Code Words For “Gay” In Classic Films -The Toast

Code Words For “Gay” In Classic Films

ByDaniel Mallory Ortberg

on May 22, 2015 in Movies

Previously: Code words for lesbianism in classic films.

If you hear any of the following words or phrases used to describe a male character in a movie made before 1970, odds are good that they’re trying to tell you about a homosexual, a real boarding-school afternooner, someone who eats his dinner in a restaurant, a fellow who walks down the shady side of the street.

Curious

Extraordinary

Eccentric

Wears a hat of someone else’s choosing

Inconsistent

A sunset lover

Smooth elbows

A man with specific mannerisms

Sleeps diagonally

A perplexment

Rides the carousel

An evening botanist

Classically athletic

Fraternally-minded

Wears a light wristwatch

Gives a careful handshake

Gives too much change for a dollar

A fluent swimmer

A keen-eyed birdwatcher

Fond of his mother

Elegant

Built on an uncertain foundation

Fluttersome

A real jackdaw

Avowed bachelor

A gentleman of the piers

Born with the caul

Limber

An aesthete

In the way of uncles

He throws a party with an open guest list

Son of the moon

A boy from Eton

Always rings twice

Has a silk bathrobe

Not quite up-to-code

He hitchhikes instead of taking the bus

Stays ahead of the game

A skillful mountain climber

Salutes another flag

An upside-down chimney-sweep

Special comedy credit to left-handed whisperer Connor Goldsmith.

Mallory is an Editor of The Toast.

Comments (101)

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+16 Vote up Vote down

christwise 131p · 514 weeks ago

Yellow-back reader.

+73 Vote up Vote down

rroseperry · 514 weeks ago

Light in the loafers

+7 Vote up Vote down

deleted7541601 123p · 514 weeks ago

Fabulous!

+81 Vote up Vote down

TheAntiHumorEquation 140p · 514 weeks ago

"Sleeps diagonally"

Huh. I had no idea I was a gay character in classic films. The things you learn about yourself everyday.

3 replies · active 513 weeks ago

+75 Vote up Vote down

Eris · 514 weeks ago

The phrase "upside-down chimney-sweep" is the most delightful assemblage of letters I have read all week.

4 replies · active 514 weeks ago

+73 Vote up Vote down

Frumiosa 141p · 514 weeks ago

"Starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang"

1 reply · active 513 weeks ago

+101 Vote up Vote down

thewhelk 139p · 514 weeks ago

*puts walking stick curiously near mouth while wearing a lavender smoking jacket*

Ahre you ahware ohf continental sensibilities? *dry, slightly hissing chuckle*

1 reply · active 514 weeks ago

+117 Vote up Vote down

grumblyqueer 139p · 514 weeks ago

Code words for bisexuality in classic films: none

is the only result of same-sex sexual activity.

4 replies · active 478 weeks ago

+48 Vote up Vote down

sausagedog 127p · 514 weeks ago

"An aesthete"

There's only one heterosexual aesthetic and it's American Gothic by Grant Wood, and even that might be compulsory.

+100 Vote up Vote down

Canard 113p · 514 weeks ago

Can never find his wallet
A real fish-feeder
Takes the trolley to the last stop
Cantaloupe enthusiast
No lint on him
Knows his way around a cribbage board
Winks with both eyes
Frequent luncheon guest

+233 Vote up Vote down

aqwaplop 143p · 514 weeks ago

Almost any descriptor could pass, with the right emphasis and said in the classic mid-atlantic film accent.

I say, that fellow really enjoys conversation.

That right there is a man who will teach you how to juggle.

Oh, him? He puts a little too much relish on his frankfurters.

5 replies · active 513 weeks ago

+27 Vote up Vote down

photokaron 112p · 514 weeks ago

"Born with a caul" meant you were being played by Roddy McDowall.

3 replies · active 514 weeks ago

+177 Vote up Vote down

ksek 140p · 514 weeks ago

A while back, my husband and his mom were talking about my his brother's group of high school friends and what they were up to these days ("Chris is in the Army and has a wife and two kids," "Jim's a doctor and recently got divorced," etc.). When they got to the one guy, his mom said "Oh David never got married, but he's a real fun guy. I think he's a teacher. Just a real fun guy."

