Jacqueline's guide to gayspeak

[Jacqueline Hyde]

Since I have a tendency to use a lot of gayspeak/dragspeak, much of which is unfamiliar to others on here, I thought I'd make a little glossary. Request additions at any time if you'd like.

beyoncé (v.): To release something suddenly and unexpectedly, as Beyoncé did with her self-titled album.
Michelle Williams beyoncéd an album last night. Wonder where she got that idea from.

cancel (v.): To turn on someone after they've done something wrong. Compare to “de-platform.”
The gays canceled Shania after she said she would've voted for Trump.

drag (v./n.): To heavily mock someone, especially righteously.
I dragged her after she said she didn't ship Carchase.

extra (adj.) Over-the-top.
You're being a little bit extra.

(the) gays (n.): LGBT+ people, including those who aren't technically gay (e.g., bisexuals, hetero trans people).
There are four universal things gays love: Carly Rae Jepsen, Cher, glitter, and spreadsheets.

girl (n.): A gender-neutral noun of direct address. Compare to “dude” or “bro.”
Oh, girl, we KNOW.

ha (adj.): Her/his. Also used in place of the possessive ’s.
A villain called Tigress... Ivy ha impact.

hunty (n.): A term of endearment, which may be sincere or sarcastic. A corruption of “honey.”
You’re gonna need to do better than that, hunty.

I love _____ (phr.): Used to make a comparison.
*looks at Carmen and Chase* I love Gomez and Morticia.

icon (n.): Someone notable or who does something particularly well. Comes from ball culture.
Carmen Sandiego is a video game icon.

iconic (n.): Something or someone the speaker really loves. May or may not actually be iconic.
Lara Croft's Union Jack outfit is iconic.

legend (n.): Similar to “icon.” Often used to indicate someone even better or more notable than “icon,” though this is reversed from their actual meanings in ball culture.
Madonna is a pop legend.

queen (n.): Similar to “icon” and “legend.”
Rita Moreno is an absolute queen.

the range (n.): The ability or necessary talent to do something. Usually used in the phrase “she doesn’t have the range,” regardless of gender. From a Lucas & Walliams sketch about Shirley Bassey (itself a parody of an actual comment in which the real Shirley criticized Tina Turner’s vocal range).
Lee, steal the Taj Mahal? She doesn’t have the range!

read (v./n.): Similar to “drag,” but with a more aggressive connotation. Often used in the phrase “read for filth.”
I had to read Chase for filth after he said he had never hit on Carmen.

(the) receipts (n.): Proof that something happened. Originates from the infamous Whitney Houston “crack is wack” interview. Sometimes referenced using a gif from that interview, or an unrelated (and miscaptioned) gif from Dynasty.
He claimed he'd never said that, but I had receipts.

shade (v./n.): To subtly mock someone, sometimes but not always in a way that requires cultural knowledge to understand. May be a backhanded compliment. Can be used as a verb or a noun.
A: You’ll always be the Karen to my Regina.
B: Shade.

slay (v.): To do something extremely well. Sometimes used in the phrase “slay the game.”
Jennifer Hale has slayed every role she's been in.

sis (n.): A gender-neutral term of endearment. Compare to “bro” or “bud.”
Sis, I love you and all, but you wrong for that.

stan (n.): A fanatic. Possible etymologies include the Eminem song of the same name, or a portmanteau of “stalker-fan.”
I'm a Gina Rodriguez stan. Seen everything she’s been in.

stan (v.): To be a stan of something or someone.
I stan Gina Rodriguez.

(the) tea (n.): The truth, especially in a gossipy sense. Sometimes used in the phrase “spill (the) tea.” Originates from the abbreviation of “the truth” to “the T.”
Wendy Williams is the rare daytime host who actually spills the tea.

yas (intj.): “Yes,” but more excited. Additional a's and/or s's indicate stronger feeling. Popularized by a video of a Lady Gaga stan yelling “yaaas” after she came out of a hotel (though it has been around for far longer); for this reason, it's sometimes expanded to “yas Gaga.”
A new Ultramarine post? Yaaaaaaas!

