A Whole New Meaning

I was shocked and appalled to discover misinformation in my latest issue of "Mental Floss". They claimed that the word gay (to mean homosexual) was first used by Gertrude Stein in 1922 in her short story "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene". As it turns out it had been in use meaning homosexual before that story. In the mid 17th century according to an Oxford dictionary of that time the meaning of the word was "addicted to pleasures and dissipation's,of loose and immoral life",in addition to the original meaning of the word (joyful,carefree). By the 19th century the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostitute and a gay man as someone who slept with a lot of women,which is oddly the opposite of the modern meaning. Also the phrase "gay it" meant to have sex. In the 1920s and 1930s the word took on the meaning of men having sex with other men. At this time homosexual women were referred to as lesbians not gay. By 1955 the word gay officially acquired the new added definition of homosexual males. Since then the new definition has steadily become the primary meaning of the word gay. In the 1980s another definition started being used for gay,meaning "lame or stupid". Odd how a simple three letter word could take on so many meanings and changes in a relatively short time span.