9:54 AM
Geoff
Back when David Letterman was on NBC, Bill Maher was a guest and did a funny bit during his 'sit down' about how gay men have it all figured out.
He read a personal ad out of a newspaper (yes Mary......that's how they did it before the internet) where the guy gave a list of everything he was looking for in a match.....and it was a loooooong list. He appeared to read it verbatim and it was full of the usual height requirement, weight limit, hair and eye color etc along with an alphabet soup of abbreviations a young boy from Idaho had no clue about. The ad placer was even looking for a guy into watersports which got an ebarrassed reaction from Letterman and a huge laugh from the sophisticated late night audience, but left me asking aloud "What's so funny about jet skiing?"
Anyway, years later as the little fagolah from Idaho grew into a more savvy queer I learned what those abbreviations meant....and that watersports (which I have never had a yen to try thankyouverymuchforwondering) did not mean "jet skiing". That's why the old hanky code fascinates me....those boys in leather seemed to have it all figured out didn't they? I have no clue if this is still in use, and I really doubt that it is, but it's a captivating lookback at how Leathermen orchestrated their dance of hooking up.
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6 comments:
Okay, I don't want anything I publish here to be held against me....ever. All of mine will be from the LEFT pocket and I'll need a big pocket to hold all of these colors: light blue, navy blue, magenta, yellow, orange, coral.
No comments, please.
Actually the code is making a comeback!
Dark pink left, mustard right.
I would have to constantly refer to the chart to understand somebody elses code
Are they still in use? Even better: there's an I-phone hanky code app. Stick that in your pocket and flaunt it! ;-)
I came out in the leather/bear community because I didn't fit in with the other twinks my age who usually hung out at the dance clubs. Even way back then, the hanky code was considered old-school and only for diehard leather queens.But remember I was in the south, maybe in larger cities like NYC & Chicago it was very much the thing...
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