Usage notes

* The use of this word to mean "homosexual" was formerly, and is often still, considered pejorative. However, in the way that all language is dynamic and pliable, the word is also sometimes now used (primarily as adjective) as a neutral or even positive descriptive term, including by some (primarily younger) homosexuals. In its pejorative use, it is applied usually to males. In its modern neutral use, it is applied to all genders. * Some LGBT individuals now use the term as an all-inclusive term for the GLBTIQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex, Queer) etc. community. This may include people who consider themselves to be politically (or otherwise sociologically) GLBTIQ without necessarily displaying, or even simply inclined towards behavior that is not heteronormative. This new usage is again by primarily younger people. * 'Queer' is also used as a positive term for people, some of whom reject mainstream-gay values and culture as exclusive and limiting. People who identify with this version of queer distance themselves from the commercialisation and (relatively) conformist values of the gay mainstream and embrace fluid and unconstrained definitions of sexuality and gender. There is some common ground between this definition of queer and the punk and DIY scenes. See also "genderqueer". * In the English dialect of the southern United States, the two senses of the adjective queer'' (''homosexual'' and ''weird, odd, different, or unwell'') are sometimes distinguished by pronunciation. Queer (''homosexual'') is pronounced (kwîr), queer (''weird, odd, different, or unwell'') is pronounced (kwär). This is generally considered old-fashioned and is only used when the word is emphasized, as in the phrase "''that's awful queer " (pronounced TH?ts ôr'f?l kwär). The distinction is dying out as that latter sense of the word dies out.

Usage notes

* Many homosexual people prefer to be referred to by the adjective (and noun) gay. * Many female homosexuals prefer to be referred to as (term). * Many people now avoid using the term homosexual because of the emphasis it places on sexuality. Those who consider it objectionable consider it especially so when it is used as a noun; here "gay man" and either "gay woman" or "lesbian" and their plural forms are considered more preferable by such individuals who feel this way about the term. Those who feel this way about the term might consider it less objectionable when used adjectivally, as in "a homosexual relationship", though they still might prefer such terms as "gay", "lesbian", or "same-sex" in those instances as well. * Pronunciation: The word "homosexual" derives from the Greek word for "same", which is traditionally pronounced /?h?m??/, /"hQm@U/ in words derived from it, rather than the Latin word , which is pronounced /?h??m??/, /"h?Um?U/ (RP) in English words derived from it. Hence the etymology indicates that the appropriate pronunciation of the vowel in the first syllable is /?/, /Q/, but the pronunciation with the long vowel /??/, /@U/ in this position is much more commonly heard, and is the only correct pronunciation of the shortened form homo. * Because of the similarity of to the Latin word for man, the term homosexual is sometimes interpreted as meaning "sexually attracted solely or primarily to [other] men".

Usage notes

* Female homosexuals are also known as (term), a term preferred by many of them. As homosexual'' applies to people of either sex, the expression ''homosexuals and lesbians is a pleonasm and is best replaced by "homosexuals" or "lesbians" alone as appropriate, or "gay people" (see also the usage notes for the adjective, and for gay).