Faggots

Where is your mind? What do you think of when you hear the word “faggot”. One should consult the Oxford English Dictionary. It has quite an extensive list of definitions for the word faggot, sometimes written fagot.

I had the opportunity to facilitate a Bible study and asked this question. The very first answer came from a gentleman, quite knowledgeable in a number of areas. He stated that a faggot was a bunch of sticks. I was so pleased because part of the lesson was to show how we can sometimes be derogatory and insensitive in the words that we use. A faggot is indeed a bunch of sticks and has many more definitions. The following list is not exhaustive but gives some of the definitions.

a. A bundle of sticks, twigs, or brushwood tied together for use as fuel.

b. A long, cylindrical bundle of twigs or brushwood used in construction or military operations, esp. for filling in marshy ground or for strengthening the sides of embankments, ditches, or trenches. Now historical and rare.

c. Newfoundland. A stack of split and salted whole cod (arranged with their skins facing outwards) which have been exposed to the sun at various stages during the drying process.

d. A long, thin strip of candied orange or lemon peel; a small bundle of such strips. Obsolete.

e. A ball or (occasionally) patty of chopped or minced meat (esp. pig's liver or other offal), mixed with bread, suet, herbs, etc., and sometimes wrapped in caul fat. Usually in plural.

f. Figurative and in figurative contexts. A collection of people or things considered or treated as though bound together in a group or class. Now rare.

g. British Army. A man who is temporarily hired as a dummy soldier to make up the required number at a muster of troops, or on the roll of a company or regiment. Now historical and rare.

h. Chiefly Irish English, Scottish, and English regional. derogatory. A woman, esp. one considered to be troublesome, useless, or slatternly; frequently with modifying adjective, as old faggot, lazy faggot, etc. Often as a term of abuse or contempt. Occasionally also with reference to a man or an animal.

i. slang (originally and chiefly North American). Frequently derogatory and offensive. A homosexual man, sometimes spec. one considered to be effeminate; (occasionally) a lesbian. Also more generally: any man considered to be effeminate; (as a term of abuse or contempt) a weak or cowardly man or boy; a sissy.

Often our perceptions of words or things are jaded by our own experiences, real or imagined, things we’ve heard or seen or, better yet, based on the Word of God. According to Philippians 2:5 (KJV), we are to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. Whenever I’m tempted to think the way of the world, I know that I must renew my mind (Romans 12:2) and whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, to think on these things. Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

Where is your mind? What did you think a faggot was?