Fruit and fruit cake (as well as many variations) are sexual slang terms which have various origins but modern usages tend to primarily refer to gay men and sometimes other LGBT people. Usually used as pejoratives, the terms have also been re-appropriated as insider terms of endearment within LGBT communities. Many modern pop culture references within the gay nightlife like "Fruit Machine" and "Fruit Packers" have been appropriated for reclaiming...
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Fruit and fruit cake (as well as many variations) are sexual slang terms which have various origins but modern usages tend to primarily refer to gay men and sometimes other LGBT people. Usually used as pejoratives, the terms have also been re-appropriated as insider terms of endearment within LGBT communities. Many modern pop culture references within the gay nightlife like "Fruit Machine" and "Fruit Packers" have been appropriated for reclaiming usage, similar to queer and dyke.
Slang words in general and gay slang are not always possible to trace as they often cross-pollinate in various subcultures and thus overlap and like most languages change with time with new words being introduced and others dropped altogether.
In A Dictionary of Epithets and Terms of Address author Leslie Dunkling traces the friendly use of the phrase old fruit (and rarely old tin of fruit) to the 1920s in Britain possibly deriving from the phrase fruit of the womb. In the United States, however, both fruit...
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