The Western equivalent would be cuckold horns.
In a total coincidence, a friend of mine on Discord was mentioning this. Apparently the “green=gay” signal came up in a movie called “Cruising (1980)” by William Friedkin. I’ve not seen it. And apparently Oscar Wilde used the green flower?
60s-70s SoCal for me, but another vote that that particular silly rumor was not making the rounds. “Gay” was undesirable and an insult, but nobody knew what it really meant. It also went in and out of favor as the go-to taunt a few times between ages 8 and 18.
Didn’t Lindsay Marriott wear a green suit in the 1975 version of Farewell, My Lovely?
“Left is right, and right is wrong”.
I never heard the green day thing. It sounds more like another opportunity to make fun of each other. Like kids need a reason, but green Thursday makes it easy. Especially in Packer Country.
Perhaps I’m just obtuse, but I don’t see how that rhyme answers the question.
I assumed that was the joke—the ambiguity of the rhyme.
Unambiguous, I would say, but, yeah.
“Left (ear) is right (straight, correct), right (ear) is wrong (gay, bad)”
Now guys have earrings everywhere. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But that means a bad boy = criminal or a gay person (“bad” in the old homophobic days) would wear on the right. And nobody would wear on the left, since “normal” / typical males didn’t wear earrings. So how does left or right separate the criminals from the gays?
Or did I miss the whole point doing my accidental Emily Latella imitation?
Not what I took away at all. You said left is right, and right is bad, that said to me left=right=bad. Therefore left and right are both bad.
I always carry one. They have so many uses, even for nose wiping if the tissues run out,
But I dont hang one out in my back pocket (not that there’s anything wrong with that)
I was in Walt Disney World once on a very hot day. Another follicle impaired person was sitting by me, and we got to talking. He was an Aussie, and he was suffering as he lost his hat. I offered him my clean bandanna, and in like two minutes he had tied little knots in the corners, and turned it into a hat. “Thanks Mate!”. He offered to buy me a beer, but I was waiting for the wife.
But I never heard of Green Thursdays.
In the SCA we have the Blue feather.
I’m not familiar with that but there’s a shiny, green suit in Good Morning, Vietnam.
And let’s not forget RHPS.
Sort of.
It was a different time, you understand. It was the cusp of the adornment revolution. At the time, it was only acceptable for women to have one earring each ear. Nose rings were right out. The only men that could wear earrings were 1) pirates, 2) Mr Clean (mostly covered by 1 ) and…3) gay men. While attitudes were changing, you didn’t want to get caught in a dark alley by a bunch of toughs looking to beat up “queers”.
But guys wanted to wear earrings. Hence the “code”. You could say, “Hey it’s fashion, not gay!” And it pretty much in 1980-1983 ish had to be a stud. No actual rings.
I didn’t make the rules, I just observed.
tangent (but related): We Northern-Hemispherists all know that Friday the 13th means bad luck …
when I moved to S-America I was surprised it was not Friday, but Tuesday the 13th for bad luck (martes, 13!!!)
I completely lost the last bit of respect I had for that $hit!!!
and …
In my neck of the woods (central europe, 70-80ies) it was a pink shirt that gave away the gay in you!!!
Except until recently, 13 was a lucky and patriotic number.
you prob. need to define “recently” …
for as long as I can think (50+ years now) … it was bad luck, some Hotels even skipped the 13th floor, etc… and wasn’t there a horror film franchise, starting in the 80ies also referencing this combination?
According to the Wiki articles on the number 13, and Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of 13 is documented in the 18th Century, and may date back to the middle ages. Possible sources of the superstition include the 13 people at the Last Supper, and a Norse story about a party for 12 gods, where Loki came uninvited to make 13.
Friday has long been considered unlucky, possibly because Christ was crucified on Friday. One interesting exception is that Gaelic Scots considered it a lucky day for planting, because as Christ was buried on Friday, and resurrected, so if you bury a seed on Friday, life will return.
Tuesday is considered unlucky in the Greek-speaking and Spanish-speaking cultures, apparently because astrologers associated it with Ares/Mars, the god of war and death.
from the wiki page on Friday the 13th
The Greeks also consider Tuesday (and especially the 13th) an unlucky day.[15] Tuesday is considered dominated by the influence of Ares, the god of war (or Mars, the Roman equivalent). The fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade occurred on Tuesday 13 April 1204, and the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans happened on Tuesday 29 May 1453, events that strengthen the superstition about Tuesday. In addition, in Greek the name of the day is Triti (Τρίτη) meaning the third (day of the week), adding weight to the superstition, since bad luck is said to “come in threes”.
Sorry but I can once again hijack another tangent.
In China, the numbers 2 and 4 are considered unlucky or bad. Why?
Because 2, when counting, is pronounced the same as a word for “stupid”. And 4 is pronounced similarly to a word for “dead”.
So it is quite common for residential buildings (and some office buildings) to have no 2nd or 4th floor, and sometimes no 12th or 14th.
When you’re getting a license plate or phone number in China, you’re often given a long list of options, as many people will be unhappy with a number that contains too many 2s or 4s, and conversely will be willing to pay a lot extra for one with 8s (the pronunciation of 8 sounds a bit like a word for “fortune”).
I like trying to imagine how that would work.
Thugs: Hey, that guy’s got a earring! Let’s beat him up for being queer!
Earring Guy: Now, hold up fellows! You’ve got the wrong idea! I’m wearing it in my left ear. Queers wear them in their right ear!
Thugs: Oh, our apologies sir! We were unaware of that. You have yourself a good night!
If I had to guess, the whole “left ear right, right ear wrong” thing was cooked up by homophobic straight guys as a defense mechanism when their favorite football players started sporting ear studs.
Probably! Since I wasn’t gay, and didn’t want an earring (then or now) I didn’t care, but I found it slightly amusing that others did. As long as no one was getting hurt.