3 dollar bill gay term
Queer As a What?
May 7, 2014
In a recent interview about a fascinating-lookingtelephone-hotline documentary, phone psychic and infomercial star Ms. Cleo revealed that she’s not just gay — “I’m as gay as a two dollar bill,” she declared.
[Source: “Ms. Cleo Comes to Hot Docs: ‘I’m Gay As a Two Dollar Bill’” IndieWire, May 1, 2014]
Really? There’s nothing gay, straight, or generally sexual about a $2 bill, as far as I can discern.
Ms. Cleo gives us a satisfactory example of the bastardization of the anachronistic statement “queer as a three-dollar bill.” First, some definitions.
“Queer as a three-dollar bill”:
- Older term that means extremely strange but is usually heard in reference to a gay person. There never was a three-dollar bill…thus the rarity.
(Urban Dictionary)
Okay, that basically makes sense — in the context of queer sense “phony” and three-dollar bill representing nonexistence. But at some point in the past few decades, both parts of the expression changed! What kind of crazy alchemy was at work?
Although queer had been employed to mean
We’re here, we’re gender non-conforming as a three dollar bill!.
Download We’re here, we’re gay as a three dollar bill!. Resource
Photocopied flyer on soft pink paper. At the bottom, there is an image of a bill with the number ‘3’ and the text “Queer Nation Toronto.” Copyright Gay Nation Toronto.
Type of Material: Poster
Publication Date: 199-?
Noun; A great band out of Chicago.
Charming and subversive without breaking a sweat, this Chicago rock band is a DIY favorite.
Defining post-punk attitudes with stinging guitars, catchy melodies, and an irresistibly pounding rhythm section,
THREE DOLLAR BILL hooks you with songs full of pleading desire, lust and rage.
What makes THREE DOLLAR BILL a scarce catch is their knack of mixing metal edginess and puncrock
energies into a sound that becomes entirely their own. The haunting harmonies of The Breeders,
Sleater-Kinney and X; the guitar riffs of AC/DC; the political wit of the Deceased Kennedys; the dissonance
of Nirvana, Sonic Youth and The Cure---THREE DOLLAR BILL hits on the nerve of Alternative and Indie
rockers alike. www.threedollar.net
The ThreeDollar Bill show was amazing last night.
by Stokley January 16, 2005
More random definitions
© 1999-2025 Urban Dictionary ®
Green’s Dictionary of Slang
queer as...adj.
[queer adj. (5)/SE queer, odd]In phrases
...a chorus boy’s backsideundeniably homosexual.
| P. BaileyKitty and Virgil (1999) 41: Derek’s not what he seems. I know he gives the impression that he’s queer as a chorus boy’s backside, but he isn’t. |
ostentatiously homosexual.
| R. LambertHothouse Society 273: ‘Keep you legs crossed if you go to coffee with Oscar, he is as bent as a clockwork orange and a right queer’ [Simes:DLSS]. | |
| D. PowisSigns of Crime 178: Clockwork orange A male homosexual: ‘He’s as queer as a clockwork orange.’. |
1. extremely eccentric.
| Harper’s Mag. 160 743/1: After lugging a trout five miles in a bucket of water, without a word he dumped his catch into the river again. At that I stopped short, thinking, ‘Lord save us! this bird has gone gay as a coot. I am to dine with a lunatic’ . |
2. undeniably homosexual.
...a nine-bob note (alsoqueer as a three bob bit, ...three-pound note, ...two-quid note) [nine-bob note n.]1. unusual, particularly suspicious; the phrase survives the demise of the currency.
2. homosexual.
A. ParksBqueer as a three-dollar bill(as) queer as a three-dollar bill1. Completely and obviously false or fake; not genuine or authentic in the slightest. (There has never been a three-dollar bill in circulation in the United States.) Primarily heard in US. The guy claims to tutor you how to become rich in a rush, but the whole thing sounds as queer as a three-dollar bill.The senator's hammed-up, teary-eyed speech was queer as a three-dollar bill, if you demand me.A: "I'm sorry, but your so-called Louis Vuitton bag is queer as a three-dollar bill." B: "What? How can you tell?" 2. Completely or blatantly not heterosexual or cisgender. Offensive when used pejoratively. Primarily heard in US. Honey, I'm as gay as a three-dollar bill and proud of it.My parents were not terribly surprised when I came out. I'm queer as a three-dollar bill and always knew it—and I think they did too. See also: bill, queer Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved. queer as a three-dollar billverbSee as phony as a three-dollar bill See also: bill, queer queer as a three-dollar billverbSee as gender non-conforming as a three-dollar bill See also: bill, queer McGraw-Hill's Dictiona |