"That's a queer car," said David.

I looked around for the rainbow flag, but no, he didn't mean it as in the politically reclaimed term meaning out and proud non-heterosexuality like it got started to be used when I hit college (and boy was I shocked) and has now become ubiquitious (I cite the poster board for my neighborhood church welcoming the LBGTQ community). Nor did he mean the older, yet still disturbingly used derogatory term for non-heteros.

No, he meant the older still meaning: a little off-beat, strange, not what you quite expect to see.

Hello Elizabeth Enright. I love that my son absorbs vocabulary from reading and listening to books on cd. But the problem with listening to books set in the 1940's is that even if they have gorgeous writing, age appropriate issues, and fabulous plots, there are words that have changed to the point that the old meaning is inappropriate and there is embedded sexism, racism, ickyisms in general.

Today David asked me what "sissy" meant, from the same book. I explained that it meant weak, and it was name-calling, not a term we used in our family. I did not add the sexist underpinnings. The kids in the story pretend to shoot down "Japs" which is completely appropriate for a book set during WWII, but I cringe every time I hear it.

For now, I'm trying not to draw too much attention to the words I don't want him to use. But if keeps using queer correctly for that time, I'm going to have to correct him.