#cady posting

[meangirlsautism]

MEAN GIRLS FORTNITE HEADCANONS

to preface this… realistically do i see any of the plastics playing fortnite? no. do i think it’s funny as hell though? yes. so i’m just going to pretend here, bear with me

in regards to any of the 2004 mean girls characters, i say they wouldn't play. since obv fortnite wasn’t out yet, but i also think that they, esp the plastics, would think they’re too cool for it

2018 / broadway versions though…

made this all the way back in 2019. don’t remember the context at all. but yeah. it fits. broadway janis would play fortnite, sure

broadway plastics MIGHT play it too. since if regina plays the sims just to create people and kill them? sure, she can play fortnite too, why not. and ofc gretchen and karen would play along w/ her. and like.. pretty sure fortnite was still pretty hot in 2018 so. yeah! hell yeah!

the 2024 versions… began to think abt these headcanons BC of the 2024 versions. they originated the idea i guess. even if i more realistically see the broadway versions playing it? well. no. bc the bway plastics r still the popular mean girls. the 2024 guys felt like.. a different breed of popular mean girl. hence why i see them playing fortnite. i suppose? man i don’t know don’t look at me

WHATEVER . just pretend they’d play the game ok. with that out of the way:

regina

such an asshole

def loves snipers and shotguns.. probably the heftier guns

even though she’s rly good at using them all / typically has no preference

but if there’s a sniper or shotgun… she WILL be taking it

i know the current season doesn’t have snipers, i’ll just talk abt the guns in a broad sense i suppose

i could go more in depth as to which guns of each category they’d like but. i’ll only do so if asked i guess (i only started playing in august of 2023. so chapter 4 season 4. meaning i have very limited knowledge on different guns and such)

ANYWHO. she’s such an asshole in this game

will absolutely chase you down if you choose to run

(you wont get far)

and she’s like… such a dick w/ the sniper as well

a pretty decent player. is not humble whatsoever

def buys shit. mainly skins and such

she likes some of the icon emotes, but isn’t absolutely crazy abt them

doesn’t get to level 200 just to get everything in the battlepass. she does it to show off and brag

despite that, she probably still buys the battlepass. bc she can

very good aim!

def a toxic gamer. she gets mad a lot

gretchen

trying her best

mainly there bc regina is playing it and wants the plastics all to play w/ her

is a normal person and likes like. assault rifles and such

def the guns w/ the medium bullets

maybe a tactical assault rifle if she feels like it

isn’t insanely picky though

right in the middle.. not too heavy not too light

not the greatest player

once again, she’s trying her best

regina often berates her over the stuff she should’ve done differently

HATES being the last one alive on her team

if regina and karen (and sometimes cady) are down, she FREAKS out

(doesn’t happen much, but it happens)

she haaaates the pressure of it

esp when regina is just gonna get mad at her when she fails

HOWEVER she does get good kills every once in a while

regina compliments her on it, and gretchen feels like all the times she’s fucked up was worth it

(it’s not)

but regardless, it puts her in a good mood

absolutely LOVES the emotes i think

especially the icon emotes

def does the synced emotes w/ karen a ton

(to regina’s annoyance) (she’s just trying to play the game)

gets the battlepass bc everyone else is doing it

tries to get everything she can

mediocre aim, once again, she is trying

karen

carries

im dead serious

saw someone recently say that she’d be surprisingly GOOD at the game and like… you know what? you’re right

but unlike regina, she is very humble abt it

it fits her character i think. plus the thought of the “dumb” character actually WRECKING others in an online shooter video game is soooo funny to me

so yes, she carries

LOOOOVES THE EMOTES

absolutely one of her favorite things about the game

she WILL emote any chance she gets

she’s not trying to be rude, she just loves making her character do silly dances

karen: [emotes after killing a whole team]

gretchen: karen… that’s not—

karen: what?

gretchen: that’s not nice

karen: but i’m happy :)

gretchen: i know… that’s just— no…

on the other hand, regina emotes (IF she even emotes) to be malicious 100%

anyway. likes the lighter weapons. w/ the light bullets and such

like pistols and smgs

thinks the characters are cute and fun

enjoys leveling up the battlepass and getting everything

shockingly good aim

cady

debated on whether she’d be rly good or rly bad

and i think she’d be rly bad😭

but like… endearingly bad

maybe after a while of adapting and playing and shit she gets better

but at the beginning… she sucks so bad

and yet regina INSISTS on letting her play w/ them

makes gretchen a bit… sad

since gretchen is constantly being called out by regina whenever she messes up, but when CADY does something bad, regina is usually silent. or says something mildly encouraging

has absolutely no idea what’s going on

like. regina gretchen and karen could be engaging w/ a team and cady will just be like :)? what? where are they?

