archivemasculinity

The older a gay I become, the fewer straight men I tend to hang around with. It's not a conscious uncoupling from my boob-loving brothers, but most of the ones I knew have either moved away, or got married, or had children or all three. We keep in touch, of course, but with a few exceptions, it's mainly through their wives. As for making friends with new straight men, other than online through Twitter, that too has challenges. I write for a gay magazine, so not too many heteros hanging...

Language is a wonderful thing: constantly evolving and introducing us to new words and ways of expressing ourselves. Every year, usually on an exceptionally slow news day, the nation's press prints any new additions to the Oxford English Dictionary, which usually derive from textspeak or TV programmes and quite often have only been uttered by a very select few, perhaps within earshot of an open window at the OED. It's a harmless PR exercise, really, and nobody is suggesting these new words will be anywhere near the dictionary in even...