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I don't think it does affect most adults when they hear the word "gay" as an insult. That not my issue at all with the use of the gay in a pejorative manner. My issue is the use of the word among our youth. When you as an adult use that kind of language, it teaches your kids or the kids in your life (friend's kids, nieces and nephews) to do the same. They learn that that is an appropriate way to behave. They might even get the message that it's fun and okay to pick on gay people.
Imagine being a 12 year old gay kid trying to come to grips with the fact that you're attracted to other boys (or other girls). The last thing that kid needs to hear is "that's gay" about everything negative, or "you're so gay" whenever he does something wrong in the eyes of his peers. The fact is that today in the US, gay youth are bombarded with that kind of language all day every day. It teaches them to believe that they are inherently wrong and to hate themselves. Every time you use the word "gay' as a pejorative you're contributing to an atmosphere that demonizes and torments gay kids.
It wasn't that way before homosexuals hijacked the word "gay" for their own identity was it? Clue: no, it wasn't.
Some special interest groups create reasons to be offended. This is but one example. The use of the "N" word by blacks but outraged when used by non-blacks is but another example.
I'm offended that I cannot use the word "gay" without being labeled a bigot. How dare homosexuals lay their claim on that word! Censorship I tell you.
And I'm saying it shouldn't affect anyone by people using the word as an insult. It's possible for words to have separate meanings; why can't it be same with the term gay
If it's not going to affect anyone, then what is the purpose of using it as an insult? An insult, by it's very nature, is designed to hurt another. Insult | Define Insult at Dictionary.com
If it's not going to affect anyone, then what is the purpose of using it as an insult? An insult, by it's very nature, is designed to hurt another. Insult | Define Insult at Dictionary.com
Made that statement wrong. It shouldn't offend Homosexuals because its purpose isn't served to criticize them.
And I'm saying it shouldn't affect anyone by people using the word as an insult. It's possible for words to have separate meanings; why can't it be same with the term gay
Are you saying that you use the word as an insult?
What do your gay "friends" say?
I'm having a real problem with the bolded statement. What exactly do you mean by this? Exactly what 'type' of person deserves respect? I was raised to believe that every person deserves respect until they prove by their words or their actions that they don't. You're dangerously close to proving to me that you deserve no respect.
My point was, and still is, that people, in general, are going to use the word gay, in many different instances. Sure, some are going to use it as a pejorative, and yet others are going to use it in other ways .. none of which has anything at all to do with the homosexual community ..
Why can't the homosexual community accept that? Why is it that they feel they have to stifle the meaning of the word to fit only their interpretation?
I hear homosexuals screaming respect with regard to a "word", when in fact these same homosexual people aren't willing to lend a certain respect to the community at large for using the word however they want or feel they need to .. It may come as somewhat of a surprise to some of you, but even members of the homosexual community have used this word as a pejorative .. it happens more than you might think. As a matter of fact, the homosexual community has some rather disgusting pejoratives of their own toward straight people, many of which would never pass the sensors in these forums.. so I'm failing to make the connection as to why homosexuals would be so bent on controling a word that has more than one or two or three meanings when used in various contexts.
It's a freedom of choice .. regardless of who you are, or how you choose to live .. people need to have that ability to communicate with each other regardless of how supposedly uneducated others think they are by that communication.
Getting your feelers hurt these days over stuff like this has more to do with one having control over the other than it does with the other using a presumed word. There are those that use the word as a pejorative and homosexual never enters their mind when they use it ..
By and large, the majority doesn't care, one way or the other .. Language in and of itself is a very fluid thing and it is always evolving. The word "gay" among thousands of other words, will fall victim to this evolution eventually.
For now though, we're stuck with a certain community that labels itself with a word that's used nonexclusively by the general public, to mean any number of various things. And this is something that that community has got to come to terms with. Once the homosexual community understands that the word "gay" isn't at all exclusive to them, they'll have a much better go of it IMO .. and it appears to me, at least by these forum threads, that they've got some distance to go with regard to the word "gay".
It wasn't that way before homosexuals hijacked the word "gay" for their own identity was it? Clue: no, it wasn't.
Some special interest groups create reasons to be offended. This is but one example. The use of the "N" word by blacks but outraged when used by non-blacks is but another example.