they are right in front of you

her aim is pretty much nonexistent

at the beginning at least

after a bit, i DO see her getting a lot better

but at the beginning? she is ASS

maybe janis and damian help her out a bit

doesn’t rly? care about the skins or emotes much

think the animal skins are cute though

however. she still has a bunch of shit bc regina buys stuff for her

cady: oh.. that skin / emote looks cute—

regina, already getting out her wallet: done

cady: what? oh, i didn’t mean—

regina: done

and she gifts it to cady

also gifts her the battlepass probably

even if cady does jack shit with it

she’s just there to have fun, so the leveling up and getting the stuff doesn’t rly mean much to her

and then she’s like… conditioned to do this shit. probably by janis

she plays w/ the plastics one day and suddenly she’s like… good

and has a bunch of new shit and like 😭😭😭😭 HUH

not as great as, say, regina or karen, but. she’s still pretty decent

unsure what guns she’d like, probably no preference

probably goes w/ a certain gun depending on who she’s playing with LMAO

janis

likes to say she’s REALLY good but really she’s just.. good. you know

she plays a lot though

likes getting the cool looking skins and such

def gets the battlepass i feel

also gets to level 200. also to show off. but to get everything too (even if she doesn’t admit it)

ALSO likes snipers and shotguns.. bc she’s an asshole

and she’s also pretty decent w/ them

her aim is okay, not the best, but its playable

doesn’t rly care abt the emotes. ESP not the icon emotes

thinks they’re cheesy or whatever

def gets the dumb, goofy ones though

like. the ones that arent dances probably

plays with cady and damian

likes to try and teach cady her ways (she is a toxic gamer)

gets angry real easily. esp when players use the seasons obligatory unfair item for like 10th time

MAYBE emotes after she gets a good play

and it’d be one of those emotes that REALLY piss you off if someone were to use it against you

damian

LOOOOOVES the emotes. like so much

ESP the icon ones

probably better than janis. and janis knows this. but neither of them say anything

(he is a good friend)

unsure what guns hed prefer tbh…

i think he’d like shotguns. and maybe like ? pistols and smgs and such

is def more help to cady than janis

he translates janis’ toxicity into like.. actual terms for cady

and cady just goes like. ohhhhhh

every single time it happens

don’t have much to say abt aaron and kevin sorry aaron and kevin. however. kevin has def played fortnite since it came out in 2017 for sure. its basically canon. aaron probably wouldn’t gaf much but for cady and regina… maybe he’ll play a bit. he IS a teenage boy so ,.. maybe he plays it? but i think he doesn't rly care for video games that much

may add more onto this... since i only wrote these out like 2 days ago. we shall see

[cuckooclocktopus]

sorry for the damian erasure but this is all so canon to me

[modernsapphicism]

based on this post

[ravenncouture]

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Karen Smith ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

[cadinaisms]

regina george text posts part 2/?

ft. cady

[dreaming-in-daylight]

ON OCTOBER THIRD HE ASKED ME WHAT DAY IT WAS

[frogs00]

Cady: Do you ever feel bugs on you when really there's nothing there?

Janis: Those are the ghosts of the bugs you killed before.

Cady: ...

Cady starts sobbing

Regina: You fucking scared them, you idiot!

[mythicalstr]

Rai <3 I hope it looks like him bc atp i cannot tell his shirts from like ch 289

[jackienautism]

inspired by this post

[kawaiicoot]

I’m soooooo normal about them/j

[sexycornenthusiast]

The lamest, dorkiest failure of a woman you've ever seen with the social skills of a stray cat: *Exists*

Regina George, for some fucking reason: Bring me a whole batch 😈

[meangirlsautism]

this is super lazy but i jhave been thinking abt lydia again. do you feel me

[idontplaytrack]

hiiii <3

Can you do one where Janis has been having a lot or trouble in school, and her friends have always kind of jokingly called her dumb or stupid because she makes bad or irrational decisions and she gets overwhelmed and at a big group sleepover freaks out and regina has to calm her down in front of everyone.

