[Old Professer]

Nope. If that were the case "gay" would have been used as a sobriquet in my day

Since sobriquet means "a fanciful or humorous appellation", I would submit that that is exactly what its mainstream use is as illustrated in the above article; now, "a salubrious sobriquet" would predate both the current use and the bastardized, overworked intent of the queer battalion.

[js1138]

Changing words never fixes things that can't be fixed. Consider the word "special" as a substitute for retarded, or "statesman" for politician. "Gay" is about used up. Perhaps it could be replaced by "good", which is currently unused, having been replaced by "bad".