-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I.20 May 2004

I don't disagree that the third meaning 'rubbish, useless, ridiculous, contemptible' is derived from the second meaning 'homosexual'. Nor that the derivation is exactly why it's so funny. And nor that the meanings are always distinct in use. When an effeminate child is accused of being a gaylord by his peers, it clearly has both meanings at once. But if it's true that Microsoft Word's AutoFormat function is gay (and it is), and false that it is homosexual (and it is), then there is a difference between the meaning of "gay" and "homosexual" in this example.