# When was the last non-ironic use of the word "gay" to mean happy ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469 "2011-01-05T07:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/1 "2011-01-05T07:29:20Z")
When was the last recorded time the word “gay” was used in popular culture (TV, radio, or mainstream print media) to mean happy, without any sexual connotations. I’m excluding deliberate attempts at humor or irony, or a quotation from some older source. I’ll start the ball rolling by suggesting the theme from the Flintstones (“we’ll have a gay old time”) from 1960. Can anyone beat that ? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/2 "2011-01-05T08:23:43Z")
Well, still in current use in canine circles, a dog having a gay tail is a breed characteristic. In some breed its mandatory, in others its considered a conformation fault. A lot of dogs show gay tails when they are happy. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/3 "2011-01-05T16:26:39Z")
A few Christmas songs use “gay” in the heterosexual sense. **Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas** (1943) features: “make the Yule-tide gay”. Also the film **Zorro: The Gay Blade** (1963) used the word in the more traditional sense. (I think. Never did actually see the movie. Zorro’s a straight guy right?) ---
**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:** [January 5, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/4 "2011-01-05T16:46:24Z")
**Zorro, the Gay Blade** was from 1981, and the title used “gay” as homosexual (Zorro had a gay brother who took his place). The idea of gay = homosexual reached the mainstream around 1970. The definition of gay = cheerful and happy is still being used. The OED gives an example from 2003: > [@OED](#): > > Village Voice (N.Y.) 22–28 Oct. 52/4 ‘There’s no prizes for being happy and gay in a noir movie—that’s failure,’ [Jane] Campion says with a shake of the head. (though, like “nice,” you can’t be 100% sure of the meaning). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/5 "2011-01-05T17:03:46Z")
The animated musical [Gay Purr-ee](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057093/)was released in 1962. Obviously it was a pun on the older term “gay Paree,” but still a non-ironic use of the word. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/6 "2011-01-05T17:16:13Z")
“Gay” never meant “happy.” It meant light-hearted, not-to-be-taken-seriously, even a bit silly or bubbly. A silly hat could be gay; feathers and sequins and glitter are gay. Butterflies are gay. Champagne is gay. None of these things are necessarily “happy.” And it should be obvious how this meaning shifted to meaning “gay men.” We were considered to be outside the “serious” segments of society, “light in the loafers,” and just flitting around from one gay party to another. I don’t have a cite for this, but I know Ayn Rand still used the original meaning in the 70s. And she used it correctly, not meaning “happy.” ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/7 "2011-01-05T17:16:49Z")
Thousands of us here in Kentucky regularly sing _'Tis summer, the people are gay …_ (but rewritten from the original Stephen Foster lyric _darkies are gay_). I think most people smile a little at it, but as far as I know we all mean it as “happy” when we sing. At least at horse races and basketball games. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/8 "2011-01-05T19:45:04Z")
A bit off topic, but a bit related, so- The 1960 movie [Oscar Wilde](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053149/), starring Robert Morley, ends on a scene with the disgraced Wilde drinking at a sidewalk cafe during his self-imposed exile in Paris. Wilde has just been abandoned by one of his few remaining friends (who finds him a depressed drunken boor in his current state) and when the waiter brings the bill Wilde asks him > [@](#): > > Will you ask the orchestra to play something gay? then he guffaws with laughter. Does anybody know if this movie- which dealt with his sodomy trial and rent boys- meant that in the present tense? ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/9 "2011-01-05T23:11:55Z")
I remember a young female character in the novel [Dinosaur Planet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Planet_%28novel%29) being described as gay, apparently in the old sense. The novel was published in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/10 "2011-01-05T23:20:40Z")
_[Twistin’ the Night Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSoPeZMHMf4)_ - Sam Cooke (1962) Let me tell you ‘bout a place somewhere up New York way **where the people are so gay** twistin’ the night away ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/11 "2011-01-06T00:20:30Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > Also the film **Zorro: The Gay Blade** (1963) used the word in the more traditional sense. (I think. Never did actually see the movie. Zorro’s a straight guy right?) [Here’s a picture of the titular hero from that film.](http://www.zorrolegend.com/zorrogayblade/gayblade4.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/12 "2011-01-06T00:21:07Z")
