In US slang a “bender” is an alcoholic jaunt. In UK I saw it used as a presumably pejorative name to call someone, but just what does it mean?
A “bender”, as a pejorative, is a homosexual.
Other slang meanings: “going on a bender” means spending a whole day or even several getting rascally drunk.
A “bender” was an impromptu shelter constructed by New Age travellers, the Greenham Common anti-nuke protesters or similar, consisting of bent saplings or tree-branches covered in waterproof sheeting.
It makes watching Futurama as an Englishman slightly more amusing than it otherwise would be.
And the Avatar: Last Airbender movie almost watchable.
What Malacandra said. “Bender” in the UK is a pejorative word for a homosexual, although the US meaning of a heavy night’s drinking and partying is becoming more widely used.
In the Gunslinger books by Stephen King a ‘bender’ is also slang for a homosexual…I wonder if that’s where King got it?
-XT
I thought that the more common term used to be Bent, as in the famous play by Martin Sherman
And non-bent would then be straight, of course.
If he is bent, then he is a bender.
The OED says that bender, in the homosexual sense, is “orig. U.S. now chiefly Brit.” and it has cites starting from 1965 (US) and 1977 (UK). Apparently in the US it referred specifically to a man who took the receptive role in anal intercourse (possibly because he bends over?) but by the time it got to the UK it seems to have broadened to refer generally to homosexual men.
Bent, meaning homosexual, goes back to 1957 in the UK. It seems to have emerged from a broader meaning of psychologically disturbed or perverted in any respect.
Bent can also mean unscrupulous, dishonest or criminal in UK slang, particularly in connection with authorities, for example: bent copper = crooked police officer.
(I mention this only because the topic has drifted to the meaning of bent - as far as I know, bender is never used in this way)
It also has the alcohol meaning in the UK.
Edit - which i now see has been said.
My favourite 70’s band had Ariel Bender on lead guitar if that helps at all.
I imagine that “get bent!” is related.
Other (minor) meanings of the term bender I have encountered:
A (cloth or paper) serviette (I believe this may be a brand name gone generic, like Hoover)
A sausage of continental type, either naturally curved, or made so by a series of shallow transverse cuts along one side. (Cite)
’Camp’ Freddie: But Mr. Bridger, what if the Professor’s not bent?
Mr. Bridger: Camp Freddie, everyone in the World is bent!
You English is so strange.
I’ve always considered it as being used as the opposite of ‘straight’, and therefore insulting. Is that actually true, or is its etymology different than that?
I guess that somewhat clarifies the lyrics of “Jeremy Bender” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
No idea, but it’s worth noting that (as well as meaning heterosexual) ‘straight’, in UK slang, also means honest or upstanding (or sometimes honest and upstanding to the point of being prim).
But still leaves the mystery of what Mister Richard Smoker by Ween is all about.
This from the country which came up with “Oh snap!” 