This is the real definition for a Sally Boy. It's the original definition used for a
ship hand.
I'm sorry everyone, sally boy was not originally meant to mean a
homosexual or an effeminate male. The word "Sally" came from the word salay. Salay boy is a cabin boy, steward,
ship hand, etcetera. Their
job is to help maintain the
ship and assist each other (if there's more than one aboard the
ship), the sailors (and pirate sailors), officers, cooks, the captain, any co-captains, and the first mate (who is also a co-captain). They also assisted the passengers on the ships as well.
The dress style back then may have seemed effeminate due to the
time period and dress style at that
time (prior to current dress style used by sailors in the merchant marines and other garb with by sailors from other localities). These boys (adolescents)/men (unless they were new to the
job as an adolescent) were treated as men and respected as men for their jobs (no offense to the women, we all know the superstitions back then; unless a woman tricked or was allowed to
trick the sailors and Captain ;) and became a Salay Boy). They are very important individuals on any
ship.
The derogatory term that is used today, is from a difference in dialects. It's the clothing that I'd assume is the reason for the term being used to wrongly discriminate against someone and to treat someone badly due to being different by societies norms.