The Netherlands is known to be a very liberal country, and a bastion for the gays. And for the most part, it is. In fact, there is even a professional soccer-football club that plays in the Dutch league that is comprised entirely of homosexual men. The club is called Ajax. (Zing!)
But seriously, maybe Holland is not as liberal and accepting as commonly thought, as shown by this Dutch word, combining the Greek "Homo" (same) with "fiel" (the love of). Yes, this is the same ending used in disgusting words like pedophile (sex with children), necrophile (sex with dead things) and germanophile (sex with Germans). Disgusting. Who would do such a thing?
Oh... Well, maybe just this once...Anyway, where was I...
While "homophile" may still be an old-fashioned word, it is by no means offensive and it is still incommon usage. According to Wikipedia it is now used by homosexuals themselves as a vague way to refer to their lifestyle. You know, in case they are ever talking to a kakker because it would shock them to hear a word with "sex" in it. Apparently the Dutch gays think that rather than refer to sex, it is better to associate gayness with paedophilia, necrophilia and germanophilia. So maybe the real liberal people in Holland are the gays. Wow, what a revelation: gay people are often liberal! Even in Holland!
This concept and even the term "homophile" is not necessarily a Dutch word; it has just fallen out of favour in English for the same reasons as above. Except, according to the trusty old wikipedia:
"in recent years the term has also been adopted by anti-gay groups and Christian fundamentalists, particularly in the United States and Poland, as a term of abuse for gay men and lesbians by attempting to imply a link between homosexuality and paedophilia."
It seems that a reason why Holland remains a bastion for the gays because they have claimed the insult as their own. In English they have already claimed fag, homo, and even queer as their own. I guess the Dutch gay community are adhering to the old adage of "sticks and stones will break my boner". Surely homophile will be the next word to be adopted. In 10 years we will probably be watching "Homophile eye for the Conservative Christian guy." And you heard it first from the Gazelle.
Bonus:
This is Gisele Bundchen. I think it is pretty self-explanatory why this is a bonus. However, I don't think I need to make another exception since she is technically only of German descent...Example Sentence:
"Oh, I'm flattered, but I'm not a homophile, not that there's anything wrong with that."
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