# Origin of the term "fruit" to refer to gay people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150 "2004-12-10T16:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/1 "2004-12-10T16:34:14Z")
Seems unfair to the produce industry to pigeonhole them this way. 🙂 In all seriousness, however, how long has this word been used to refer to homosexual folk? It’s not in wide usage these days, of course, but it still remains that if you refer to somebody as a fruit, then there leaves little doubt as to the implication you’re making. So does anyone have an idea? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/2 "2004-12-10T17:50:16Z")
Carmen Miranda’s hat? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/3 "2004-12-10T17:51:52Z")
Wild guess – it’s from the phrase “forbidden fruit” (as in Eve’s apple from the Bible story). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/4 "2004-12-10T18:06:11Z")
Oh. I thought it meant “out there,” “far out,” “soft-minded.” Short for “fruitcake,” as in “Shirley Maclaine is a real fruitcake.” Adjective, “fruity.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/5 "2004-12-10T18:17:41Z")
The OED gives first cite as as “homosexual” in 1935 and indicates it’s derived from “fruit” meaning “easy mark” and later “easy woman”: > [@](#): > > 1931 G. IRWIN Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 81 Fruit, an ‘easy mark’. A girl or woman willing to oblige. Probably…from the fact that they are ‘easy picking’. 1935 N. ERSINE Underworld & Prison Slang 38 Fruit, a sexual pervert. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/6 "2004-12-10T18:31:01Z")
I’ve heard it suggested that it’s evolved from the British slang usage of “fruit” for “university alumni,” and is rooted in anti-intellectualism. I don’t buy it, though, since the “fruit” = “gay” thing seems to have developed independently in America. I think it’s just supposed to imply delicacy or weakness by contrast with “manly” meat-and-potatoes, beefy metaphors. Or even, diet aside, the relative physical delicacy of fruit. Compare “pansy.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/7 "2004-12-11T00:48:14Z")
The Historical Dictionary of American Slang by J. E. Lighter cites it first from about 1900. The derivation is exactly that as offered by **RealityChuck**. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/8 "2004-12-11T01:03:46Z")
Cool. It’s puzzling how an origin that implies desire or attraction came to be used so derisively by machos, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/9 "2004-12-11T05:11:34Z")
Most slang words for male homosexuals probably came from terms meaning “weak,” “easy to victimize,” “feminine in appearance,” etc. The idea was that a homosexual was the inferior one in the sex act. In other words, if I rape you, that makes you homosexual, but not me. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fruit-to-refer-to-gay-people/279150/10 "2004-12-11T05:22:45Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Most slang words for male homosexuals probably came from terms meaning “weak,” “easy to victimize,” “feminine in appearance,” etc. The idea was that a homosexual was the inferior one in the sex act. In other words, if I rape you, that makes you homosexual, but not me. Man, I think I read that somewhere [How did “faggot” get to mean “male homosexual”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfaggot.html)😃