The word "fag"

The word "fag" in America is usually an offensive and derogatory term for a homosexual, and most often for a male homosexual. In Britain, the word "fag" is most often referring to a cigarette.

To begin with, this very dramatic difference in meaning can lead to all manner of confusion for Americans who don't know the British meaning. When a British person says, "I'm desperate for a fag," or "Want to go out for a fag?" an American listening might think, "They certainly are open about their sexuality here." Or when the British say, "Shall we go light up a fag?" Americans may think they are suggesting perpetrating a hate crime.

So let's examine how this word came to mean two such different things.

The American meaning of "fag" probably finds its roots in an old British term for a low-ranking boy in a private school who is forced to perform menial tasks for the older students. That word was from an even earlier term for drudgery or hard labor. It was from an old English word meaning "to droop". But it was quite a journey to go from a menial laborer, to a slave boy at a private school, to a boy who is used for homosexual sex, to someone who has freely chosen to be homosexual. Calling a gay man a "fag" is analogous to calling a heterosexual woman a whore. So it's no wonder that it is offensive.

Let's look at the British term "fag". It comes from a different root. It is from the word fagot, which is from the Greek phakelos, meaning "bundle". Fagot, or faggot are older English terms for a bundle of sticks or twisg bound together, usually to be used for starting a fire. So it is not hard to see where a bundle of sticks on fire shifted to meaning the same as a small stick-shaped cigarette, which you also burn.

Based on this analysis, the British have a clear win. The word "fag" should only be used to describe a burning stick, and not a person. The American usage is quite obviously offensive not only in its modern use, but in its roots.