Drag has been traced back by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the late 19th Century. For example, the word drag was popularized by Hubert Selby Jr.
Many terms that originated as gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. By 1999, this terminology had fallen out of use to the point of being greatly unrecognizable by members of the LGBT community at large. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, the terms 'cottage' (chiefly British) and 'tearoom' (chiefly American) were used to denote public toilets used for sex. Terms used in one generation may pass out of usage in another. Specialized dictionaries that record LGBT slang have been found to revolve heavily around sexual matters.
SCRUFF launched a gay-slang dictionary app in 2014, which includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community. The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang in the United States at that time. Although there are differences, contemporary British gay slang has adopted many Polari words. During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres of the United Kingdom within established LGBT communities.
