Fish gay slang
Stepping into my queerness was partly encouraged by my older sibling, who came out first to my family when they were 19. They left our home when my parents expressed mixed feelings around their first lesbian affair . They has been fiercely open about their individuality since then. Their courage—but mostly their humour—has always served as a guiding force as I believe my own queer persona. I recall one Brand-new Year’s Eve party at my conservative uncle’s dwelling when a guest pointed out that one of my cousin’s fireworks didn’t ignite. “It didn’t labor, it came out pato!”
Pato, pata or pate is a common word used to name gay people in Puerto Rico—as a pejorative by homophobic people and as a phrase of endearment within the LGBTQ community. Currently, La Real Academia Española’s website describes pato as “effeminate man” (and therefore, weak) or “person without humour.” My sibling, who was standing right next to the guest, responded quickly, “Well ma’am, I was born pata and here I stand in entire capacity.” With a blank stare, the woman picked up her champagne and walked away. I think of that incident to this day because it was one of the fir
Green’s Dictionary of Slang
fishn.1
[fig. uses of SE fish]1. pertaining to sex [sense 1a is derog. ref. to the supposed odour; senses 1b–j are ext. uses].
(a) the vagina.
| J. HeywoodProverbs II Ch. iiii: Olde fish and young flesh (quoth he) doth men top feede. | |||||||||||||||
| Gesta Grayorum (1688) 25: All such Persons as shall put or cast into any [...] Pits, Pools, [...] or River, salt or fresh; the same Fish being then of insufficiency in Age and Quantity. | |||||||||||||||
| ShakespeareAntony and Cleopatra II v: ’Twas merry when You wager’d on your angling; when your diver Did hang a salt-fish on his connect which he With fervency drew up. | |||||||||||||||
| [ | ‘P.R.’Whores Dialogue 2: It put us into such a Pocky dread, we begun all of us to smell prefer fish of three days catching]. | ||||||||||||||
| J. RayProverbs (2nd edn) 81: No man ever cryed stinking fish. | |||||||||||||||
| ‘The Martin and the Oyster or the Alsatia Amour’ in 18C Collections Online n.p.: Thus out Alsatia Martin blends / His S---d with Fish and Flesh. | |||||||||||||||
| E. ThompsonMeretriciad 26: The coronation causes want of fish, / And flesh, nay ev’ry common dish. | |||||||||||||||
| ‘Earl of Funsborough’Covent Garden Jester 4: ‘We have toiled all night, a
When I first came out as a trans* gal, the first thing to cross my mind was to look, by textbookAmerica’s Next Top Modeldefinition, “pretty” and “like a girl.” I was so caught up with trying to fit myself into a mold; I became obsessed with this delusional idea of “passing” and fitting in. At the moment, I only felt pleasant and accepted when disguising myself within the gender binaries that today’s culture thrives on. I legitimately believed the only way to be happy as a trans* woman was to hide the synonyms “transgender” from my persona. I convinced myself that with enough time I could trick my head into thinking my body’s gender-matched my soul’s and, in some kind of twisted turn, stop proclaiming myself as a trans* woman. Wanting to move beyond myself off as a cis bodied individual did nothing but internalize a lot of transmisogyny and eventually cause loads of anxiety and depression. The first time I heard the term ‘fish’ was when I was about 12 years old. A couple of my girl cousins were gossiping about some drag queens they’d seen at the local same-sex attracted bar near our home, so naturally, I had to drop my ear into the conversation. They kept saying phrases love “Sis she was so fi Green’s Dictionary of Slangtunan.1. (US) one who believes themselves to be far more sophisticated than is the reality. 2. (US gay) a homosexual sailor who only takes the passive role in fellatio.
3. (US campus/gay) an attractive man; thus hot tuna! an excl. said on seeing a sexy man.
In compoundstuna (fish) (n.)1. (US campus/black) a girlfriend, a woman.
|