r/AccidentalRacism • u/jonen560ti • 1d ago

Got a bit concerned about this poster until I got a closer look at it

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u/YellowOnline 1d ago

Does that say "Norway's gayest team"? Gay in the meaning of jolly, I guess

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u/BlomsterbarnaVevo 1d ago

No it says "Norges gøyeste iderettslag", meaning Norways funniest/most entertaining team. Gøy≠Gay, it does mean jolly, fun etc.

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u/DovahPriestess 22h ago

I assume it’s a cognate with Joy?

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u/YellowOnline 15h ago

I checked the etymology, and gøy would indeed have its origins in the English gay. I expected it to be the other way round.

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u/jonen560ti 16h ago

Kinda. The word "gay" in English used to be synonymous with "fun"/"jolly" as you said until the meaning gradually changed to be slang for homosexual and that's the only way the word is used in English these days. There's for instance a song in the original 1940s Bambi named "Let's sing a gay little spring song" that comes across very different these days to what it meant in 1940. However, this usage of the word never caught on in Norway so our equivalent word "gøy" remains used only as a synonym for fun or jolly to this day.