On January 10, 2022. Mariner posted the following:

“Poignantly, mariner misses the word ‘gay’. It was a richly nuanced word that combined the sensation of friendly, entertaining and memorable into a three letter word.”

This still is true. There is no other single, simple word that conveys the experience where one would say they had a gay time – rejuvenation via pleasure. But this is a different time. ‘Gay’ virtually is extinct; it lingers only in a ridiculous acronym, LGBTQIA+ (LGBTQIA+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more).

The ‘+’ bothers him. Maybe the next letter will be ‘F’ for people who like to have fun at parties having only one sex as participants. Will women’s clubs have to become secretive about where and when they meet? Will the mariner and his buddies swear secrecy regarding their poker club or their Friday night at the corner bar? Will the mariner have to give a swab before he enters the men’s room?

The whole genetic prejudice thing is absurd in today’s world. Mariner is excluded from conversations because he can’t remember the acronym – let alone say it.

Thank goodness mariner is not a black Asian who speaks Spanish, wears a kippah, lives in an Arabian neighborhood and lives with a Somalian. What would that acronym look like?

Ancient Mariner