Light in the loafers

An American euphemism for gay, from the stereotype of the effeminate man who seems to float rather than walk; a coy wink rather than an open insult.

Light in the loafers is an American euphemism for gay: a man so dainty he seems to float rather than walk. It is what your aunt says when she does not want to say the word, what an old sitcom used for a cheap laugh. Loafers are the slip-on shoes; the light step is the stereotype of the effeminate man "tripping along".

It is less brutal than fag or fruit, and that is its trick. It sounds like a polite joke, a wink among people who think they are being clever, and it still makes the same point: there is something not quite right about the way that man moves.

Where it comes from

Green's Dictionary of Slang lists it with an older, plainer variant, light on his (or her) feet. Its earliest example is from 1969, in the slang journal Current Slang, which defines "light on ... feet" as "pertaining to effeminacy in a fellow", and the full loafers version shows up in print in the 1980s. Nobody knows exactly when the shoes were added, but it was probably for the rhythm: light in the loafers rolls off the tongue in a way that light on his feet never did.

The family resemblance with limp-wristed is obvious. One judges the hands, the other the feet, and both turn a way of moving into a diagnosis.

How it is used today

Among straight people it survives mostly as a coy, old-fashioned euphemism, the kind of phrase that comes with a raised eyebrow and a lowered voice. The coyness is the problem: it treats being gay as something to hint at rather than name.

Among ourselves it is pure camp. We use it with a grin, about our own dancing, about a friend's new suede shoes, about the fact that we are, in fact, extremely light in the loafers and see no reason to be heavier. A phrase built to whisper about us has become one we say out loud.

Close relatives

For the other insults built on gestures and posture see swish, flamer and nelly; for the polite code words that let people say gay without saying it, see friend of Dorothy, which we invented for ourselves.

Related terms