The bar or night club scene has always been the quin- tessential gathering place for gays and lesbians, so | found it appropriate to examine a queer event within the confines of this almost sacred space. Knowing as | do which times are the best to arrive, so as to avoid awkwardly standing in an almost empty room, ! make my way to my destination at about ten thirty on a Wednesday evening. My chosen venue is the Odyssey night club, a place | have visited since well before ! was legally allowed to. Wednesday nights are performance nights, with entertainment provided by the girls of Lips Inc., Vancouver's second hottest drag performers after the queens of the House of Venus. Cover is a dollar, but with a flirtatious grin and show of child-like innocence | walk past the cover charge and up the familiar stairwell. By this point | have already noted to myself how the use of language has played a key role in the social dynamics and overall atmosphere present. The sub- tleties of visual metaphors dotting the walls, the body language used between myself, the others in line, and the bouncers, and the verbal language filled with witty double meanings and twisting of gender and social status within dialogue. | run my hands along the ban- ister which attaches to a wall painted in Greek iconog- raphy. Columns, the Parthenon, statues and other symbols are immediate references to the name, the "Odyssey", written by Homer in ancient Greece. But stereotypes of ancient Greece, specifically sexuality and pedagogic relationships lend an obvious under- tone without presenting it directly. And seeing as how the club is officially called "Homer's Odyssey", one may consider the name Homer being similar to the term homo. And the title of the drag show, Lips Inc., is a witty homonym of lip synch. Such visual and ver- bal puns and tricks are only the tip of the iceberg, as | The Odyssey by Bryan “silverfish” Bone discover once past the aged heavy wooden doors. It's a familiar sight, walking into the "O" as I've grown to call it. The area is welcoming, and highly sexualized. Unlike other nightclubs, though, the rela- tionships between those gathered is of acceptance and tolerance. As if bonded like family by common hard- ships and daily prejudice, | feel at home with these strangers. Body language is the dialect within the club, as it is ridiculous to attempt to speak over the blaring music. Eyes gazing and bouncing from one to another, | find myself shyly covering my face some- how when my gaze attracts another. My innocence, inexperience and virginity is obvious; to the older or more experienced person | am either an easy target or likened to a bothersome child. But | like to play with this notion as much as possible. Not once have | ever “gone home with" anyone from a club, or even returned a phone call after exchanging numbers for that matter. | suppose I'm a bit of a snob, though | don't think it shows. The room is fairly empty, and | sit with my back to a wall so that | am aware of my surroundings. | don't find anyone particularly attractive, though | am aware of several men who are observing me with much attention. Keeping within my persona of innocence | act oblivious to them and fidget as if it was my first time there. That is my ploy most of the time - by pre- senting myself as vulnerable, men approach me and present the most ridiculously rehearsed garbage and | get a fun story to laugh about! Unfortunately, so far my examination of language is being hampered by my lack of attracting a subject, but | remember, great one - a big thick steroid monster came up to me once, his eyes looked me over and he leaned in and said, "You'll do!" But on this evening | was unfortunate not to be able to provide examples of the pathetic gay pick up line, almost as pathetic as the straight one | imagine! But | digress... | grow weary of sitting and watching the ever growing crowd, so | make my way to one of the three bars in the tiny night club. | know exactly how to work the bartenders too. A nice grin and smile, perhaps a bit of boyish charm can get me a very cheap drink that has twice as much alcohol as it has mixer. A friend once told me that "when a fag drinks, he should do it right!" Now why my friend would refer to himself and other homosexuals as a fag brings me to another revelation during my analysis of the language in a gay night club. | wander out onto the patio and listen to conversations. | hear more and more examples of neg- ative language turned positive. Words uttered from one man to another in some contexts might be crimi- nal offences or hate crimes, yet for some reason no one here is upset at all. Words such as fag, faggot, queer, sister, priss, princess, puff, homo, queen, etc. are used as humour instead of insult. A perplexing scenario, and | wonder why these men are referring to each other in words used by oth- ers as insults? Like-wise | think of the number of straight people who now use the word gay as a nega- tive connotation ever since the homosexual communi- ty adopted it as a positive moniker in the nineteen- twenties. Words like the derogatory ‘queer’ and clini- cal ‘homosexual’ have been "taken back" to be used in a positive way by the Gay and Lesbian movement, just as words like black and nigger are used by African-Canadians and Americans to show pride. This changing of negative to positively conotated words demostrates the power language plays in defining pride and self-assertion within an oppressed group. photo by Bryan “silverfish” Bone