✧ Shut up, shut up

Janis ‘Imi’ike x Regina George

Warnings: coarse language, teasing/bullying, Janis gets angry, some crying, self-loathing, implied smut at the end

Janis has been trying to play nice. But her feelings have been hurt by those closest to her— over and over again. One night, she loses it in front of everyone, needing Regina to step in and defuse the situation.

“G, hey.” Janis walks up to Regina, backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Hey, you.” Regina’s flashes her a smile when she came up before her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Janis barely reacted, causing her to ask if she was okay.

“My new homeroom teacher gave me detention for doing embroidery work in the classroom. It’s not like I wasn’t listening, y’know?”

“Ugh, I’m sorry, baby.” Regina puts an arm around her and they headed to their next class together.

“At least it’s only an hour. I’ll be right there at your place as soon as I get outta detention.”

“Mm, okay.” Regina hums, snaking an arm around her waist. “Want me to cook?”

Janis agrees with an eager nod, “That’d be nice.”

Entering the classroom with some time to spare, the couple sat down at their usual desks, Janis takes out her class materials before Regina followed suit. When their teach walked in, the students immediately quiet down. But still, the teacher standing in the front of the class seemed visibly unhappy. “Yes, ‘Imi’ike. I’m looking at you.”

Janis was startled, then confused. “Don’t look so confused, you’re not a freshman. You should know your clothing choice is against school code.”

“I…have been wearing the same kind of outfits all year. Why is it that it’s become a problem today?”

“It’s too short.” The teacher nearly seethed, “Say another word and I’m giving you an hour detention.”

Regina bites back a scoff, but the teacher saw it anyway. “What’s seems to be the problem, George?”

“Nothing, Mr. Moss.”

“‘Imi’ike, one hour. And cover up.”

Not wanting to escalate the situation and cause more trouble for herself, she stayed silent and dug through her backpack for her jacket, put it on and zipped it up.

Janis was starting to feel irritated again. Everything seemed to be going wrong already. And the day’s barely started. She was tense from the anger and frustration that was bubbling up within her— Regina could tell. That meant Janis would definitely need to let go of that emotion after school, some way somehow. Usually, Regina would help her out, cuddling, or much more. Other times, what Janis needed would be to scream, cry or both. Very rarely, Janis would immediately just punch something. Regina hated that last method the most because Janis would end up hurting herself, and that, hurt Regina.

When lunchtime rolled around, Janis got herself three hours of detention and a substitute teacher to hate her. Really, all Janis did was clarify the number of pages in the workbook they had to complete and the teacher immediately responded by yelling.

“Fuck, fuck. I hate today.” Janis mutters, sitting down at the usual bench with her friends. Regina was right next to her, “What happened?”

“What didn’t happen, G?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t be so dramatic, Janis. I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Karen remarked. Janis sucks in a deep breath, keeping her gaze focused on her Converse. She shrugs off Regina’s hand on her back and was fiddling with her thumbs, painfully hard. “Stop.” Gretchen interjects before Karen could continue, “Don’t say anything else. That’s not nice, Karen.”

“But she always—” Aaron added on, “You don’t have the best temper, Janis.”

Now, Regina wanted to slap him. Janis quickly grabbed her bag and ran to the bathroom, feeling like a knife’s been repeatedly slicing through her heart hearing each passing word.

“Janis.” Regina tried to hold her back by the wrist but she easily got free and went on her way.

“Very good, guys. Y’all are such children.” Damian scoffs, Regina leaves the table to go check on Janis.

“Just leave me alone, Regina.” Janis spoke through gritted teeth, hands clutching the sink countertop.

“No, I will not.”

“You need to eat.” Janis says softly.

“Oh, and you don’t?” Regina replied.

“Fuck, why?” Janis slams her fist to the counter, Regina internally cringes, “Jay, let’s go back to lunch. Ignore them, okay?”

“Really? They always do this, make little comments about me, about how I have shitty temper, always being like ‘oh, it’s just Janis being Janis.‘. They don’t see how hard I’ve been trying to change for the better, and how sometimes, the things I get into trouble for aren’t my fault.”