 

[Chase]

Comprehensive, thanks. Also for putting it in alphabetical order.

 

[Jacqueline Hyde]

Comprehensive, thanks. Also for putting it in alphabetical order.

Girl, what other order would I put it in?

 

[Emma Bezzle]

*Reads list and realizes I know almost all of them* I spend too much time on tumblr...

 

[Jacqueline Hyde]

Inspired by a question in chat last night, here's another glossary, this one of actual LGBT+ related terms. These aren't in alphabetical order as they sort of lead in to one another. Again, please let me know if there's anything else you'd like defined.

General:

queer (adj./n.): A catch-all term for any LGBT+ identity or person. Because it is a reclaimed slur, not all LGBT+ people are comfortable using it, and cishet (see below) people should not use it, except in a context such as "queer theory," or to refer to a person who specifically identifies as "queer."

cishet (adj./n.): Someone who is not LGBT+. Portmanteau of cis (see below) and hetero.

heterosexism (n.): Systemic discrimination against non-heterosexual/heteroromantic people. Compare to homophobia or queerphobia, which is individual prejudice, similar to the difference between sexism and misogyny.

cissexism (n.): Similarly, systemic discrimination against transgender people. Compare to transphobia.

-misia (suffix): A proposed replacement for the -phobia suffix of homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, etc. (Resulting in homomisia, transmisia, queermisia, islamomisia, xenomisia...) -phobia is seen by some as ableist or inappropriate for relating bigotry to a psychological term.

split attraction model: A model of attraction that specifies that romantic and sexual attraction are different. For instance, someone may be bisexual/biromantic, but they may also be asexual/biromantic, or bisexual/homoromantic, or any other combination.

Related to sexuality:

bi / bisexual / biromantic (adj.): Attracted to people of two or more genders. Originally it referred to attraction to both men and women, but with higher awareness of nonbinary genders (see below) in recent years, it has been defined in different ways, such as “attraction to people of the same and at least one different gender.”

polysexual / polyromantic (adj.): Attracted to people of three or more genders. Used rather rarely.

pan / pansexual / panromantic (adj.): Similar to bisexuality and polysexuality. Different people have different ideas about the distinction between them. Some people define pansexuality as attraction to people of all genders, and bi-/polysexuality as attraction to people of multiple, but not all, genders. Others, myself included, define pansexuality as attraction to people regardless of gender (“I just like people”) and bisexuality as specific attraction to people of more than one gender (“I specifically like men, and I also specifically like women”).

biphobia / bimisia (n.): Prejudice or discrimination against bi-/poly-/pansexual people.

polyam / polyamorous (adj.): Romantically and/or sexually attracted to multiple people, or in consenting romantic relationships with multiple people, at once.

poly (adj.): Usually used to mean polyamorous, but can also be used to mean polysexual. Some people also believe its use to refer to either is racist/appropriative, as it can also be short for Polynesian. For those reasons, I recommend against using it.

ace / asexual (adj.): Not sexually attracted to people. Distinct from celibate, i.e., not having sex. Asexual people may have sex despite not feeling sexual attraction, and people practicing celibacy aren't necessarily ace.

aro / aromantic (adj.): Not romantically attracted to people.

acespec / aspec / ace spectrum (adj.): Somewhat but not entirely asexual.

arospec / aro spectrum (adj.): Somewhat but not entirely aromantic.

demi / demisexual / demiro / demiromantic (adj.): Acespec/arospec identities. Capable of sexual/romantic attraction only to people to whom one has formed a strong emotional attachment.

gray-a / grayce / gray-asexual / gray-aro / gray-aromantic (adj.): Acespec/arospec identities. Capable of sexual/romantic attraction only under certain circumstances.

acephobia / aphobia (n.): Prejudice or discrimination against acespec and/or arospec people.