The bar or night club scene has always been the quin- tessential gathering place for gays and lesbians, so | found it appropriate to examine a queer event within the confines of this almost sacred space. Knowing as | do which times are the best to arrive, so as to avoid awkwardly standing in an almost empty room, ! make my way to my destination at about ten thirty on a Wednesday evening. My chosen venue is the Odyssey night club, a place | have visited since well before | was legally allowed to. Wednesday nights are performance nights, with entertainment provided by the girls of Lips Inc., Vancouver's second hottest drag performers after the queens of the House of Venus. Cover is a dollar, but with a flirtatious grin and show Of child-like innocence | walk past the cover charge and up the familiar stairwell By this point | have already noted to myself how the use of language has played a key role in the social dynamics and overall atmosphere present. The sub- tleties of visual metaphors dotting the walls, the body language used between myself, the others inline, and the bouncers, and the verbal language filled with witty double meanings and twisting of gender and social status within dialogue. | run my hands along the ban- ister which attaches to a wall painted in Greek iconog- raphy. Columns, the Parthenon, statues and other symbols are immediate references to the name, the “Odyssey”, written by Homer in ancient Greece. But stereotypes of ancient Greece, specifically sexuality and pedagogic relationships lend an obvious under- tone without presenting it directly. And seeing as how the club is officially called "Homer's Odyssey", one may consider the name Homer being similar to the term homo. And the title of the drag show, Lips Inc., is a witty homonym of lip synch. Such visual and ver- bal puns and tricks are only the tip of the iceberg, as | The Odyssey by Bryan ‘silverfish” Bone discover once past the aged heavy wooden doors. It’s a familiar sight, walking into the “O" as I've grown to call it. The area is welcoming, and highly sexualized. Unlike other nightclubs, though, the rela- tionships between those gathered is of acceptance and tolerance. As if bonded like family by common hard- ships and daily prejudice, | feel at home with these strangers. Body language is the dialect within the club, as itis ridiculous to attempt to speak over the blaring music. Eyes gazing and bouncing from one to another, | find myself shyly covering my face some- how when my gaze attracts another. My innocence, inexperience and virginity is obvious; to the older or more experienced person | am either an easy target or likened to a bothersome child. But I like to play with this notion as much as possible. Not once have | ever gone home with” anyone from a club, or even returned a phone call after exchanging numbers for that matter. | suppose I'm a bit of a snob, though | don't think it shows. The room is fairly empty, and | sit with my back toa wall so that | am aware of my surroundings. | don't find anyone particularly attractive, though | am aware Of several men who are observing me with much attention. Keeping within my persona of innocence | act oblivious to them and fidget as if it was my first time there. That is my ploy most of the time - by pre~ senting myself as vulnerable, men approach me and present the most ridiculously rehearsed garbage and | get a fun story to laugh about! Unfortunately, so far my examination of language is being hampered by my lack of attracting a subject, but remember, great one - a big thick steroid monster came up to me once, his eyes looked me over and he leaned in and said, "You'll do!" But on this evening | was unfortunate not to be able to provide examples of the pathetic gay pick up line, almost as pathetic as the straight one | imagine! But | digress. | grow weary of sitting and watching the ever growing crowd, so | make my way to one of the three bars in the tiny night club. I know exactly how to work the bartenders too. A nice grin and smile, perhaps a bit of boyish charm can get me a very cheap drink that has twice as much alcohol as it has mixer. A friend once told me that “when a fag drinks, he should do it right!” Now why my friend would refer to himself and other homosexuals as a fag brings me to another revelation during my analysis of the language in a gay night club. I wander out onto the patio and listen to conversations. | hear more and more examples of neg- ative language turned positive. Words uttered from ‘one man to another in some contexts might be crimi- nal offences or hate crimes, yet for some reason no one here is upset at all Words such as fag, faggot, queer, sister, priss, princess, puff, homo, queen, etc. are used as humour instead of insult. A perplexing scenario, and | wonder why these men are referring to each other in words used by oth- ers as insults? Like-wise | think of the number of straight people who now use the word gay as a nega- tive connotation ever since the homosexual communi- ty adopted it as a positive moniker in the nineteen- twenties. Words like the derogatory ‘queer’ and clini- cal ‘homosexual’ have been “taken back" to be used in a positive way by the Gay and Lesbian movement, just as words lke black and nigger are used by ‘African-Canadians and Americans to show pride. This changing of negative to positively conotated words demostrates the power language plays in defining pride and self-assertion within an oppressed group. ‘photo by Bryan “sverfsh” Bone