You scumbag You maggot you cheap lousy…

[TeaAndToast8]

My second AIBU Of the night, husbands being very argumentative! Anyway, I’ve screenshot two examples of what the Kirsty MacColl might have meant in Fairy Tale of NewYork. Who is correct.. My opinion is the description underlined in red and my husband’s is blue.

Your husband is an idiot 🤣

Neither - its the older usage meaning lazy or useless 🙂

This.

This. And I thought most people knew that. It’s only recently become offensive.

Or a meatball made of offal?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/08/no-need-to-take-offence-to-the-word-faggot

It refers to the sticks, but because suggesting a person is a bundle of sticks is akin to suggesting they are useless. Much as calling somebody a plank might suggest they were stupid.

Meatballs!

Faggot meant lazy long before Americans started using it as a gay insult.

Just as 'slut' used to mean a lazy/slovenly woman rather than a promiscuous one.

This - it's a lazy or good-for-nothjng layabout type person.

i love that 😀

Yes this. My Irish Nan often used to call people ‘lazy little faggots’.

Agree with @CastleCrasher

This

I always thought it meant offal meatball, no one this side of the Atlantic was using it to mean gay in the 80s, but lazy makes far more sense 😂

I thought it was “you’ve taped over Taggart”

I'm with pp , it's a type of meatball .
Though I'd think twice before calling anybody a faggot as it could definitely be classed as offensive.

However I have been know to call people a meatball before now

Having said that though, Fairytale of New York is an Irish/American song.

And it's well documented that faggot is a gay slur in America.

They certainly knew that when writing it.

So... Americans use one of our words to mean something different in their country. And now we aren't allowed to use the word in its standard usage here because it offends them.

They've managed to get the meaning of 'bum' and 'tramp' wrong as well, and 'arse' and 'ass'. So I think we can safely ignore their interpretations. The twits.

Brilliant 🤣

It's primarily known as an offensive gay slur now. No matter the original meaning

It was only standard usage if you lived in Ireland.

No matter what it used to mean or what the Americans changed it too. It's still an offensive term in our community (lgbtq+) so thankfully it's not used as much

Words change meaning. Everyone knows faggot is a derogatory term for gay men yet seem to want to defend its use to high heavens every Christmas.

Exactly 🙄