What does "on coming out" mean?

@ehBeth,

Okay ehBeth, would you like to expand on that and say why you disagree? I recognise that different areas, different countries, will have different usages, but I say to "come out" with no other qualifier, and used in the sense of revealing something, means only revealing previously secret homosexuality.

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@maxdancona,

Quote:

I (as a native English speaking American) have never used the word "anatomizing". In fact, I had to look it up to find out what you were talking about.

You've just learned a new word.

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When someone says "I've come out," I take it to mean they've announced their homosexuality to society.

Revealed heroin abuse never comes to mind.

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Here's one case of "come out":

What comes out of this massive and detailed dossier transforms our understanding of the Great Leap Forward. When it comes to the overall death toll, for instance, researchers so far have had to extrapolate from official population statistics, including the census figures of 1953, 1964 and 1982. Their estimates range from 15 to 32 million excess deaths.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

What comes out of this massive and detailed dossier transforms our understanding of the Great Leap Forward.

This is the standard meaning of "emerges".

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
What comes out of this massive and detailed dossier transforms our understanding of the Great Leap Forward.

This is the standard meaning of "emerges".

Come out of = emerge from?

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@oristarA,

Quote:

The present-day expression "coming out" is understood to have originated in the early 20th century from an analogy that likens homosexuals’ introduction into gay subculture to a débutante’s coming-out party. This is a celebration for a young upper-class woman who is making her début – her formal presentation to society – because she has reached adult age or has become eligible for marriage. As historian George Chauncey points out:

"Gay people in the pre-war years [pre-WWI]... did not speak of coming out of what we call the gay closet but rather of coming out into what they called homosexual society or the gay world, a world neither so small, nor so isolated, nor... so hidden as closet implies"[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_out

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@maxdancona,

Doesn't gay refer to male, while débutante female?

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Come out of = emerge from?

Yes.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Doesn't gay refer to male, while débutante female?

Débutante does not mean "gay female person".

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@oristarA,

It is an analogy.

The original "coming out" parties were for (presumably heterosexual) young women when they marriageable age. It was to present them as eligible women entering the world of courtship.

Gay culture used the same word to express the idea of presenting newly open gay men entering the world of courtship.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Gay culture used the same word to express the idea of presenting newly open gay men entering the world of courtship.

I thought it was a shortening of "coming out of the closet".

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@contrex,

Me too.

Although originally a debutante's presentation to society.

Very similar. "Yohoo, I'm here, come and get me!"

Sorry for any perceived bad taste, no offence.

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@maxdancona,

Well there you go then. Where is ehBeth with her reply to my enquiry? I thought I was on the right track with my earlier comments.

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@contrex,

Mctag

contrex wrote:

it can now mean to reveal a number of things, not necessarily connected with sexuality. I recently came out to my colleagues as a trainspotter. People might talk about coming out as an alcoholic, a conservative or an atheist for example.

to come out once meant the presentation of a young woman in society

times, and the language, changed

you use it to indicate revelation of homosexuality

the language has now moved on from your usage

if you told me someone was coming out - without any qualifiers - you would get a blank look from me, and a question to try and clarify what you were talking about

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@ehBeth,

I don't think it's a generational difference, but it could be a cultural development difference.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

if you told me someone was coming out - without any qualifiers - you would get a blank look from me

I would immediately presume that the intended meaning was that they were preparing to reveal themselves to be gay, unless significant indications otherwise were present.

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

I would immediately presume that the intended meaning was that they were preparing to reveal themselves to be gay, unless significant indications otherwise were present.

I'll tell you for free that would be a mistake in Toronto.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

contrex wrote:
I would immediately presume that the intended meaning was that they were preparing to reveal themselves to be gay, unless significant indications otherwise were present.

I'll tell you for free that would be a mistake in Toronto.

OK let's backtrack a bit. Under what circumstances might a person in Toronto say "I'm coming out" (just those words) and mean neither "I am in process of exiting the gay closet" nor "I am a débutante"? Does it have some local meaning like e.g. "I am drunk on poutine" or something?

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

the language has now moved on from your usage

if you told me someone was coming out - without any qualifiers - you would get a blank look from me, and a question to try and clarify what you were talking about

I don't think the language has changed/moved on from McTag's conception. It's always [in a relative sense as regards our lifetime capacities] been there.

a : to openly declare one's homosexuality
b : to openly declare something about oneself previously kept hidden —often used with as <blew his cover and came out as a CIA agent — William Prochnau>

If someone told me they had 'come out', I'd check with them to make sure that they had closed the gate.

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What does "on coming out" mean?

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