Hey /lgbt/,
Straight guy here, serious question. Long story first: I run into an old friend from my neighborhood online a couple weeks ago, and he mentioned he was going to be coming to where I live (Chicago) for business, and suggested we hang out. I agreed and we talked a bit more and he mentioned that he had come out, and that he was gay. I was surprised, but to each their own. We set a day to meet for lunch and signed off.
Come the day we meet, I see him and he's lost a bunch of weight (we were the pudgy kids) and he was wearing really tight clothes and was definitely Mr. Fashionable. But the thing that struck me is that he spoke like Snagglepuss on the Hanna Barberra cartoons. And I mean EXACTLY like Snagglepuss. When I last saw him (Maybe 5 years ago at most), he just had a regular midwestern accent, just no affectation at all (we grew up outside of Minneapolis), but the way he was talking, it took all my will not to burst out laughing. It was basically everything short of "Heavens to Mergatroid!" and hands flapping everywhere.
My question is this: Where did that come from? Is it an affectation that people pick up in certain subgroups or does it come naturally? I've known a ton of gay men who talk without "the accent" (for lack of a known better name), but it does seem to be fairly prevalent.
tl;dr version: where does the "gay accent" come from?
>>5837260
I think it's learned subconsciously through the people they interact with and the media (you know how the media depicts all gay men) for some it might be natural but all I know for certain is that it annoys the shit out of me.
>>5837260
My guess is that's it's a combination of three things:
1. because he's out of the closet now. your friend might not be straight acting anymore.
2. if he's talking with a different accent, like a north eastern, southern etc. that'd contribute a lot of what you're hearing.
3. You're probably listening for any gay affectations now (kind of like whenever someone tells you that a drink has a subtle flavoring or a piece of music has a barely audible instrument in it, once you're aware of a subtlety you focus on that subtlety).
>>5838760
I don't think it's anything in my head. later on he talked to another friend of mine back home and he asked me "Is Caden gay now?"
I'm not exaggerating when I say he sounded like Snagglepuss. He made Paul Lynde sound straight.
>>5837260
>Is it an affectation that people pick up in certain subgroups or does it come naturally?
Both I guess. I can't imagine he made a conscious decision to change the way he talked. Probably a combination of being around other gay people who talked like that, and his personality naturally being more flamboyant than he let show all those years you knew him before.
But it's not like putting a willy up your bum changes your vocal chords or anything.
>>5839956
>But it's not like putting a willy up your bum changes your vocal chords or anything.
Speak for yourself. Mine went up several octaves.
>>5839956
>Probably a combination of being around other gay people who talked like that
I doubt it, I have seen a straight guy working closely, full time shifts, with two flamboyant dudes, for two years. He never got "the accent".
>>5845706
Well obviously not everyone is going to be susceptible to it. It's like accents, some people live decades in another part of the world without theirs changing, but then with others the local twang will seep into their accent within a year.
