L > T?

State of mind: somewhat confused
Current soundtrack: Heisei High - Ultraman Tiga - TAKE ME HIGHER (V6)

See, this is what you get when the blogger's grandfather was a Latin student and the blogger's mother has taught English for more than 30 years.

The newspapers astound amuse puzzle me sometimes. Apparently a couple of days ago in the Malay Mail (famous for being sexy enough that the government threw a hissy fit and shut the weekend edition down), there was an article on how a 'tomboy' was denied entry to a popular nightclub in K.L. Quotation marks aren't mine, so it's clear we're not talking about a merely boisterous and bustling young woman here. No, we are talking about They Who Must Not Be Named: lesbians. Or sapphists, if you prefer to be less offensive to the long-suffering people of Lesbos.

So. The woman who cannot enter a club because she has short hair and dressed in a masculine fashion? Tomboy.

The teen who spirited her girlfriend off, acts like a man and has a short short buzzcut? Tomboy.

The woman who likes other women but is still feminine and is quite happy to maintain the stereotypical 'female' role in a relationship? Possibly Still A Tomboy.

...Let's try and shed some light on this, shall we? I called upon the 1337 and wordly powers of Dictionary.com and compared our two words. Let's see what it says for 'tomboy'.

–noun
an energetic, sometimes boisterous girl whose behavior and pursuits, esp. in games and sports, are considered more typical of boys than of girls.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1)

Hm. Nothing about alternative sexuality there, eh? Let's try again.

–noun
n. A girl considered boyish or masculine in behavior or manner.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Nothing about liking girls here, either. Something is obviously wrong! D:

–noun
1553, "rude, boisterous boy," from Tom + boy; meaning "bold or immodest woman" is attested from 1579; that of "girl who acts like a spirited boy" is first recorded 1592.

Still nothing! But wait, I hear someone in the back. "These are all American dictionaries! You are following the West!!!11!" Fair enough. Or rather, we're following the wrong part of the West. Let's bring out a big old British English dictionary - the Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. It's a bit old — 20 years, to be exact — but I hope you don't mind.

–N COUNT
A tomboy is a girl who likes playing rough or noisy games.

Nothing about liking others of the same gender, people. NOTHING. For that, you have at least three very useful and appropriate words: 'homosexual', 'gay' and 'lesbian'. Two words are already accepted in the Malaysian press, kinda, so why won't you use the L word? There it is sitting in a corner on the verge of cutting its wrists, playing emo music and feeling fat and unloved.

Is 'tomboy' some strange Malaysian euphemism for teh gurlsex that I haven't heard about? Because as a real tomboy, one who preferred Sabre Rider over Sailormoon, eschewed frills and pinkness and went from 'boys suck' to 'certain boys still suck, but damn that one is FINE', I reserve the right to feel a certain irritation. Besides, even if it IS a euphemism, please exercise your sparkling wit to come up with some way to refer to the more feminine lesbians of the community, hm. They need love and reference too.

A word of advice to the Malaysian press at large: 'lesbian' is no dirty word, no dirtier than 'gay' or 'homosexual' or 'triskaidekaphobia'. You will not be stricken, smitten or covered in pimples just because you use it. Honest. :)