19 JULY 1986, Page 25

Sir: Paul Johnson does not like the word :gay' being

used for male homosexuals. (It is also used adjectivally for female homosexuals — `gay women'.) Why not call us 'homosexual' when it is relevant to do so?

He calls the use of 'gay' for 'homosexual' a 'monstrous piece of verbal larceny'. I wonder whether he has ever objected to the older pieces of verbal larceny such as the employment of various ordinary words such as 'pouf and 'queer' for homosexuals. Peter Campbell

6 Treyarnon Court, 37 Eastern Avenue, Reading, Berkshire