Last night, I was in a small community that lit its Christmas tree. (Not sure they’re allowed to call it a Christmas tree, but that’s what it is.) Some schoolkids sang Christmas carols. When they started “Deck the Halls,” I thought, “Uh-oh — will they sing it?” Will they sing, “Don we now our gay apparel”? No, they did not. They didn’t sing a replacement word. They sang a different lyric altogether.
This is too bad. I realize that language evolves, blah, blah, blah, but it’s a pity we have to submit to this kind of airbrushing. Are we going to read Gay Brewer, the late PGA star, out of the record book? Maybe take away his Masters victory, or change his name? Call him “Gary Brewer” (not to be confused with Gary Player)? Are they playing reruns of The Flintstones somewhere? What’re they doing with the closing line, “We’ll have a gay old time”? Ravel wrote a song called “Tout gai!” Oops.
Pardon my Grinchiness, but cripe.