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This is an amusing post, EF! You didn't tell the story about the circumstances which prompted you to look up the word, and you know how much we all like to hear “the rest of the story†in this forum.
When I looked up the word, most dictionaries (including the Oxford) made the grave mistake of stipulating that only homosexual people can possess or use gaydar. That is utter nonsense, and I would guess that such an exclusive definition might stem from some kind of bias on the part of the person who wrote it. Only one standard dictionary, the American Heritage, provided a “correct†definition: “The supposed ability to discern whether a person is homosexual.†And then, there is the “non-standard†Urban Dictionary, which, like Wiki, is built by all kinds of folks. It provided the very best definition: GAYDAR. Short for Gay-Radar. The ability to tell when someone near you is homosexual, even if they have given no obvious indications of being so. It's like Spiderman and his Spider sense. He can just “feel†when there is danger nearby. Gaydar allows you to “feel†when there is gayness nearby.
Regarding other words making use of the -dar stem, I can't think of any other common ones. My wife possesses what I call foodar, the ability to “sniff out†good restaurants. The Urban Dictionary even has an entry for this word, defining it as the ability to locate food sources. But I've never heard anyone besides myself use this word. A couple of times when I have said foodar, others thought I had actually said FUBAR!
Graydar: ability to detect when someone (especially a man) is using coloring to cover signs of aging. (also see telepathetic: the unwitting nonverbal broadcast of unresolved personal issues.)
Naydar: foresight in a meeting that someone is about to nix an idea or disagree completely.
Straydar: animal instinct to avoid animal control personnel.
Sedar: ability to detect the proximity of yeast and other leavening agents.
Vadar: ability to sense the presence of “the Dark Sideâ€
This is an amusing post, EF! You didn't tell the story about the circumstances which prompted you to look up the word, and you know how much we all like to hear “the rest of the story†in this forum.
It's not a terribly interesting story. I came across a link to the OED page for “gaydar†here:
http://www.modemac.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/2009-05-29
Speaking of "foodar," there's actually a character in the comic strip "Get Fuzzy" by that name.
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Grant Barrett
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