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Gay Language: A Mini-Ethnography on the Dynamism of Language

Presented to

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By

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DATA

In this present generation, young people are exposed to different languages.

Most of us have experienced being near to a group of gays who were talking in a

different language and we may be surprised that sometimes we can understand

some of the words they were saying. That language is what we called gay lingo but

in 1970s, it is Swardspeak.

Given the fact that Swardspeak exists, as educators, we can only say that the

flourishing of gay language in society shows how dynamic the language is.

Camalig et al. (2015) on their study entitled: ‘Effects of Gay language in

understanding the meaning of English words’, stated that mother tongue is very

exceptional as it mirrors a country’s own culture and its own individual identity.

One’s mother tongue has a major influence in one’s growth and improvement.

However, some may have misunderstood it, especially by those who belong to the
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LGBT group. Gays are members of this group who seek an identity of their own

and as such they develop a language which has an influence to society. A lot of

researches have been conducted to examine if Gay language affects student’s

vocabulary and their understanding of the real meaning of the words. But it has

been found out that the utilization of it does not hamper the students’ ability to

understand words or even phrases in English.

GAY LANGUAGE TO SOCIETY

A lot of children grew in accustom to gay language considering the fact that

our society socially and openly accepts LGBT members including gays. Most

children utilize gay language in their daily means of communication.

It is a widely known notion that gays had long been subject to social

discrimination, ridicules and mockery. This is one of the assumed reasons why

they came up with a code of communication that only they could understand. They

created codes of communication in order to avoid the snooping eyes and

interfering ears of the society where they live. But because of their everyday and

frequent use of the code in parlors, sidewalks, markets, municipal halls, comedy

bars and other places where they frequently hang out, their language became

widely spread.
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The utilization of Gay lingo has really gone a long way since the start of the

21st century. The proliferation of this language and form of communication is

inexorable. We can say that gay language is now infiltrating both worlds of the

media and the academe. The language was exclusive for gays before, but at

present, it is being used by every girl, closet gays, young and old, and even straight

guys in the society.

 Almost everyone could speak and use this once hard to break “code of

communication”. Everyone could not escape the alluring and colorful language

used by gays. People describe gay language as funny, witty, creative yet irreverent

all at the same time. (Scribd, 2016)

GAY LANGUAGE AS ADAPTED BY STUDENTS BASED ON

TEACHERS’ OBSERVATION

As professional teachers we are encouraged to embrace or accept diverse

learners inside the classroom. We are expected to accommodate learners despite

having different family and cultural backgrounds. Also, the Department of

Education is telling us to promote inclusive education that is to accept not only

students with disability but students who are creating a different identity from the

mainstream students. We are to understand them so we can cater or provide for

their needs. Fully comprehending them may seldom require us, teachers, to
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understand their language. Here are the common gay terms used by students inside

the school perimeters as listed by Laureta (2017) on her article on Buzzfeed:

 “Charot”- Students use this term to express statements which are meant to

be a ‘joke’. This term can be often heard at the end of sentences.

“Char” – It is the shortened form of “Charot” which may mean ‘nothing

serious’.

“Anek”- Students use this term to mean ‘ano’ (“what” in English) because

according to some students the term ‘ano’ is boring to say, but both terms mean the

same thing.

“Keri”- Students use this term to express that ‘it’s fine or it’s okay!’ They

often use this as a response to their teacher’s question if they can do a particular

thing or not.

“Keber”- is a term used by students to express that ‘they don’t care’.

Basically it is the longer version for “kebs”. It is worthy to be noted that

sometimes, students may just say it to pretend that they don’t care about something

but, deep inside, they do. 

“Kebs” –It is the shorter version of ‘keber’. It simply means ‘just fine, don’t

really care’.
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“Wit” – In English ‘wit’ means keen intelligence often associated with one's

use of words. But in gay lingo, ‘wit’ means ‘nothing’ or in some context it means

‘no’.

“Lafang”- This term is commonly used by students when they are in the

canteen or in a cafeteria. So simply put, it means ‘to eat’.

“Jowa”- It is a term which students used to mean ‘one’s significant other’.

Simply put, this term means ‘girlfriend’ or ‘boyfriend’ for students.

From our observation, we also noticed that some gay lingo were created in

association to the names of famous celebrities or places and the meaning of the

terms may mean something that would describe one of the characteristics of those

popular persons or places. Below are the examples of the terms:

“Gandara Park”- We may associate this term to the name of a famous

celebrity in the person of Sandara Park because it sounds alike. Not to be confused

with the K-pop sensation Sandara Park, but "gandara park" did actually originate

from her name. “Gandara park” being associated to the beautiful Sandara Park,

simply means ‘beautiful.’