————

When the last bell rang, Janis snaps out of her trance. It felt like she blacked out after lunch and just got through the rest of her day— without any other punishments, fortunately. Regina waits for her right outside the classroom and they head to detention together. “Mom isn’t home for the week. You wanna come over after? I’ll wait for you to get out,”

“Sure.” Janis says, barely audible.

Janis didn’t say much of anything after that. Regina quickly bid her goodbye and went off to her car and waited. Well, she did drive off to the supermarket to get some ingredients to cook, and snacks. But the three hours went by fast enough. Janis got out of detention, obviously in a bad mood. She didn’t say anything and just rested her head on the window as she looked out of it. Regina doesn’t force her to talk, knowing what to do. Once they got to Regina’s room, Janis just yanked the jacket off and crashed into the bed to sleep. Regina didn’t want to stop her, because she clearly needed that. It was better than her punching a table and bruising her hand. She moves herself to lay right next to Janis, carefully wrapping an arm around her and planting a kiss to her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry. None of what happened today was your fault.”

“Clearly it has to be, even our friends are saying it like I don’t know it.”

“Janis.” Regina sighs softly, “Listen to me. It’s not on you, that’s on them. They’re just unfair, angry…sometimes, immature. Some teachers just take their own frustrations out on students and it sucks. But, don’t apologise for things that aren’t your fault, Janis. Please.”

“I can’t help it.” Janis exhales shakily. “They still think I’m like— unbreakable. I’m not, okay? I’m not. I’m fucking weak.”

“You are not weak, Janis. No.” Regina held her tighter, kissing her again, “You are not weak, Janis. You are the strongest person I’ve ever known, and that’s coming from someone who got hit by a bus.”

Janis’ body relaxed gradually as she listens to Regina speak, and her eyes also fluttered shut. She doesn’t say anything though, not because she didn’t know what to say. But because she was afraid of crying even harder.

“Just sleep, it’s okay. I’m here. Everything’s going to be alright, I got you.”

They both woke up again around dinner time and headed straight for the kitchen to prepare dinner. “Pasta?”

“Okay.” Janis agrees, leaning against the counter. “The gang’s coming over, right? That’s tonight— the sleepover?”

“Yeah. Do you want me to cancel?”

“No, it’s fine.” Janis shrugs, “As long as they shut up about me.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Regina grins, smooching Janis on the cheek then all over her face, making her giggle.

The both of them cooked together, enjoying each other’s company and chatting about anything and everything under the sun. “Holy shit, this smells amazing.”

“Oh, thank you~” Regina bites back a grin, grabbing a plate to start portioning the food for themselves and the gang that were arriving any minute. “Never made this before.”

“Eh, well, you’re a good cook, G.” Janis smiled cheekily, grabbing a strand of noodle from the pot to try it. Regina shrieks, “Janis, oh my God!”

“My hands are clean!” Janis laughs, throwing her hands up in mock defeat. Just as Regina was about to say something back, the doorbell rang. “I’ll go get the door.” Janis says, walking away to the foyer. “Okay, thanks, baby.”

They say hi to her and Janis. Cady, Gretchen and Damian gave her a hug. First thing they did? They gathered around the dining table to have dinner as a group. Janis quietly went over to the fridge to pour herself a drink but her hand slipped and she dropped her mug when she felt a sudden squeezing pain on one side of her head.

“Oh, shit.” Someone gasped. Aaron, it was Aaron.

“Are you okay?” Janis heard Regina and Gretchen.

“Why so distracted, you dummy?” Aaron asks, it was clearly a joke. He always called her these nicknames and she didn’t mind, having a self-deprecating sense of humour. But lately, she just wasn’t having it. She’s had enough of these unkind nicknames and teasing. Regina rushed to her side to see if she cut her hand, “Don’t touch it. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m fine, go back to dinner.”

“Janis, are you just trying to use the fact that you got detention to smash things?” Damian asked with a laugh. The rest of the gang chuckles.

“Shut up.” Janis mutters, clearly in some distress. She wasn’t even looking Regina in the eye now. “Shut up.” Janis repeated, “All of you shut the fuck up. I don’t need anyone else calling me dumb, stupid, insinuating that I’m violent and cannot control my emotions. Shut up!”

Janis swallowed her tears painfully, sliding down into a squat while her back rested against the counter. “I’m sorry.” Janis said quietly to Regina. “It’s okay, it’s just a mug. As long as you’re not injured, I couldn’t care less about a measly piece of ceramic.”

