that person was one gender and is now another, those who are primarily attracted to transpeople, transpeople that formerly identified as gay, lesbian or bi and might now identify as straight, and polyandrous people, among others.
The whole LGBT etc etc thing has always made me wonder if gays and lesbians, somewhere deep down, are a little resentful about the acronym expansion and what comes along with it. I mean they’re still working on basic civil rights and now all of a sudden there’s a distracting foofaraw over side issues. It reminds me of college lefty rallies to support divestment from South Africa…but here comes a speaker about Native American rights…and U.S. out of El Salvador…and what were we here for again?
ADDED: I have asked gay and lesbian friends, and the response ranges from “no, it’s good” to “yes, it’s annoying,” but of course I have no way of telling what the greater mass of LG’s are thinking.