Charlie

But I am literally a pedant!

Oh, dear! They have capitulated to the barbarians!

The implied meaning of "literally" as used by so many speakers nowadays--i.e., "as good as actually" or sometimes "almost," as in "I am literally tearing my hair out!"--is not considered Standard English. "Flammable" and "inflammable" are both considered correct.

According to my dictionary, "irregardless" (a double negative in itself) is non-standard and not acceptable unless the obvious intent is humor.

And what does one call two words that look like opposites but actually mean the same thing, like flammable and inflammable?

Many years ago in NY, I hired an escort, and when I arrived at his East Side apartment, I realized that I had seen him onstage at the NY City Opera a few weeks earlier. But now I can't remember who he was or what the role was! (the operatic role, I mean--he was definitely a top). I only remember that he had a barber's chair in his living room, so I suppose I should call him Figaro.

I would prefer to hire the escort for fun in the afternoon, and then enjoy the opera on my own in the evening, especially if it is Rheingold, which has no intermissions during which one can parade around one's escort to show off.

I have never been much of a theater-goer, so I didn't save programs, and my memories are pretty vague. The first show I ever went to in NY was the original 1960 off-Broadway production (somewhere in the Village--Sullivan St?) of The Fantasticks with Jerry Ohrbach; all I remember of it is (appropriately) "Try to remember." I also went to the original off-Broadway productions of Hair and The Boys in the Band. On Broadway I remember seeing Amadeus (not the performance that purplekow described) and C0mpany. The only plays I remember seeing in London in the 1970s were The Mousetrap (it had already been running on Shaftesbury Avenue for years) and A Chorus Line, although I know I saw some lesser known works in small theaters.

You are the only other person I have ever encountered who knows that book!

In later life, Charles Farrell became the mayor of Palm Springs. (So did Sonny Bono, but he wasn't one of those dream guys.)

In olden days (i.e., before the the 1960s), wearing a green tie was supposed to be a secret signal to help gays recognize one another.

As a gay history buff, I love the vintage photos.

I recognize Tab Hunter and Sal Mineo, but is that Paul Newman in the "sailor" mag?

I think John Isner has a very handsome face and a charming personality, but at 6'10" he is too lanky even for me, who likes tall men. I never thought Roddick was handsome, but he was sexy.

No, he has never turned me on.

The photo may be unaltered, but the cock is not.

I am generally pretty blase about gallery photos, but this thread made me reach for my smelling salts.

Rather than mention your personal details, I would ask the escort if he has any limitations on his client's physical description, as sync suggested. It will at least make him think about his own instinctive reactions, and perhaps raise his consciousness, particularly if he is relatively young or new to escorting.

The first anniversary of Stonewall in 1970 was the occasion for the first organized gay pride march, but it was officially called the Christopher Street Liberation Day march, and it started as a ragtag gathering in Washington Square. The organizers--amazingly--managed to get a police permit for the march, but there wasn't enough time to publicize the route or the destination, so my phone was constantly ringing that morning as we kept asking one another, "Where are they going?" "Where are they now?" It turned out that the route that the police had marked out was up Sixth Ave (usually empty on a Sunday) to Central Park. We joined them at 29th and Sixth, and the number of people kept growing the farther north we got. By the time the parade emptied into Central Park, there was a huge mob of all kinds of people, and the mood was ebullient. The next day the New York Times described it as a "homosexual protest rally," but it felt more like a celebration, a great big party to which everyone was invited, and I was surprised by the number of non-gays who joined in.

The last time I participated in a Gay Pride event was forty years ago in Philadelphia. I carried the banner at the head of the parade in Center City. I have attended some other events over the years, but mostly as a spectator, and nothing in the past few years. I, too, have grown tired of being in crowds, for any kind of event.

I first encountered that on a Shinkansen train in Japan, but I have rarely seen it anywhere else.

I had my "mid-life crisis" at 30. Does that mean 50 is the new 30?

This thread makes me feel like I am back in the early 80s.

I first encountered these as a young man in a Turkish bathhouse in Paris, and it took me a minute to understand what I was supposed to do. Later I found something similar in rural India. I haven't seen one of them for many years.