“I’m such a fuck up, I ruin everything.”

“Ja— baby, you’re not a fuck up. Okay? These people need to learn to get the hint and stop. I’m sure they wouldn’t like it too if they were in your shoes. I’m proud of you for speaking up, okay? Never ever say that about yourself again, that’s the last thing you’ll ever be. You are not a fuck up, Janis.”

“I don’t get it— you guys could tell she wasn’t happy about those damn nicknames and you all still continued? And you just had to laugh at Damian’s stupid ‘joke’? How would you feel if that’s all you heard about yourself from your friends?”

“I’m sorry, Janis. I’ll stop using those names, it was wrong, and I thought it was okay because you never stopped me and in fact laughed along. That doesn’t make it right, I should’ve paid better attention.”

“I’ll never call you dramatic again.” Karen swore, “I promise.”

Janis appreciated and acknowledged their apologies but ultimately decided she needed to spend more time alone to calm down. So, she excused herself and finished up her dinner by the pool. “Hey.” Regina came out to check on her a little later after she put on a movie on the TV for the gang. “I got you your drink.”

Janis turned around, taking the cup from Regina. “Thanks.”

Regina sat down on the low pool chair, groaning slightly as she did so due to the lingering discomfort in her back. “Do you feel better?”

“I guess.” Janis sniffed, picking at the food on her plate. “I don’t know, I think I’m just feeling weird because my mom and dad have been fighting a lot again lately and I just feel so…not like myself. And I — I fucking hate it. I hate that every little thing’s been pissing me off.”

“Babe, please…you’re a human being. Of course you’d feel emotions. Scared, worried, annoyed, sad. Whatever it is, you’d better feel them instead of bottling it all up.”

Janis cracked a smile, eating another forkful of the pasta.

“There’s that smile.” Regina coos, “Don’t you dare lose that smile of yours.”

Janis blushes, poorly hiding it. “You’re so cute.” Regina chuckles to herself, watching Janis getting flustered. “Though I must say…that too you wore at school today? So damn hot.”

“Oh, yeah?” Janis guffaws, setting her finished plate down, “Which am I then? Cute? Or hot?”

“Nice try, you’re both.” Regina turned to face her properly, patting her knee, “Let’s uh…take this up to my room?”

“Tempted.” Janis laughs quietly, “But what do you think we should do about the gang then?”

“Who cares?! They have plenty of stuff to do. Most of the gang’s kissing each other anyway.”

“Well, thank you so very much for putting that image into my head.” Janis snorted, shuddering in disgust.

Regina sighs, pushing herself up off the pool chair then extending her arm for Janis to grab her hand, “Let’s go, pretty girl.”

🏷️ Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @ludoesartnstuffs @pda128

💭A/N:

Enjoy this half-assed attempt. Took me all day but I’m still not entirely satisfied with how it turned out. Hope it’s still okay though🤡

[modernsapphicism]

Cady: does anyone else feel good when their brain releases a bunch of endorphins

Regina: cady it's 12am go to sleep

Karen: why would my brain release a bunch of dolphins

[llyfrenfys]

On Cadi as the Welsh equivalent of Queer

(image: screenshot of the entry for Cadi in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru)

Some of you may already know this, but for those who don't, Cadi is a Welsh word which is analogous to the word Queer in English. I say analogous, since their meanings aren't quite a 1:1 match. But for shorthand, Welsh equivalent of Queer sums 90% of it up.

It has been suggested tentatively by some to use Cadi as the Welsh translation of Queer. I'm going to explore arguments for and against, but ultimately the choice to use/not use Cadi as a 1:1 with Queer is entirely up to you. Warning that this post is quite long, but I do hope you'll stick with it- please let me know what you think in the notes!

Without further ado, let's get into it:

Definition of Cadi:

Cadi is a term which has existed in Welsh since the 17th Century (roughly) and generally refers to effeminacy in men (real or perceived). Over time, the meaning of the term has expanded to refer to other (Queer) things as well. But the term itself largely has been applied to Queer men and queer masculinities through time.

The term itself derives from the girl's name Catrin and you will come across women who call themselves Cadi as a shortening of their name (like Liz from Elizabeth and so on). In this way, there is a strong point of comparison to be had with the English queer pejorative Nancy, which also derives from a girl's name.

Can Cadi be considered the Welsh equivalent of Queer?