Afterward, I was like "So, your brother's friend David is gay, I assume?"
"No, that I know of. Why?"
"I just assumed 'real fun' was a Polite Catholic Mom way of saying gay."

1 reply · active 513 weeks ago

+96 Vote up Vote down

Special K · 514 weeks ago

yesterday I read "an admirer of Wilde"

+7 Vote up Vote down

Just_a_Dinosaur 124p · 514 weeks ago

Only like 99% serious, for reals.

+67 Vote up Vote down

halloweenjack64 115p · 514 weeks ago

Avid gardener
Likes to hike with a like-minded friend
Vigorous calisthenicist
Directs the choir and mentors the tenors*
Available for one-on-one pastoral counseling*
Knows his opera

*May be better as "code words for gay in your local parish"

+88 Vote up Vote down

foxinthe_snow 130p · 514 weeks ago

Always sits down when it rains

No wait, that's cows.

+153 Vote up Vote down

ppyajunebug 137p · 514 weeks ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

cleoreads 105p · 514 weeks ago

Confirmed bachelor

Not the marrying type

(can't think of any silly ones)

+82 Vote up Vote down

catfoodandhairnets 99p · 514 weeks ago

Stuffy Brits/Irish people of a certain age still talk like this. I have heard all of the following said with a certain intense and knowing look,

A confirmed bachelor.
Not the marrying type.
"She was always very into sports."
"He never was much into sports."
"He's... creative... very artistic... THEATRICAL, you might say."
"Her son never married, you know. Went to New York/London."

+39 Vote up Vote down

katieionata 116p · 514 weeks ago

When I was in high school, we read a short story (can't remember which) where a male character's occupation was "fairy antiques dealer."

5 replies · active 512 weeks ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

Blanche de Shambles · 514 weeks ago

Enjoys an early morning swim

An habitue of the cafe society

A devotee of the opera

+175 Vote up Vote down

Gzortenplatz 104p · 514 weeks ago

Genuine Cuban euphemism: "I'm not saying he's a duck, but he knows where the lake is."

6 replies · active 513 weeks ago

+24 Vote up Vote down

leslieellenjones 109p · 514 weeks ago

No kidding--here I thought I slept diagonally because the cats insist on sleeping at the top left and bottom right corners of the mattress. But that's cats for you: such is their power that by their mere choices of sleeping positions, they can change my gender, my sexual orientation (though, hmm, if I'm a straight female, I guess they're not actually changing _who_ I'm attracted to, just the social implications thereof), and indeed the very nature of my reality itself. Good girls, Nellie and Florrie!

ETA--this is a response to PleaseInsertPun, btw....

+8 Vote up Vote down

pigeonsquid · 514 weeks ago

"Still picking up twigs in the springtime" (pretty sure I got this is from Dylan Moran)

1 reply · active 514 weeks ago

+12 Vote up Vote down

Teka Lynn · 514 weeks ago

"Is he...so?"

"Theatrical."

"Fond of green ties."

"Seafood aficionado."

+9 Vote up Vote down

Helen_Damnation 101p · 514 weeks ago

Those evening botanists better be careful not to disturb the badger watchers.

+35 Vote up Vote down

Terry · 514 weeks ago

With the picture of Peter Lorre up there (looks like it might be from The Maltese Falcon), I thought sure you'd include "gunsel." Hammett used the word in the book and they kept it in the movie because everyone thought it meant a guy with a gun. From my dictionary: "ORIGIN early 20th cent. (denoting a homosexual youth): from Yiddish gendzel ‘little goose,’ influenced in sense by gun."

1 reply · active 428 weeks ago

+11 Vote up Vote down

thatgrrl13 97p · 513 weeks ago

How did they refer to the "friend" in "Adam's Rib" who wrote and sang "Farewell, Amanda," but clearly wanted to boff Spencer Tracy's character and not Katharine Hepburn's? Or was "writes songs for musical theater" sufficient unto itself?

2 replies · active 482 weeks ago

+19 Vote up Vote down

Glen h · 513 weeks ago

"Is he musical?" Was a very old one for gay men
"Drives a Subaru" is more recent code for lesbians.

