matrixrefugee in little_details

Victorian/Edwardian terms for gay or bisexual men

Feb 07, 2012 23:54

I'm writing a delightfully awkward bit of fanfic where two drunk men about town in London of the 1880s decide to try snogging each other -- and enjoy it, to their surprise. I'm planning a bit of banter afterward as they somewhat tipsily try to make sense of it all, by playfully insulting each other (canonically, they have a definite bromance going ( ... )

tags: 1880-1889, ~homosexuality: history, uk: history (misc), uk: history: victorian era

Comments (25)

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fatchickengirl

Margery was term for rent boys in 19th century London.

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matrixrefugee

This and the "Nancy" sobriquet elsewhere are great: I can see them addressing each other as such, in the course of ye banter.

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drachenmina

The term used for a rent boy in Jack Saul's Sins of the Cities of the Plain (definitely worth the price of the Kindle edition for a fun read) was Mary-Ann. In these "recollections" published in 1881, the rent boys are dressed up as women and given girls' names, such as Miss Eveline, by their clients.

I'm not familiar with your Winchester brothers, but I could see your young men giving each other female nicknames. References to telegraph boys (see the Cleveland Street scandal) might be appropriate, too.

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dorsetgirl

Probably not quite what you're looking for, but right up till recent times, to call someone a "confirmed bachelor" was a polite way of saying they were gay, while still having the option to deny that's what you meant.

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matrixrefugee

This would work marvelously as a double entendre, since the two gents actually are bachelors who haven't gotten around to getting married since they're too busy gadding about London, cavorting with prostitutes, or writing witty little books mocking social propriety. There's one bit in the book where they're briefly Mistaken For Gay, when they're seen in a part of London known for it's rent-boys.

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mab_browne

There's always 'nancy'.

http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=term&d=8&t=8960

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eleanorb

Invert was fairly common.

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lotusduck

I've had trouble dating that one! It started in pro-tolerance sexology papers, and probably took some time to go from there to get to common parlance. I've seen it said that it didn't enter into the vocabulary of someone other than a sexologist until 1928, with Well of Lonliness.

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