Words Out

The first book-length analysis of the language used by gay men.

Do gay men communicate with each other differently than they do with straight people? If they do, how is ＂gay men’s English＂ different from ＂straight English＂? In Word’s Out, William Leap addresses these questions in an entertaining account that looks at gay men’s English as a cultural and a linguistic phenomenon.

Whereas previous studies of ＂gay language＂ have centered almost entirely on vocabulary, word history, and folklore, Word’s Out focuses on the linguistic practices-cooperation, negotiation, and risk taking-that underlie gay men’s conversations, storytelling, verbal dueling, self-description, and construction of outrageous references. Leap ＂reads＂ conversations for covert and overt signs of gay men’s English, using anecdotes drawn from gay dinner parties, late-night airplane flights, restaurants, department stores, and gourmet shops, and from other all-gay and gay/straight settings. He incorporates material from life-story narratives and other interviews and discussions with gay men, from gay magazines, newspapers, and books, and from events in his own life.

The topics addressed include establishing the gay identities of ＂suspect gays,＂ recollections of gay childhood, erotic negotiation in health club locker rooms, and gay men’s language of AIDS. Leap shows how gay English speakers use language to create gay-centered spaces within public places, to protect themselves when speaking with strangers, and to establish common interests when speaking with ＂suspect gays,＂ and explores why learning gay English is a critical component in gay men’s socialization and entry into gay culture.

Provocative and potentially controversial, Word’s Out provides fascinating insight into the politics of gay experience by exploring the connections between language and daily experience in gay men’s lives.

William L. Leap is professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, D.C. His recent articles on gay English have appeared in New York Folklore, High School Journal, and in his edited collection Beyond the Lavender Lexicon (1995).