idioms

In Part I and Part II, we saw that gay idioms present various challenges for your straight children. But mastering them offers big payoffs too.

In Part I, we learned that your straight children are second language learners when it comes to the language of your gay heritage, and we learned how hard it is to master the idioms of a second language.

In this part, we’ll look at another obstacle your children face—and that is developmental readiness.

As a full-fledged member of the gay culture, you are fluent in the rich language of your heritage. But sometimes you forget that you are bilingual, and you lapse into your gay language at home. This can cause great consternation for your straight children who are listening and don’t understand.

Second-language acquisition research has shown that idiomatic expressions pose the biggest challenge for second language learners. Your children desperately want to share your special language, but like all second language learners, they take your idioms literally.