How queer.

Flash to the past; Little nine year old Lea is driving with her dad. She is discussing something older Lea can no longer remember, but knowing her past self, it was probably something weird. During the course of the conversation, she uses the word 'queer.' To use it in a sentence 'yes, the situation was quiet queer.' She meant to use it to say something was weird, or odd. Her father tells her she should be careful using the word; it doesn't mean weird, it means gay. It's derogatory.

Now, fast forward back to 2016. When asked what I identify as, and don't want to go into specifics, I can simply use the word 'queer.' It's a word I'm comfortable with, and hearing it doesn't make me cringe. Transformed from an insult into something that has been claimed by the LBGT+ community, queer has a strange history. It's a word that has changed over time, and gained popularity.

People have done research to try and figure out where it first appeared, and to figure out what it really means. It is best explained by this article: http://www.autostraddle.com/more-than-words-queer-part-1-the-early-years-153356/

"No one can even agree on where “queer” was born, or its parents. The predominant theory holds that it’s a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European morpheme “*twerk,” which means “to twist, turn, wind, or cut,” and is also likely the root of several other vocabulary staples, including “thwart” and “sarcasm.” “Twerk” led to Old High German’s “twerh,” which means “oblique,” and then to German, where it morphed to “quer” and picked up associations of strangeness and eccentricity. By 1500, it had stretched out to “queer” and could be heard around Scotland." (Cara)

It did not start out as something negative, but was used as a derogative in 1894, in a letter between father and son. After this, queer becomes something terribly negative, and this moves into our time. It's meant as an insult, and delivered as such.

However, this is where things become interesting. Instead of letting this get to them, the community took the word back. It's something people can call themselves with pride (pardon this pun, I think I'm kind of funny.) That's one of the great things about language; meanings can change. Not only does this word mean something new, it's something people can identify with and embrace.

People are the ones who decide what words mean. It's up to us to identify and understand language, and make it our own. Something bad can become something good; How queer is that?