“Antokyo Japan” – Everyone knows that Tokyo is the capital city of Japan.

The students just added an affix ‘-an’ before the word ‘tokyo’ which make it

antokyo. When we try to get the root word of antokyo in tagalong we can get the

term ‘antok’ which means ‘sleepy’ in English. “Antokyo japan” doesn't really

involve anything Japanese. It simply means ‘sleepy’.

“Haggardo versoza”- came from a Filipino actor's name, Gardo Versoza.

The students just added an affix ‘-hag’ to the first name of the actor ‘gardo’ which

make it haggard. When we try to get the comprehensible root word of the term,

we can get the word ‘haggard’ which means ‘stressed’. In simple terms, “haggardo

versoza” means ‘haggard’.

“Stress drilon”- ‘Stress drilon’ is a term which originated from a name of a

Filipina journalist, Ces Drilon. Considering the fact that being a journalist is a

stressful job here in our country, the term ‘stress drilon’ basically means ‘stressed’

or ‘stressful’.

“Tom jones”- The term is related to Tom Jones. This is a term used by

students to mean ‘hungry’. Tom Jones is human and human beings get hungry.
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“Jinit Jackson”- The term sounds like Janet Jackson, and it is actually

where the term originated. Janet Jackson is a famous America, singer, songwriter

and dancer. She is known for her elaborate stage shows and people like her for

being sexy. Thus, ‘Jinit Jackson’ or simply ‘Jinit’ means ‘hot’ and is especially

used when referring to the weather. The students sometimes use this term to

describe a situation where there is a high tension between the two warring

individuals or parties.

The above-mentioned terms are considered as the most common gay

language being utilized by students in school campus. It can be observed that these

terms were exclusively used by members of LGBT especially the gays, before. But

at the present time, gay lingo is also being used by almost everybody in school and

in the community.

ANALYSIS

Some researches like that of Camalig et al. (2016) explain that students’ use

of gay language has nothing to do with the way they acquire or learn the meaning

of words in English. It only explains that the existence of gay language supports

one of the characteristics of a language which is being dynamic.

For most terms of gay lingo, different word processes are present. One is

derivation. For the most part, the core of the derivational process is an already
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existing word, to which we attach affixes. These affixes are usually described as

prefixes and suffixes and they are not usually listed separately in dictionaries. It is

evident in the terms like “antokyo japan” and “haggrado versoza”.

Also, back-formation as a word formation process is present. Back-formation

is the word formation process in which an actual or supposed derivational affix

detaches from the base form of a word to create a new word. It is evident in the

term “kebs” a shortened form of “Keber” which means ‘just fine, don’t really

care’.

Lastly, Coinage as a word formation process is evident in the terms like:

“Gandara Park”, “Stress Drilon”, “Tom Jones”, “Jinit Jackson” and other terms

which were just coined in association with the characteristics of some famous

celebrities and places. Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word

is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the other word

formation word processes.

Gay language which is only created by gays to establish their identity in the

society is considered as a different language from the norm. But despite being a

different language, it also has internal structure for its words. It simply shows how

dynamic a language can become. As educators, we believe that as long as students’

lingo will not hinder them from learning the essential concepts they need to grasp
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from school, they are free to use it. It also depicts creativity among students. So for

us to cater their needs, we should also learn their language. It will enable us to

make necessary adjustments for them especially in giving them assessments and

providing them with chances for oral recitation or participation in class. We can

use collaborative activities so they will be given opportunity to socialize with their

classmates and use their language in completing certain tasks.

Further, we can give them writing and speech activities in which they will be

provided with avenues to use their creativity in word play or use their talent in

making speeches with the aid of different word-formation processes.

We should become more accepting especially that gay lingo is considered a

sociolect. Linguists have classified gay lingo as a sociolect or a social dialect. A

sociolect, to be defined, is a variation of language based on the speaker’s social

status. It has a lot to do with socioeconomic standing- rich or poor, professional or

amateur, age, ethnic group, religion, and of course, gender. A sociolect must be

based on agreed context of usage. Because of this definition, gay lingo is

considered a sociolect. It is actually used by gays and for their sphere of influence

only, meaning it is exclusive. There was no intention of letting non-gays use it

because it is argot, or a secret language, a code made by gays and for gays.

However, it had slowly been introduced in the mainstream and is generally used

today. (Languagelinks n.d.)

Thus, to be fair and be able to provide equal education for all, as educators,

we should learn how to accept their language and learn how to use them inside the

classroom and even in school campus. We should however, be careful to not allow

its utilization to hamper us or students in learning standard words for formal

purposes. It has to be used in context as deemed necessary.