Boys were called girls! #shorts

A nugget of Queer History for your Wednesday afternoon: Did you know boys used to be called ‘girls’? Was the 15th Century was more progressive than we thought…???

No, friend.

The term ‘girl’ was used to refer to all children!

However it wasn’t necessarily open minded genderless language, it’s just that linguistics can be quirky and, guess what, they’re ever evolving.

#queerhistory #pride #lgbtq

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[albuszx]

Suddenly the imperious way every single period piece villain says "boy" when referring to poor little orphans makes a lot of sense

[PlanetZaia]

Fun fact: Pink used to be a boys’ colour because of how “bold” it was perceived as and blue used to be a girls’ colour because of how “delicate” it was perceived as.

[TheDemonOfSemen]

So when someone calls me a "man" to be transphobic... Maybe they're just speaking old English... Huh...

[thevoidcritter]

it gets better, male adults used to be referred to as "wereman"

[MOONDEAN]

Don’t worry about your son calling every adult ‘man’ he’s just a proper 14th century lad

[umbrellahat]

All adults being refered to as men makes a lot of older writings that use "mankind" or "man" to refer to all people make a lot more sense.

[celestialstation]

i remember being taught that calling a black man boy was racist. i just assumed that it was demeaning to refer to a man as a child, but couldn't fully grasp it as racist. learning now that boy used to mean "servant", it makes so much sense now.

[chubbyanimalenthusiast]

I’m imagining a child going “what’s up man” to everyone

[narnigrin]

My toddler calls all humans an easy-to-pronounce Swedish word that roughly translates to "geezer" or "old man" ... but he's going on 4 and knows so many words, you'd really think he'd have figured out "person" by now xD

[FaeryPeople]

To be fair, "man" and "mum" are somewhat similar words.

[frostblitzxdkartoffelliebh]

History at some point: “ok, ok, hear me out. What if the words have a completely different meaning now?”

[PetrKitty]

As someone writing a “modern day lesbian gets transported to 14th century Crimea” romance novel this is extremely helpful

[lisajohansson]

Also fun fact: in 1600s aristocracy Europe (if my Memory doesn’t fail me) all young children wore dresses up until they were around 8. To distinguish boys and girls in portraits, they instead included items such as swords and fans for instance

[hootyisagoodboi]

*✨ even though he has two mums ✨*


you sound so done

[OhMyCherries]

My son used to just call all adults sir don't know why but now he's 6 years old when anyone is in a mood he will either say sir sir or excuse me sir you need to calm down.

[rubiesandstrawberries]

This seems to be reversed in some small rural communities where I live in Ireland. When a baby is born, some older people ask ‘Is it a boy or a child?’

[ByrdieFae]

...slightly unrelated, but as a black person, learning that "boy" was a derogatory term for a servant makes sense AND pisses me off. Thank you, history is SO FUN. (To be clear, I'm angry at history, not you!)

[shaynatattersfield]

Shoot. So when people call someone 'boy' as an insult, it comes from a term for servants.
That feels so much worse then meaning young and inexperienced.

[andersholt]

Don't forget that "gay" used to mean "happy", "colourful", "full of life" etc. There is a film called "The Gay Caballeros" which had NOTHING to do with sexual orientation. Languages evolve, as in word's meanings also evolves. Go figure. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪.

[jennifers]

This is super interesting! These are great examples of how language and words change over time.