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August 9, 2006
queer as uppity
Speaking of "queer," I miss using that word. It's a fantastic, irreplaceable verb. I still try to use it, but people stare.
Honest to God, if you queer this deal for me, I'm never speaking to you again.In this usage it has nothing to do with orientation, of course. It came to be synonymous with gayness, but I refuse to let it go entirely. Same with the adjective "uppity." A fantastic word. It got abused by racists, though, and now it too is ruined. This is tragic. Those uppity rednecks queered another perfectly good word. Would it kill them to co-opt ghastly words like "penal" or "prostrate" that everyone's afraid to use anyway?
Sometimes I wonder what would happen to this site if I were to die. It would stay up for no more than six months, and then it would disappear, and the url checkraise.com would eventually be purchased by some stupid gambling site. Not so with uppity-negro.com. When its author passed, his sister (and probationary Stank troll) Val guessed his password and rescued his engaging, bristling blog. Those of us who had blogs a few years before 2004 feel a certain kinship, as do those of us who can't resist poking at hornets' nests. I wish our paths had crossed.
posted by john at 7:42 AM • permalink