Word’s Out: Gay Men’s English

by William L. Leap

Book by Leap, William

Genres: Linguistics, LGBT, Theory

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[I wish I had eyeballs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied English literature, linguistics and sociology at university, and I usually take studies like this very seriously, since a lot of them are sloppy in their methodology or way undersubsidized for their ambitions, but truth be told, Mr. Leap's research methods aren't an area I studied extensively, so I have a hard time assessing the legitimacy of the methods or results. Overall, it was definitely a unique and fun read, although sometimes I felt like his own homosexuality may be a source of bias, and at the same time his apologizing for perceived misogyny felt out of place. Gay people aren't immune to misogyny, but I felt like he is severely misinterpreting (or doesn't "look behind" and interpret at all!) gay language in those examples which he identifies as misogynistic here.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a nice book. I'm still on the fence about what the ultimate goal of Leap's research is and how relevant his conclusions are, but I enjoyed the read. Still, I must admit that at certain points I was creeped out by the fact that he would write down what random, unknown people standing next to him were saying. Anthropology or eavesdropping?