Swish (slang)

Swish is a US English slang term for effeminate behavior and interests[1][2] (camp), emphasized and sanctioned in gay male communities prior to the Stonewall riots.[3][4][5] This behaviour is also described as being nelly in British English,[6] and both terms are often considered to be derogatory.[1][7]

Being swish stereotypically includes a "sashaying" walk, and the use of falsetto voices, feminine pronouns, and superlatives.[8][9] According to Martin Levine and Michael Kimmel in Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone:

Extravagant language is common. Such expressions as "Oh my word!" "Good heavens!" and "Oh, my dear!" are readily associated with other aspects of a feminine man. In describing ordinary experiences the male variant is likely to use words as "terrific," "amazing," "completely devoted," "horrible," "tremendous," "sublimely," "charming," "appalling," "vicious," "loathed," and "madly." Exaggerations are made more conspicuous by placing undue or erroneous emphasis on certain syllables and intonations which leave little doubt of the effeminacy of the speaker.[5][10]

  1. ^ a b "swish definition, meaning". dictionary.cambridge.org. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved 20 February 2015. swish noun [C] (LIKE A WOMAN)  › US slang disapproving a man who behaves or appears in a way that is generally considered more suited to a woman, and who does not have traditional male qualities
  2. ^ "swish - Gay Slang Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015. swish #n. To overplay or over do homosexual gestures; the traits of an effeminate male homosexual. Source: [1930's] #Passive homosexual. #To walk speak or move in the manner of an weak effeminate boy or man; the stereotype effeminate homosexual.
  3. ^ Stanley, J. P. (1974) "When We Say 'Out of the Closets!'" College English, 36, 7.
  4. ^ Kleinberg, Seymour. "unknown article." Christopher Street, March 1978. Cited in Levine 1998.
  5. ^ a b Levine, Martin (1998). Kimmel, Michael (ed.). Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone. New York University Press. pp. 22–56. ISBN 9780814746950. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  6. ^ Wentworth, Harold and Stuart Berg Flexner. Dictionary of American Slang. Thomas Y. Crowell, 1967. Wentworth and Flexner define swish as a noun meaning "a male homosexual, esp. one with obviously feminine traits"
  7. ^ "Definition of "Nelly" by Oxford Dictionaries Online". .oxforddictionaries.com. Oxford Dictionaries Online. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2015. 2. offensive An effeminate homosexual man.
  8. ^ Sonenschein 1969; cited in Levine 1998
  9. ^ Tripp 1975, 180-182; cited in Levine 1998
  10. ^ (Henry, 1955, p. 291, cited in Levine 1998)