4 replies · active 482 weeks ago

+9 Vote up Vote down

kayloulee 88p · 513 weeks ago

Okay okay okay, I have a question for you all:

When I was in year 12 we studied The Big Sleep (Bogey and Bacall ftw!) and before we watched it, our teacher told us that one of the characters was coded as gay and we should try to figure out which. We watched it all the way through, and then she told us that Arthur Gwynn Geiger was that character and he was coded as such because his chauffeur (and accomplice) held his umbrella for him as they went from the car to the house in the pouring rain.

Has anyone heard that chauffeurs holding umbrellas is a signifier of homosexuality, anywhere? Because I haven't, not then, and not in the nine years since.

That said: Wikipedia tells me that the original book of The Big Sleep is much more explicit in its allusions to Geiger's gayness. I think I should read that book now :-)

3 replies · active 478 weeks ago

+10 Vote up Vote down

MarinaCooks 63p · 513 weeks ago

Reminds me of a James Adomian bit:

"gentleman with a long handshake"
"cobblestone boy"

+7 Vote up Vote down

ticklemysax · 513 weeks ago

I make my own curtains

+6 Vote up Vote down

Dizz · 513 weeks ago

The Profanisaurus is up to its arse in these (most of 'em mined from Confidential and the like, I think). Good with colours. Fashionable. Sensitive. Knows what’s in his flowerbeds. BOOK READER!

+4 Vote up Vote down

DrDastardly 48p · 513 weeks ago

GRAPES OF WRATH SPOILERS TOO

GOD

+23 Vote up Vote down

Chuck · 513 weeks ago

That phrase from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy "really knows where his towel is" always sounded to me like it could go on this list

+3 Vote up Vote down

Grant · 513 weeks ago

"Works in the Lumber Yard", "Nests in the Rest Area", "Couiff conscious", "He pinkie up's for Tea",
"Twits below the Belt", "has a scented bookmarker", "prefers Brahms over Beethoven",
"The Gossiping Kind", "A sister-loving brother", "A real Daddy Dasher".

+4 Vote up Vote down

NoCaDrummer · 513 weeks ago

He's...
"a friend of Dorothy",
"high strung",
"light in the loafers",
and he "tap dances on the ceiling" or "owns kneepads."

+1 Vote up Vote down

Jeff · 513 weeks ago

A green and yellow fellow.

+10 Vote up Vote down

Dexter · 513 weeks ago

"Always rings twice"... wait, so The Postman was GAY?

+1 Vote up Vote down

Jane · 513 weeks ago

She wears knitted ties :o)

+4 Vote up Vote down

estelle950 80p · 513 weeks ago

'A skilful mountain climber' indeed. Fantastic that I came upon this post on the same day I read this: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/27/ca....

+3 Vote up Vote down

cap · 513 weeks ago

Two of my favourites:
"He's got a little sugar in his shoes"
"a cookie-pusher in striped pants"

+1 Vote up Vote down

Puck · 499 weeks ago

"Dances backwards"

+1 Vote up Vote down

Chuck L · 482 weeks ago

"Has sugar in his blood"

+3 Vote up Vote down

sol12 49p · 482 weeks ago

"avid pianist"

"dapper"

"known to enjoy a round of billiards"

+4 Vote up Vote down

saltytrey · 482 weeks ago

An evening botanist sounds like a marijuana farmer.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Patricia · 482 weeks ago

Confirmed bachelor

+4 Vote up Vote down

Newton Goldman · 482 weeks ago

With the advent of " the Code" movie censors started paying attention to hints of homossexuality and clipping the wings of actors who were obvious gay like; Franklyn Pangborn ( who played the cruiser animator in Now Voyager, Bobby Watson ( the diction teacher in Singin' in the Rain, Clifton Webb (the villain in Laura) ,Edward Everett Horton ( the producer in Picolino) Monty Wooley ( The Man who came to dinner) Sydney Greenstreet (The Maltese Falcon). Homossexuality also interfere with the careers of George Nader, Anthony Perkins while on the other side it didn't impair the successful careers of Rock Hudson, Tyrone Power and Vincent Price (although the last two were married and had children) This list could go on and on and on...

+1 Vote up Vote down

Bernard · 482 weeks ago

Always rings twice? So the postman is gay? This changes everything.

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