“Faggot”: where does it come from?

If you asked for a faggot over the years, you would be presented with various little delights, most having nothing to do with homosexuality.

J.R.R Tolkien would have presented you with a bundle of sticks for burning (bless him), starving families in WW2 would provide you with some unwanted meat off-cuts and offal, whereas in modern day Britain, most people would hand you a cigarette and warn you about the imminent fookin’ smoking ban. In the 16th century, a faggot would have even got you an unpleasant woman.

So how has “faggot” evolved into a term for gay men? Comparisons between unpleasant women and effeminate gays are quite common (Wikipedia’s words, not ours), so this may explain the evolution of the term. Also, the whole burning of sticks aspect relates to the medieval tendency to burn homosexuals at the stake is a possible origin of the term. Nice Tolkien, real nice!