He is a 'Gay'!

So, how can I explain to a non-native speaker, that although 'He is a Gay' is grammatical correct, and perfectly understandable, that it is an expression, that no native speaker would ever use.

He is Gay

being the correct alternative.

Is 'Gay' an adjective or a noun?

Is 'Gay' countable, or un-countable?

How can these rules help someone understand English, or is it better just to admit defeat and say that English is 'idiomatic' and take it from me, 'He is a Gay' simply does not sound right.

... and what about those two Gays over by the bar?

and that Engineer, that man who is a Engineer, or is it 'an Engineer'. I am sure no one says, 'an Engineer', in this context.

Bye for now

Robin

<So, how can I explain to a non-native speaker, that although 'He is a Gay' is grammatical correct, and perfectly understandable, that it is an expression, that no native speaker would ever use. >

He's a Gay what? Dog? Horse? Ape? Man?

How about "She's a disabled"? Is that grammatically correct?

Dear Gwest

Generally speaking, 'Gay' refers to someone, who is 'Homosexual'.

So, while there may be a homosexual: Horse, Dog, Ape, Man; generally speaking, Gay refers to a Homosexual man.

"He is a Gay" makes it obvious that the person is a man.

"That person is Gay", leaves it open as to whether the 'person' is a man or a woman.

Some people might wish to argue that 'Gay' is a misuse of the word 'Gay'; which means happy and joyful. But that is exactly why homosexual people decided to describe themselves as 'Gay' rather than by any of the other labels that society uses. By 'society', I was not referring to 'Polite Society'.

I ought to say: "Thank You Josh", for your explanation.

Bye for now

Robin

<"He is a Gay" makes it obvious that the person is a man.>

Robin, either "He's Gay" or "He's a Gay person". The rest is bad grammar.

You'd normally say, as Gwest said, "he's gay." Although sometimes you'll hear a group of gay people "gays."

Are gays in large numbers in Texas than lets say California?

lol k I'm definitely not gay...

I'm not sure about the actual numbers... Dallas has a pretty large gay population, but I don't think it's nearly as large as that of San Fransisco.

California probably has many more homosexuals... Why do you ask?

I am not very happy with being called 'Robin the Duck'. However I hope that regular readers will recognise my characteristic spelling and grammatical errors.

I have been trying to find a quote from Field Marshall Montgomery to the effect that there are no homosexuals in the Eighth Army. However all I have been able to come up with is

http://www.hps.com/~tpg/ukdict/ukdict-7.html

United Kingdom English for the American Novice

I am not sure that I agree with all the definitions, but sometimes these things can be of interest.

Bye for now

It's well-known, of course, that Nixon was a big fan of the movie "Patton," the 1970 film that depicts the life of General George Patton

This is an interesting site with an embedded film clip.

http://www.charmaineyoest.com/2007/07/george_patton_on_the_war_on_te.php

There is a speech by someone imitating General Patton. At the end of the film clip, you have an opportunity to look at the original introduction to the film "General Patton".

Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight.

(Nixon, the first president to lose a war)

Bye for now

<Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to DROP BOMBS >

I am sure Robin you are going to fail your interview. Your logic skills are quite low.

*<<I have been trying to find a quote from Field Marshall Montgomery to the effect that there are no homosexuals in the Eighth Army.>>

I have been trying to find a quote from Field Marshall Montgomery which states that there were no homosexuals in the Eighth Army.

***I have been trying to find a quote from Field Marshall Montgomery which states that there were no homosexuals in the Eighth Army***

Tell that to the marines! What a spurious thing to even suggest. People in those days of long ago were forced into secrecy and repression and denial and all that sort of thing if the issue of homosexuality was even hinted at. Even though it existed, it "didn't" if you know what I mean. The law of averages would suggest that Montgomery's army had its share of gay people. If there were no gay men in the Eighth Army then Adolf Hitler was really a failed door to door encyclopaedia salesman from West Bromwich. If you read anything about Montgomery and his private life then you will see that he was a bit of a weirdo - a self styled evangelist and a God bothering bible puncher who never failed to try and foist his extreme narrow minded religious views on as many people who had the misfortune to get caught up in it. He hated any form of genial relaxation and never touched alcohol and frowned on any form of behaviour that strayed beyond the bounds of what he thought they should be. It sounds like he was a real kill joy dickhead of the first order. At the same time he was very much an ardent misogynist, never married, and only felt at ease in the company of other men.

Make what you will out of that one.

As for the word "gay" - nobody uses it in it's original meaning any more. do they? I read that the word "gay" in reference to homosexuals was not a misuse of the original word at all - it was first used in San Francisco in the 1950s or 60s, or whenever the gay movement took off big time there, and it was merely an acronym for "Good As You". I don't know how true that is - I've never checked it out. Sounds plausible to me. But is it really important in the wider scheme of things. If you're gay you're gay so you may as well be gay about it.

Have a gay day.

Have a great weekend.

I read a while ago that "gay" has probably been used to mean homosexual since the late 18th century, but it wasn't mainstream.

<<Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. >>

Be as that may, we were Johnny-come-latelies in WW2. The war had already been in full force for over three years. It wasn't until the events at Pearl Harbor that we went to war.

Before this, there was a vast Republican resistance to our entering the war. "It's not our War" was the battlecry; Roosevelt was publicly called "Rosenburg" because certain rightwingers thought the Jewish people were behind the pro-War effort.

We were late in entering WW1, too; and later, still, in entering the Vietnam War

Furthermore, even during World War I and World War II the popular view in America was not to get involved... Americans are traditionally non-interventionist or isolationists, although our foreign policy since Korea would suggest otherwise...