Contemporaneous with _The Flinstones_, the musical _Camelot_ premiered in December 1960 and featured the song _Lusty Month of May_ ([lyrics](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/camelot/thelustymonthofmay.htm)) that had “It’s gay!” as a recurring line in the “carefree and jovial” sense. Apparently it wasn’t drawing snickers in 1960. I’ve wondered if the name of the titular nightclub _La Cage Aux Folles_, which premiered as a play in 1973, came from [this 1940s Donald Duck cartoon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R53S0VHQ1s). _We’re three caballeros Three gay caballeros They say we are birds of a feather…_ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/13 "2011-01-06T00:30:10Z")
[Lionboy](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lionboy-Zizou-Corder/dp/0141317264), a YA book published in 2005, used the word gay to mean brightly coloured several times. I only know this because I’ve read the book and my eyes widened when seeing the word used that way. I could go and search through the book for a page number, but then it still wouldn’t count as a cite because it wouldn’t be online, and do any of us really want to Google ‘gay lionboy?’ I mean hell, even if you’re into that, it’d take about 1400 pages before you found the right cite. This could, of course, be a nice valid excuse for any closeted gay furries out there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/14 "2011-01-06T01:15:40Z")
What about uses of Gay as a woman’s name? Or even the alternate spelling Gaye? When was the last time that popped up in popular culture? No, Gaylord Focker does not count. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/15 "2011-01-06T01:33:08Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Gay” never meant “happy.” It meant light-hearted, not-to-be-taken-seriously, even a bit silly or bubbly. A silly hat could be gay; feathers and sequins and glitter are gay. Butterflies are gay. Champagne is gay. None of these things are necessarily “happy.” > > And it should be obvious how this meaning shifted to meaning “gay men.” We were considered to be outside the “serious” segments of society, “light in the loafers,” and just flitting around from one gay party to another. > > I don’t have a cite for this, but I know Ayn Rand still used the original meaning in the 70s. And she used it correctly, not meaning “happy.” As I understand it, “gay” to mean homosexual derives from “gay boy,” Victorian slang for a male prostitute. Where **that** came from I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/16 "2011-01-06T01:37:10Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > _[Twistin’ the Night Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSoPeZMHMf4)_ - Sam Cooke (1962) > > Let me tell you ‘bout a place > somewhere up New York way > **where the people are so gay** > twistin’ the night away How about [“Hey, Bartender”:](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzP0GCILr7c) I went balling the other night I started drinking and got real tight I blew each and all my friends I felt so good I had to blow 'em again I said, "Hey bartender "Hey man, lookie here “A draw one, draw two, draw three, four glasses of beer!” (“Blow” once meant “to treat,” “to buy for,” as in, “Sure, Mike, if you’ll blow me to a pail of suds!”) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/17 "2011-01-06T01:48:30Z")
People who spent their time drinking and club-hopping, with concomitant sexual adventurousness were said, a hundred years or so ago, to be living “the gay life.” It would necessarily have included homosexuals, and eventually evolved to only that singular meaning. My only complaint is that there is no other word to mean exactly what “gay” once did. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/18 "2011-01-06T02:13:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve wondered if the name of the titular nightclub _La Cage Aux Folles_, which premiered as a play in 1973, came from [this 1940s Donald Duck cartoon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R53S0VHQ1s). > > _We’re three caballeros > Three gay caballeros > They say we are birds of a feather…_ I don’t know, but[here’s an old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=319232&highlight=bird%2A) that mentions numerous gay/bird references. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/19 "2011-01-06T02:32:33Z")
The song “Glitter and be Gay” from the musical _Candide_ was very clearly using the term in the classic sense. The heroine, forced into a life of prostitution, was attempting to put on a happy, antic disposition to cheer herself up. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, so there could have been some punning reference buried in the lyrics, but, overall, it has nothing to do with the modern sense of the word. By the way, Dick Cavett used the melody of “Glitter and Be Gay” as the theme song of his old talk show. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469/20 "2011-01-06T02:34:25Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > What about uses of Gay as a woman’s name? Or even the alternate spelling Gaye? When was the last time that popped up in popular culture? > > No, Gaylord Focker does not count. I’m 56, and a woman who would be a couple of years older than me lived next door when we were kids. Her name was Gay. That meant she was born and named in the early 1950’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-non-ironic-use-of-the-word-gay-to-mean-happy/566469.md?page=2)