I'm offended that I cannot use the word "gay" without being labeled a bigot. How dare homosexuals lay their claim on that word! Censorship I tell you.
You're off base.
The word "gay" orginally was a synonym for "happy" or "jovial," etc.
Somehow, it came to describe homosexual people, and is now more commonly used to describe homosexuals than to mean another way to say, "I'm happy."
However, it then became a slur/perjorative term meaning "bad" or "stupid", with reference to homosexuality as being "bad" or "stupid" at its base.
So what, exactly, is "PC" about it? Why do you think you should be able to use a word that references an identifiable group of people negatively and NOT be called out for being a social troglodyte? Or are you really buying your own lines of BS that it's an innocent evolution of the word from "happy" to "stupid" or "bad" that you're focusing on?
Imagine a world where "caucasian" has evolved to slur used to denigrate or call something stupid or idiotic. I'm sure alllll the "anti-PC" white people on here would be just fine if teachers, students, etc. in school fostered an environment where "caucasian" was used as a slur. "Yuck, the teacher is so caucasian." "Johnny! Stop acting caucasian and sit down in your seat right now!" Yeah, that'd go over real well, wouldn't it?
My point was, and still is, that people, in general, are going to use the word gay, in many different instances. Sure, some are going to use it as a pejorative, and yet others are going to use it in other ways .. none of which has anything at all to do with the homosexual community ..
Why can't the homosexual community accept that? Why is it that they feel they have to stifle the meaning of the word to fit only their interpretation?
I hear homosexuals screaming respect with regard to a "word", when in fact these same homosexual people aren't willing to lend a certain respect to the community at large for using the word however they want or feel they need to .. It may come as somewhat of a surprise to some of you, but even members of the homosexual community have used this word as a pejorative .. it happens more than you might think. As a matter of fact, the homosexual community has some rather disgusting pejoratives of their own toward straight people, many of which would never pass the sensors in these forums.. so I'm failing to make the connection as to why homosexuals would be so bent on controling a word that has more than one or two or three meanings when used in various contexts.
It's a freedom of choice .. regardless of who you are, or how you choose to live .. people need to have that ability to communicate with each other regardless of how supposedly uneducated others think they are by that communication.
Getting your feelers hurt these days over stuff like this has more to do with one having control over the other than it does with the other using a presumed word. There are those that use the word as a pejorative and homosexual never enters their mind when they use it ..
By and large, the majority doesn't care, one way or the other .. Language in and of itself is a very fluid thing and it is always evolving. The word "gay" among thousands of other words, will fall victim to this evolution eventually.
For now though, we're stuck with a certain community that labels itself with a word that's used nonexclusively by the general public, to mean any number of various things. And this is something that that community has got to come to terms with. Once the homosexual community understands that the word "gay" isn't at all exclusive to them, they'll have a much better go of it IMO .. and it appears to me, at least by these forum threads, that they've got some distance to go with regard to the word "gay".
The simple question is this: If you know "gay" as a pejorative is offensive and insulting to people, and if you know that using it creates an atmosphere in which gay kids are bombarded with the message that gay=bad/wrong/negative (and other kids learn the message from you that it's okay to pick on gay people), then why would you choose to use it that way?
Yes you have the freedom to do it, but why would you?
Earlier today me and my friend got into a debate about using the word "Gay" as slang; for those who are not familiar with the slang word for gay; it can stand for weak, stupid, lame and even the original connotation, happy.
I happened to use the world describing something and he happened to get irritated about the word and an argument ensued. [No, he's not gay]
I think it's rather too PC how TV has ads and people are getting annoyed about using the word gay. There is no reason for anyone to be offended by it because when using it; it isn't meant to be used a negative connotation toward homosexuals.
Opinions about the word???
I think it depends on context and who you are speaking to. You could understand why someone would object to the bolded part because of the predominant association in usage of the term "gay" and the word "homosexual".
Often the same word has more than one definition, but in this case the "stupid" definition followed the "gay" definition, so I'd say there were legitimate grounds to be annoyed.
Last edited by Dollymixture; 01-24-2011 at 11:31 AM..
It's just a word. Words can have more than one meaning...
Yeah, when someone says, "Don't Jew me on this price," that person is only using that one definition of "Jew" that means someone really really cheap, and are NOT referring to or denigrating "Jew" as in, someone from the religious group.
Cause words have different meanings, right?
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