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Emperor1956 -> RE: The word "Gal" and racism (5/21/2008 1:06:17 AM)
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"Gal" is racist? I think that someone's been yanking your PC chain. There's not a hint of it being used to denote a woman of color in any usage guide I checked. It means, colloquially, "girl".
Start with The American Heritage Book of English Usage, which is PC to the max, and catches potential derogatory associations:
(under "guy", which is pretty odd in itself):
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
5. Gender: Sexist Language and Assumptions
§ 11. guy
Used in the singular, guy is an informal noun that refers to a man or boy. Its feminine equivalent is the equally informal, though probably less common, term gal. So, for example, if you are separating two groups of students for a session in line dancing, everyone will know what you mean when you say, “Guys to the left and gals to the right.” Similarly, every girl knows how to interpret a “Guys Only” sign outside her brother’s bedroom door.
1
In the plural, guy is used to refer to a group of men, to a mixed group of men and women, or even (though less frequently) to a group of girls or women.
2
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Further, at least one use in British spoken English indicates (but not conclusively) that it denotes "girl" without any racial connotation:
I often think it’s comical
How Nature always does contrive
That every boy and every gal,
That’s born into the world alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative!
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911), British parodist, librettist. Iolanthe. 1881.
Finally, while she certainly used words denoting race in her poetry, I am pretty sure Gwendolyn Brooks didn't mean to imply any racial epithet in "My little 'bout-town gal":My
My little ‘bout town gal has gone
'Bout town with powder and blue dye
On her pale lids and on her lips
Dye sits quite carminely.
I’m scarcely healthy-hearted or human.
What can I teach my cheated Woman?
My Tondeleyo, my black blonde
Will not be homing soon.
None shall secure her save the
Detective fingers the moon.
E.
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