about once a year the expression “gay pride” gets brought down from the attic, dusted off, paraded around the country, and then put back for another 365 days. 

I've always been fascinated by that ritual, because I haven't the foggiest notion what the words mean. I've tried to analyze them, but nothing that I can come up with seems to make any sense. 

Let's take the word “gay” first. From the context in which it's usually used it appears to be synonymous with the word “homosexual.” Ok. I'll buy that. 

And according to Webster's, the word “pride” means taking reasonable delight in some position that you hold. Or in something that you've achieved. Or in something that you own. 

Now I've tried very hard to find a reasonable way that sexual preference — be it homosexuality or heterosexuality, for that matter — can be made to fit this definition. But I can't. 

And so I'm still in the dark. Just what is meant by “gay pride”? I really don't know. Do you? 

Oh, yeah, before I forget, I want to tell you something. 

For decades, maybe centuries, “gay” meant merry. So Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern came up with “The last time I saw Paris, her heart was young and gay." Today, it would come out, “ . . . her heart was young and homosexual.” 

You know, I'll never forgive the guy who first corrupted the word. As Johnny Carson might put it: “May he have a near-sighted camel as a live-in significant other for the rest of his miserable days.” 

Think about it.