Gaysesito

[mika]

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions regarding the word gaysesito:
1. I saw it spelled either gaysesito or gaysecito. Is there any difference between the two spellings?
2. I undestand that originally this word consists of the root gay + the diminutive -ito, but is it still considered as diminutive today?
3. Is it considered an offensive word? What is the exact meaning of this word?

Many thanks,
Mika

[poli]

I have never seen the word written before, but ito is a diminutive which
is not by nature insulting, but can be in certain contexts.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by mika

I have a few questions regarding the word gaysesito:

There's no such word. It's simply one of millions of possible derivative words -sort of- properly constructed. It's like calling you "Mikasín" as a term of endearment.

You can call some person "gaycesito" or "gaycito", talk about his or her "gaycecés" or about the "gaycencia" of his or her behaviour, and a dozen more. That doesn't make them words, but portmanteau on-the-fly terms. As evidence of that you'll find from nil to just a few instances of them when using a search engine, and all of them as nicknames or in very informal contexts.

[mika]

Thanks!

But if someone defines himself as "gaysesito", what does that mean?
It means, of course, that he's gay - but what's the additional meaning? I just don't understand the semantics of this derived word.
The suffix -ito is not really used here as a diminutive, is it?
Does this mean this person is glad to be gay or does it bother him?

Thanks in advance

[aleCcowaN]

It may imply a hundred things, so a context is necessary as it is one of a few available diminutives.

Anyway, there are some general rules to apply:

People who speak languages that are isolating or slightly isolating have a strong expectation about suffixed words carrying very specific meanings. That is not always the case with diminutives and augmentatives.

It's not the same a diminutive derived from a noun than a diminutive derived from an adjective that is also used as a noun, or an adjective's diminutive. In the first case a diminutive implies smallness, youthfulness, etc., while the second implies a lesser degree of the quality intended by the adjective. For instance, a perrito only can be a small dog, a young dog, a cheap dog and little else. A diminutive of a 100% adjective is generally intended as a nuance that affects the whole phrase (¡qué carito! speaks about expectations, not about values) and it's a source of strong regional differences.

About a diminutive coming from an adjective that is also used as a noun, well, as said, a diminutive speaks of a lesser degree of the quality, and this can have many outcomes.

If gaycesito implies just a gayish personality, a coming of age gay person, an inexperienced gay person, a demure person in spite of being openly gay or a not testosterone driven heterosexual man, ...., that is something that doesn't stands out from the term. Different contexts favour one or other interpretation among many possible, so you'll have to ask because gaycesito won't tell.

As many interpretations are available, be sure nothing definite nor definitive is said by using such a term, unless it has some fixed meaning among some specific group of speakers.

[mika]

Wow,aleCcowaN, many thanks!

The reason I'm asking about this word is that I'm writing my MA thesis about diminutives in Spanish and in Italian. More preciesly, I'm interested in the way diminutives are used in order to express one's gender identity.

To do that, I've chosen 3 blogs written by native speakers of Spanish and 3 written by native speakers of Italian. One of the Spanish bloggers, who is gay, used the word "gaysesito" to talk about himself in the following way:

"...a los 22 años ya sabían todos los que me rodeaban lo gaysesito que soy..."

I know that diminutives can serve many different semantic and pragmatic functions. It's just that I can't understand the use of the diminutive in this case - and I wasn't able to infer it from the context. I mean, he could simply say: "lo gay que soy" or something similar, but he chose to use the form with the diminutive suffix. Does this change the meaning anyhow? I'm not a native speaker of Spanish, so I might not be sensitive to these small nuances that seem natural to native speakers.

By the way, is it possible that "gaysesito" is a term used only in Peninsular Spanish?

Thanks again,
Mika

[aleCcowaN]

More context is needed. The word "gaysesito" doesn't exist as such, not in Spain nor elsewhere. The term is not more a valid word than "futuraré" or "estropeancia", and as a way to convey some meaning it's just as precise as these, if not less. It's a term that any Spanish speaker can recognize and analyze in context. A wide context. Context is all.

You may ask the blogger about what he or she meant by that.

[mika]

Thanks again, aleCcowaN.

[poli]

I'm not disputing Alec, but from what I hear, members of some minorities sometimes refer to themselves and those like them in slightly or even majorly derrogative terms. I don't believe this is restricted to the gay community. For example, where I live you may hear African Americans referring themselves in a derrogatory manor. This is not
an invitation for others outside of the minority to use the term.

[aleCcowaN]

That's true and I thought of that when we talked about the Pampean "che" because I found no difference in some dark skinned young fellow in the 'hood 'calling' "nigga" his homey and I 'calling' "che" mine. They are just vocatives and different degrees of caution should be considered while using them; why, when and to whom, the main aspects to consider.

But I can't recall now a diminutive being used as a vocative in Spanish. We certainly can use diminutives in a -generally mild- derogatory fashion. For instance, "negrito" is here a derogatory way to refer colour people in a similar fashion "boy" was a derogatory way to address a mature colour man some decades ago in the States. But "negrito" is also a term of endearment and I have being called that way a number of times, and "negro" as a vocative similar to "che" in spite of my ancestry from Europe's 41° to 57° North.

About diminutives we have to consider these terms as subtracting qualities from their original notions. Saying that the boy "está hecho todo un hombrecito" means that, in spite of immaturity both physical and psychological, the boy is showing characteristics that are attributed to the grown up individual: responsible behaviour, hints of reflexive thinking, "percha" -a silhouette that has lost its childish narrow shoulder 'gauge'-.

Of course, by subtracting we can detract instead of tone down a quality. So, a "francesito" may be someone a little frenchified, but most probably a young Frenchman our cousin knew when she was wandering "las Uropas" with her backpack. "Francesito" for being young, for being small or for being skinny. Or for not being a convenient suitor, as playing mime in the tube is not a career.

Finally, "gaycesito", what a term! My first impression when I read "...a los 22 años ya sabían todos los que me rodeaban lo gaysesito que soy..." was that the writer didn't want to mean 'flamboyant gay' or a 'party beast' but 'serious, subdued, but evidently and undoubtedly gay'. But there's no reason to confirm or denied that just for an ending, though -cesito instead of -cito promotes that interpretation.

Mika have to ask the person to know for sure, because diminutives are just gestures and their lexical content, if there's one, is not systematic.