So now to the real meat of the post. Can Cadi be considered the Welsh equivalent of Queer? The answer to that is, unsurprisingly, complicated.

As described above, Cadi is a term which has had strong associations with male effeminacy (real or perceived) and has close parallels to the English term Nancy, which is also nearly exclusively applied to Queer men and masculinities. What this presents is a quandary and I'll explain what I mean by that. But first, we need to outline the history of LGBTQIA+ terminology in general (in the West).

LGBTQIA+ Terminology and the inclination towards cis gay language:

This is a huge huge topic which I cannot possibly do justice to here alone, so I'd highly recommend reading up on these topics when you have time, but for the sake of brevity, here is a tldr on the history of LGBTQIA+ terminology (slightly UK-centric but similar events also happened in the US and Canada, as well as other parts of Europe).

Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) is a British Lesbian and Gay rights organisation founded in the 1960s, during a time of great social and political change. The organisation's membership grew and grew well into the 70s before declining in the 80s. It was during this time that some lesbian members of the organisation left citing erasure of lesbian issues and misogyny in the movement. CHE and similar gay and lesbian rights movements in this period had been inclined to centre gay men's issues in their activism, which understandably led to many lesbians feeling alienated. Some lesbians left in the late 70s and early 80s and began to form their own advocacy groups. This indirectly fed into a wider feminist upheaval at the time and led to the rise of lesbian feminism, which aimed to centre lesbian issues within feminism, but unfortunately (for complex historical reasons) did then contribute to the proliferation of rad\ical femi\nism within the Queer community, which then unfortunately contributed to the rise of tra\ns exclu\sionary rad\ical fem\inism. Regardless of the unfortunate rise of transphobia within the lesbian feminist movement, the original catalyst for the formation of these groups was a sense of alienation from the rest of the Queer community because gay men's issues had been prioritised over lesbian issues, when both could have been tackled together, with each other. This alienation was echoed in the names of organisations and events- many early homosexual rights groups only had homosexual or gay in their group names. It took many years before advocacy groups started adding 'and lesbian' to their names and events.

(For further reading, I would suggest watching this video by Verilybitchie about the history of lesbian erasure in homosexual advocacy and how that led to (some) lesbian groups excluding bi and trans people in the same way they were excluded by gay men)

What does that history mean for Cadi?:

Because of a history of lesbian (and by extension, women's) exclusion from homosexual advocacy groups, is Cadi the best term to use as a catch-all given its strong associations with men's expressions of Queerness? (namely, that as a pejorative it is largely aimed at femininity in men and subsequent assumed homosexuality). It is important to consider if using Cadi as an equivalent of Queer would centre a (typically cis) gay experience/expression of Queerness and if that would alienate other members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

However, a counterpoint to this would be that there are variations of the term Cadi which do include other experiences of Queerness:

Cadi ffan (similar to just 'Cadi')- typically used to describe femininity in men and boys [N. Wales]

Cadi genod/ Cadi merched (similar to above) - effeminate man/boy [N. Wales]

Cadi bechgyn - Romping girl, tomboy [N. Wales]

Cati fachgen - (similar to above)- Romping girl, tomboy [S. Wales]

Cadi Haf - Male maypole dancer dressed as a girl

They are, however, somewhat limited for use in reclamation and have to be qualified by another noun to indicate diversion from the original term's meaning.

But when talking about the term Cadi, we often speak in the abstract- without the context in which the term is used. So here are a few extracts from texts which use the term Cadi (or variants). Since this is a mostly spoken slang term, it doesn't turn up in print often, but there are a few examples to draw on.

Examples of Cadi in texts:

Page 164- Cwm Eithin by Hugh Evans (1931):

"DAWNSIO HAF Ceir darnodiad o'r ddefod hynafol dawnsio haf yn Y Gwyl- fedydd, 1823, tudal. 306, gan un a'i geilw ei hun “ Callestrwr,” fel yr arferid hi yn Callestr (Fflint, mae'n debyg). Ym mis Ebrill arferai o ddwsin i ugain o bobl ieuainc ymuno i baratoi ar gyfer y ddawns. Gwisgai'r dawnswyr eu crysau yn uchaf wedi eu haddurno ag ysnodennau a blodau. Cariai'r arweinydd fforch bren ar lun y llythyren Y. Gwnïid lliain o'r naill fraich i'r llall, ac addurnid y fforch ag amryw lestri arian, tebotiau, llwyau, cigweiniau, efc. Byddai gyda hwy grythor yn ei ddillad ei hun, “cadi” mewn gwisg merch, ac ynfytyn mewn gwisg ryfedd â phlu yn ei ben"

