I don't mean to be offensive but can't we tell the difference between how a word is used?

[diabeticman]

I am sorry if I am bring up a topic that has been talked about but I just found out about this


http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hallmark-ornament-gay-20131101,0,4299033.story#axzz2lrG48H87

'Don we now our FUN apparel' -- wait, that's not right!

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hallmark-ornament-gay-20131101,0,4299033.story#ixzz2lrHcvY5U


With Halloween now history, businesses are revving up the Christmas shopping season, and Hallmark is getting off to a rocky start.

The greetings and gift giant apologized Thursday for one of its intended-to-be-jolly creations: An ornament shaped like an ugly Christmas sweater, adorned with the words, "Don we now our FUN apparel."

That's an allusion to the line from "Deck the Halls": "Don we now our gay apparel." But gay doesn't mean what it did in the 19th century, when the carol's words were written. And some people got upset at Hallmark's apparent attempt to be politically correct.

___________________________________________________________________________

Really have we gotten so dumb in this country we don't understand the evolution of a word. Or am I being insensitive? I have a gay cousin who loves Deck the halls as a Carol.

[CTyankee]

1. I think we can have several definitions of the word "gay."

Lots of English words have more than one meaning, depending how it is used in a sentence. In the song, it means "festive" and in the Cornelia Otis Skinner novel "Our Hearts were Young and Gay" it means happily carefree. I think we can have coexistence here...

And, by the way "make the yuletide gay" is a line from the lyrics to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

[CBGLuthier]

2. We don't "deck" a lot of things nowadays either.

"Don" does not get used much too.

Words do indeed have multiple meanings as it turns out that O Come , All ye Faithful is not what i thought it was about at all.

[Hestia]

5. Now you have me very curious - what do the words mean?

I looked up the lyrics and they seem pretty straight foward

[CTyankee]

7. Do you mean "don" and "deck"?

to don apparel is put on apparel and deck is used here as in decorate. You know. like the saying "all decked out" in something...

[MineralMan]

3. Lots of words have multiple definitions.

It's part of the English language. Context reveals which definition applies.

Just because someone sniggers at "gay apparel" doesn't mean that the word does not mean "festive" in that context.

And, just in case someone isn't familiar with the word "snigger":

snig·ger
ˈsnigər/Submit
noun
1.
a smothered or half-suppressed laugh.
verb
1.
give a smothered or half-suppressed laugh.
"the boys at school were sure to snigger at him behind his back"

English is, and always will be, an interesting language.

[Hestia]

4. Another victim of the dumbed-down education system - the word gay has several meanings

and 'merry' and 'fun' are two. It has nothing to do with the evolution of a word but the context of sentence.

There are such things as dictionaries:

3.
having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music. Synonyms: cheerful, gleeful, happy, glad, cheery, lighthearted, joyous, joyful, jovial; sunny, lively, vivacious, sparkling; chipper, playful, jaunty, sprightly, blithe. Antonyms: serious, grave, solemn, joyless; staid, sedate; unhappy, morose, grim; sad, depressed, melancholy.
4.
bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments. Synonyms: colorful, brilliant, vivid, intense, lustrous; glittering, theatrical, flamboyant. Antonyms: dull, drab, somber, lackluster; conservative.

Hallmark has sold these (tacky) sweaters for several years.

Just shows that both sides have their pout-rages.

[hlthe2b]

6. Unfortunately yes.... But we've seen this here when the term "niggardly" was correctly used

to mean "stingy". The connotations of being confused with the "N" word are so great, I'd have used the word "stingy" for sure, but then the post was not quoting a very famous and well-known carol. Sadly, though, many of these older words and older usages are problematic enough with many in the population, that this kind of "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation develops. At least Hallmark has been responsive.

nig·gard·ly
ˈnigərdlē/
adjective
adjective: niggardly

1.
not generous; stingy.
"serving out the rations with a niggardly hand"
synonyms: cheap, mean, miserly, parsimonious, close-fisted, penny-pinching, cheeseparing, grasping, ungenerous, illiberal; More
informalstingy, tight, tightfisted
"a niggardly person"
antonyms: generous
meager; scanty.
"their share is a niggardly 2.7 percent"
synonyms: meager, inadequate, scanty, scant, skimpy, paltry, sparse, insufficient, deficient, short, lean, small, slender, poor, miserable, pitiful, puny; More
informalmeasly, stingy, pathetic, piddling
"niggardly rations"
antonyms: lavish, abundant

adverb
archaic
adverb: niggardly

1.
in a stingy or meager manner.