“吃素” as a euphemism?

[Demonic_Duck]

At dinner the other night, we were discussing a mutual friend who wasn't there who most of the people present knew, but one guy, from out of town, didn't. Someone remarked on how this friend never seemed to have much inclination to date women, and had turned down a few invitations for dates before. The friend from out of town suggested, “他吃素吗？”

 

My first impression was that maybe it was a euphemism for homosexuality, but then I thought it could equally be asexuality (although I'm not sure to what extent the average Chinese person is even aware of asexuality as a distinct phenomenon). I asked another friend, but she simply told me the literal meaning of “vegetarian”.

 

At any rate, is this a common euphemism to describe gay people? Or did I misinterpret it? If it helps, the out-of-towner was from Chengdu, so maybe it's a regional thing?

[gato]

What was the response when the Chengdu guy asked "“他吃素吗？”?

All I could find was this:

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/419800032.html?qbl=relate_question_0&word=%B3%D4%CB%D8%20%CA%B2%C3%B4%D2%E2%CB%BC&optimi=4

我不是吃素的，意思就是我不好欺负，别惹我，惹我你就倒霉了

吃荤就是很厉害，有手段

[ZhangJiang]

I speak Sichuan Mandarin and I don't know there's any euphemism of sexuality in 吃素. I think he was actually asking whether the guy was a committed Buddhist, as there are religious disciplines of abstinence of meat and sex.

[Angelina]

我吃素 is the most common expression I use. It's like my identity now. What ZhangJiang says makes sense. 啊呀

There was an expression with 草 meaning a weak person. I don't remember it right now.

[Angelina]

食草女/食草男

[Demonic_Duck]

What was the response when the Chengdu guy asked "“他吃素吗？”?

The response was that no, he doesn't 吃素.

 

I speak Sichuan Mandarin and I don't know there's any euphemism of sexuality in 吃素. I think he was actually asking whether the guy was a committed Buddhist, as there are religious disciplines of abstinence of meat and sex.

That makes a lot of sense.

[tooironic]

You're right, 吃素 is a euphemism, usually meaning the person is weak, has nothing to do with being gay. Its antonym is 吃荤.

[Divato]

Angelina is right.

What he means is your friend is a 食草男 and it's a phrase originally from Japan.

It's used to describe someone gentle, harmless and doesn't show much interests in many things like most of the herbivore 食草动物（羊 长颈鹿 熊猫！). I think it's also the stereotype of programmer or IT男 and I remember there is a Chinese tv show about a IT男 who I think fits the profile of 食草男 also.

And I think ZhangJiang explained the culture behind this phrase since China and Japan share some similar culture.