This blog

I've chosen a title with many resonances. I like the way it reflects how I am putting myself out there/here, on show, through this blog. I enjoy the irony that dressing up can also be dressing down.

Out on a dike phr. [mid 19-C] (US) going out in one's best clothes. [DIKED DOWN]

You see me here 'in my best clothes', as I choose to present myself.

The phrase also plays with origins of words, with slang and with language that has been reclaimed. It is a play on words that reflects my desire for connection with others who will be attracted to the significance of words like 'out' and 'dike': my experience as a lesbian - although this blog is about much more than that.

dyke/dike n. [1930s+] a lesbian. [ety. unknown. ? f. dyked down, dressed up; certainly some lesbians have always dressed as men ... (?) ]

At least that's how my Dictionary of Slang presents it. The second question mark is mine.

So, I'm out as a dyke, occasionally out with a dyke. What I do when I'm out on a dike only becomes your business once I write about it here.