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NO HOMO !!!!
Hey, guys, sit down for a spell — let’s talk. No, you’re not in trouble, but there’s a horse we have to rein into the stable. But first, a history lesson. I’m one of the older Millennials. My nineties childhood was made of Lunchables, Goosebumps books, and The Magic School Bus every afternoon after school. As I progressed into the 2000s, I found myself jamming to Avril Lavigne, zoning out on Invader Zim, and playing PlayStation 2. Language was also changing right in front of me. In the nineties you’d hear:
“Talk to the hand,” “As if,” and “All that and a bag of chips.”
In the 2000s: “Chill,” “Wicked,” and “No homo!”
Now, “No Homo” caught me off guard. It was a phrase I had noticed specifically used by my male peers. The definition of “No homo,” according to Urban Dictionary:
A phrase said after saying something that could be interpreted as homosexual to someone of the same gender as the speaker.
Whether it be a compliment (“Looking good, dude, no homo”); one of the sports teams (“We’re gonna beat their asses on Saturday, no homo”); or just admiring another guy (“Keanu Reeves is awesome in The Matrix, no homo”), I felt like I was missing out on the joke (story of my life). But on further observation, I realized they were serious. Anytime another guy showed kingship with another, they always had to compulsively add this…
