Harvard linguistics 'nerd' shoots down the biggest misconception about the gay 'accent'
He also shares the reason why man gay men have a unique speech pattern.
It's more of a speech pattern than an "accent."
The gay community isn’t monolithic, so it’s incorrect to say there is a gay “accent” as if they were from another country or region. However, linguistics can point to specific speech patterns that are more common among gay men. This style of speech is used to solidify the community but is also used by homophobic people to stereotype them.
According to Joseph Radice, a linguistics professor at the University of Florida, gay men often "uptalk" and use "vocal fry" when speaking. Susan Sankin, a speech pathologist, adds that gay men also often use nasality, a sing-song pattern, and hold on to words longer in their speech.
Adam Aleksic, a self-described “etymology nerd” and Harvard graduate with a popular YouTube Channel, went viral recently for a video that explains the origins of the unique speech patterns often used by gay men and for dispelling a common misconception about how the “gay accent” developed.
Is there a gay accent?
“First of all, there is no one gay accent because the queer community is not a monolith. Second, the gay male lisp is not actually a lisp, which would involve misarticulating their s’s. They actually overpronounce their s’s along with many other consonants. Third, it’s not just an imitation of women’s speech, which I’ve heard many people say,” Aleksic says in the video. “Gay men also tend to speak in a breathier voice and have a wider pitch range.”
- YouTubeyoutu.be
People often misattribute the speaking style many gay men use as a way of impersonating women. However, Aleksic says that it comes from a style of speech that gay men used to identify one another in the past when it was much more dangerous to be out of the closet. By slipping into the speech pattern, a man could identify himself as homosexual to other men that he believed to be the same.
“But what’s really interesting to me is why they speak this way because it comes out of their history as a marginalized community,” Aleksic continues. “The gay accent fundamentally functions as metalinguistic signaling as a way for queer people to find each other when it might not be socially acceptable to be open about it.”
What is the Polari language?
Aleksic adds that in the UK, gay male circus performers developed their language, Polari, to communicate with one another and identify those who are part of the community. The secret language allowed them to talk about their experiences as a gay man without being recognized by outsiders. Homosexuality was illegal in England until 1967.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
“In 19th century England, gay circus performers needed a way to hide from undercover policemen, so they developed an entire slang system called Polari to secretly signal to each other. The same thing happened in the Philippines, where gay men developed a slang dialect called Swardspeak, which involves a special kind of code-switching between English and Tagalog,” Aleksic said.
Even though the speech patterns associated with gay males may not be as necessary now as they were when people could get into serious trouble for outing themselves, it’s interesting to see that it’s much more than an “accent” but a part of a unique co-culture that allowed people to find safety and community at a time when it was dangerous to express themselves.
The speech pattern not only helps create community but connects gay men to a larger cultural pattern that stretches across humanity. “And if you really look, some kind of gay accent has emerged in every country in every culture, which is linguistically very cool but socially kind of sad that it’s always necessary,” Aleksic finishes his video.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.