[emphasis mine]

This extract is the author's account of Dawnsio Haf- a Summer dance held on May Day and his investigations into it. At his time of writing (1931) the practice has died out, but later in this chapter he interviews an old woman from the Conwy Valley who participated in the dances as a child. Evans draws upon a source from 1823 for his description of Dawnsio Haf. In it, he mentions that 20 young dancers meet up for the dance wearing shirts decorated with ribbons and flowers. A leader carries a fork in the shape of the letter "Y"- between each point on the "Y" a cloth was strung with silverware dangling from it to make noise. With the 20 dancers would be a crwth-player (crythor), a Cadi in women's clothes and a fool with a feather on his cap and odd clothes.

This usage is quite archaic and refers to a folk dance- much like mumming or morris-dancing. There is however, a picture in the People's Collection Wales titled 'Cadi'r Big' taken by the prolific photographer John Tomas c. 1875, near Y Ro-wen:

Which is very interesting as Cadi'r Big has dried flowers and ribbons attached to their clothes, much like in the description in Cwm Eithin. This is very likely a picture of a "Cadi" from a Dawnsio Haf.

Page 4- Y Ddraig Binc Issue 4 (1994):

Y Ddraig Binc was a Welsh-language Queer magazine published by CYLCH, a gay and lesbian rights organisation based in Aberystwyth. The term Cadi-ffan is included in an article about the commercialisation of Queer identity in the magazine's fourth edition.

"...Nawr te, medd wrtho’i hun, be’ gymera’ i’r mis hwn, copi o GQ ynte Arena neu ydw i, efallai, yn teimlo’n ddigon ifanc a trendi am Sky? Ond aros funud, beth yw hyn? Dau gylchgrawn steil newydd a gwynt digamsyniol cadi-ffan arnyn nhw?

Ydy, mae’r hyn a oedd y tu hwnt i ddychymyg wedi digwydd. Mae grymoedd y farchnad rydd a chystadleuaeth wedi cyrraedd y byd cyhoeddi hoyw - rhaid bod Lêdi T wrth ei bodd. Nawr fe gaiff llanc hoyw ddewis o ddeunydd darllen sgleiniog, llawn erthyglau a hysbysebion yn arbennig ar ei gyfer ef a’i rywioldeb. Hwrê! Fedr hynny ddim bod yn beth drwg. Neu a fedr o?..."

[emphasis mine]

This humorous article (dealing with an important topic, mind) pokes fun at the arrival of Queer commercialisation. The article opens by explaining that there's a ruckus in the gay world (and not two old queens getting into fisticuffs)- but that this ruckus is taking place at WHSmith (UK stationery shop and newsagents)- apparent winner of this year's most vulgar uniform award. The author goes on to describe a hypothetical situation in which a gay man walks into a WHSmith to buy a magazine. He wonders whether to get a copy of GQ or Arena (men's style magazines- remember this was published in Section 28 Era so explicitly gay magazines were not common) or is he trendy enough to read Sky? (film and tv magazine). But wait- what's this? Two new style magazines with a whiff of Cadi-ffan about them? The author explains that yes, the unimaginable has happened. The forces of the free market and competition have reached the world of gay publishing.

Now a gay youth has the choice of glossy reading material, full of articles and advertisements especially for him and his sexuality. Hooray! That can't be a bad thing. Or can it? Writes the author. The article is very witty and I recommend a read (find a pdf copy here). But the usage of Cadi-ffan here is very much in a reclaimed sense. Though it must be noted that the story is told through a stereotypical cis gay lens.

Conclusions:

As I said at the start of this post, you are free to claim or not claim Cadi as you wish. However, as awareness of Welsh LGBTQIA+ terminology increases, I wanted to raise important questions and start a conversation about the words we have, what we want them to be and how they have been used against us. I hope in any case that this post has been interesting to you. If it has, please reblog this or add any comments/thoughts in the notes, tags or in my asks.

Beth yw eich barn chi? I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this and start a conversation about it! Diolch am ddarllen

[tiredistic]

Cady tops Regina for the first time, After is just like: