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Keep your English up to date
Out
Professor David Crystal
In the early 1990s, the word ‘out’ came to be used as a
verb. ‘To out someone’ meant to tell the world that the
person was a homosexual, usually a public figure. It was
short for ‘coming out of the closet’, ‘out of your cupboard’,
‘out of your house’.
It then developed. People who do the ‘outing’, who tell the
world about the people, are ‘outers’.
And then, people have been ‘outed’. So, all kind of other
usages developed. Gay rights activists took up the word.
And now there are several websites with ‘out’ in the title.
‘Coming out’ is now a positive term, referring to anyone
who decides to tell others about their sexuality, men or
women. There was a flurry of usage in early 2006, as
British MPs admitted to being gay. Note the usage, a
headline read: ‘Quite a few MPs have come out in parliament.’ Now, that’s
not referring to the fact that they’re leaving the room! It isn’t just a verb
of motion any more.
So be prepared for some unusual usages. A news report recently talked
about ‘electing its first “out” gay president’. “Out” was in inverted
commas, as a sort of adjective. Usage is still broadening. To be out is in!
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