friend of Dorothy
photo credit: "Ruby Slippers" by Raw pixel ltd. Edit of Carol M. Highsmith (CC-BY-2.0) Image croppedDefinition: (noun phrase) gay
Example: Janice had hoped that her friendship with Mason would develop into something more, but that was not to be. He was a friend of Dorothy.
Quote:
“It used to be that if you wanted to say a guy’s a fairy, you said he knew Judy, was a friend of Dorothy, was light on his feet, ate quiche, or ordered frozen daiquiris. The code words have changed. Nowadays just say he likes show tunes and everybody knows what you’re getting at, wink wink, nudge nudge.”
This week’s expression comes from the false stereotype
that all gay men are fans of singer Judy Garland, who starred as Dorothy
in the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz.
Fairy is another outdated derogatory slang term
for homosexual, as is light on his feet (also
light in the loafers).
On a related note, straight actor
Hugh Jackman won a Tony award this year for his portrayal of gay Australian
singer and dancer Peter Allen in the Broadway musical The
Boy from Oz. Oz is slang for Australia,
home of both performers. But that country isn’t the only Oz connection
for Allen. He owed much of his success to Judy Garland, who boosted his
career by asking him to tour with her in the 1960s and was even married
to her daughter Liza Minelli for several years before coming
out (publicly admitting he was gay.)
As for Stark’s quiche comment, that’s a reference to the 1982
bestseller Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche
by Bruce Feirstein. That comic guide to macho behavior advised “real”
men to stick to steaks and beer and stay away from foreign or sophisticated
(and therefore “feminine”) food and drink, such as quiche
and daiquiris.
A. C. Kemp | July 15, 2004