Related to gender:

transgender (adj.): Someone whose true gender ("gender identity," a term I and many other trans people hate) is not the same as the one they were assigned at birth. Should NEVER be used as a noun ("a transgender") by cis people.

cis / cisgender (adj.) Someone whose true gender is the same as the one they were assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not trans.

trans (adj.) Short for transgender. Sometimes spelled as trans*, with the asterisk meant to be a truncation symbol, but this has fallen out of favor as it was used by truscum (see below) to snark at nonbinary people.

transsexual (adj./n.): Another term for trans people. Some trans people, myself included, use it as a synonym for transgender. Others use it to refer specifically to trans people who have undergone genital reconstruction surgery (GRS). Still others don't think it should be used at all. To be on the safe side, cis people shouldn't use it.

transvestite (n.): A cross-dresser. Historically, it was used to indicate a trans person who had not undergone GRS, as opposed to a transsexual, who had undergone GRS. However, this usage is extremely cissexist, as it placed the determination of a person's identity on their genitals, rather than their true self. As a result, it should - in my opinion - NEVER be used by cis people, even to describe a literal cross-dresser (e.g., a cis male drag queen). Likewise transvestism.

tranny (n.): A slur for trans people. Should NEVER be used by cis people.

dmab / dfab (adj.): Designated male/female at birth.

amab / afab (adj.): Assigned male/female at birth.

camab / cafab (adj.): Coercively assigned male/female at birth.

The three terms above all refer to the same thing, but with different connotations. One of them (typically amab/afab) should be used in place of the phrase "born male/female," which should NEVER be used except by a trans person describing their own experiences (or by someone else in reference to a specific trans person's experiences if they use that terminology).

nonbinary / non-binary / nb (adj.): A catch-all term for genders other than male and female.

binary (adj.): A catch-all term for both male and female.

enby (n.; plural enbies): A nonbinary person. Most enbies, but not all, consider themselves trans.

agender (adj.): A nonbinary identity in which someone does not have a gender.

neutrois (adj.): A similar nonbinary identity in which someone has a gender, but that gender is neutral.

genderqueer (adj.): A nonbinary identity in which someone has a distinct gender that is neither male nor female.

bigender / polygender (adj.): A nonbinary identity in which someone simultaneously has more than one gender.

genderfluid (adj.): A nonbinary identity in which someone moves between two or more genders. This fluidity may be on the scale of months, days, or even moments.

truscum (n.; plural truscum): A binary trans person who discriminates against nonbinary people. Usually a transmedicalist (see below).

transmedicalist (n.): A truscum who specifically adheres to a medical model of transsexuality; that is, they believe that transness is caused by something medical such as genetic or hormonal inconsistencies.

TERF (n.): A transphobe who expresses their transphobia in allegedly feminist terms. Originally an acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist," but it is now often used without the specific reference to radical feminism, and I'd argue than many if not most TERFs don't actually count as radical feminists.

neopronoun (n.): A pronoun other than he, she, or they, usually used by nonbinary people. Usually listed as subject/object/possessive, i.e., in the order of he/him/his. Common neopronouns include:

• xe/xem/xyr
• xe/xir/xir
• ey/em/eir (the Spivak pronoun)
• ze/hir/hir

Pronoun.is has a longer, but by no means complete, list.

Related to sex:

intersex (adj.): A state in which someone's physical sex characteristics do not neatly fit into male or female. This includes, but is not limited to:

• People whose outward sex characteristics (chests and genitals) do not fully resemble 'male' or 'female' phenotypes
• People whose sex chromosomes are not XX or XY (e.g., X or XXY)
• People whose sex chromosomes do not match their outward sex characteristics (e.g., a person with XY chromosomes whose body rejects testosterone so develops a 'female' body)
• People whose hormone levels do not match those of 'male' or 'female' phenotypes (e.g., a person with XY chromosomes and 'male' outward sex characteristics, but high estrogen levels)

Intersex people may be cis or trans, and may or may not be nonbinary. (For instance, I'm intersex and am trans and binary.) If cis and straight, they may or may not identify as queer due to their intersex status.

dyadic (adj.): Not intersex.

hermaphrodite (n.): An intersex person, particularly someone with mixed outward sex characteristics. This is considered a slur and should NEVER be used by dyadic people.

 

[Emma Bezzle]

Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to put all this together @Jacqueline Hyde

 

[Acton Roux]

It is interesting that I find much of this is also similar in French.

 

[Zack]

*reads up*