Somdomite

The infamous calling card bearing the word "Somdomite"

The notorious misspelling of the word "sodomite" as "somdomite" has echoed for over a hundred years since the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, the furious father of Oscar Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, left his card for Wilde at the Albemarle Club, having inscribed "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite."

Wilde sued for libel, but the Marquess claimed that the card said the less-offensive "For Oscar Wilde, posing as a somdomite", and Wilde subsequently dropped the case, and was later jailed for gross indecency and ruined.

Lord Queensberry had warned Wilde to stay away from his son, but the infatuated Wilde ignored him. At the opening of Wilde's great triumph, The Importance of Being Earnest on February 14, 1895, Queensberry intended to denounce Wilde publicly, but he was refused a ticket. Two weeks later, he left his inscribed calling card.

To confuse matters even further, although the version above is generally accepted, there is some doubt about what Queensberry wrote on the card since his handwriting was virtually unreadable. The doorman at the Albemarle Club thought that he was describing Wilde as a "ponce."

For other material concerning "sodomites", see Sodom.