Faggots

[spiff]

What's the background to Americans calling homosexuals 'faggots'?

[tartanwiz]

I always thought it was an elaboration of the British boarding school term 'fag', meaning a junior boy who did errands and chores for a senior boy.

[Quizmonster]

The most common explanation for the 'homosexual' meaning goes like this: The word - from Italian - basically means a bundle of sticks. In the late 16th century, the word acquired the sense of a woman, especially a shrewish one. In the USA, in the early 20th century, the word took on the meaning of an effeminate man. There is even some suggestion that it may be related to the Yiddish word 'fagele', meaning a little bird, but there is no real evidence for that. Male members of theatrical dance-troupes, for example, were so described.

Its earliest-recorded use was in a dictionary of criminals' slang published in the USA in 1914.

(The reason the actual word itself is avoided in my answer above is because it is apparently not permitted in an answer here. I'm not at all clear on why it is allowed in a question.)

By the way, 'fag', in the Eton schoolboy sense is based on the word's use to mean drudgery/toil, which is what the poor wretch has to endure.

[nona suomy]

maybe they 'fag-got' to like women?