Use of the word 'gay'... (1 Viewer)

[spyro14]

Just because it's so unexpected and crude.

 

[Tangent]

Just because it's so unexpected and crude.

And if it was used excessively and offended people?

 

[spyro14]

And if it was used excessively and offended people?

When it becomes excessively used, then it aint so funny.

 

[xeuyrawp]

If friends are saying bad things are gay when I am around I try and make them feel uncomfortable about it.

argh... People (especially the queer community) need to understand this properly. Of course, the gay community simplifies everything through loud yelling and foot-stamping. If you look at this issue lexically, you can understand this:

1. gay (happy) [no longer used] > 2. gay (homosexual) [used] > 3. gay (bad) [used].

I assume no-one disagrees. The relationships between the words make the change understandable; gay (happy) > gay (homosexual) because of the association of brightness and happiness with homosexuals when the word changed, and gay (homosexual) > gay (bad) because some people viewed homosexuals as bad.

If you look at the last two 'gay's, you can see that... well there are two 'gay's. Both are used, therefore there are two meanings: 2. Gay (homosexual), and 3. Gay (bad).

Usage 2. (homosexual) is presently no more related to usage 1. or 3. Ie, neither of these sentences are any more related then the others:

1. We had a gay time dancing in the 1920s.
2. I am a gay male.
3. Oh, my computer broke - gay!

Since there is very little appearance time for these words, people assume that there is one meaning for gay (homosexual) and that it should be standardised, when in fact as soon as both new meanings were used the word split to have two contextual meanings.

tl;dr: if you tell people off for saying 'gay' in a bad way, you don't recognise that language is contextual and that words can have several meanings.

 

[Silver Persian]

Yes I understand that words have multiple meanings, and I agree that when people use the term gay they are usually not explicitly referring to same-sex desiring individuals. I also said that I tried to make people uncomfortable about it primarily as a joke. You seem to enjoy selectively editing my posts.

But I would be interested in your thoughts about the fact that almost every word that refers to gay people (fag, queer, homo) gets used in the same way. Is it just a coincidence that our language has developed in such that any word meaning gay becomes a term that can also mean bad/weak/abnormal?

 

[Iron]

It's describing an inherently disordered thing. No word can sugar-coat this for long. At the end of the day, despite attempts at evasion, homosexuality naturally repulses the community

 

[Silver Persian]

It's describing an inherently disordered thing. No word can sugar-coat this for long. At the end of the day, despite attempts at evasion, homosexuality naturally repulses the community

Ok queer.

 

[Iron]

oh honey you couldnt afford it mhm

 

[SnowFox]

It's describing an inherently disordered thing. No word can sugar-coat this for long. At the end of the day, despite attempts at evasion, homosexuality naturally repulses the community

I find nothing repulsive about homosexuals, homosexuality, or homosexual couples, its just religious zealots that do.

 

[Iron]

nah it's everyone. Only gays arent repulsed

 

[SnowFox]

Im not gay.

 

[Iron]

...

 

[HumanDichotomy]

nah it's everyone. Only gays arent repulsed

Proof?

 

[Napstar]

Gay. I call shit things gay all the time.

When I call something/someone gay, I don't have the meaning 'homosexual' in mind, just like 40 years ago when gay wasn't associated with homosexuality either.

I don't know many gay people who are offended by the use of 'gay' as a derogatory word. I know a heap of retarded fucking 'gay rights campaigners' who do, but they can stfu because they're gay cunts.

 

[kokodamonkey]

Im not gay.

yes you are. you should get tested

 

[Napstar]

Yes I understand that words have multiple meanings, and I agree that when people use the term gay they are usually not explicitly referring to same-sex desiring individuals. I also said that I tried to make people uncomfortable about it primarily as a joke. You seem to enjoy selectively editing my posts.

But I would be interested in your thoughts about the fact that almost every word that refers to gay people (fag, queer, homo) gets used in the same way. Is it just a coincidence that our language has developed in such that any word meaning gay becomes a term that can also mean bad/weak/abnormal?

Well there is no doubt in my mind that the derogatory use of fag, queer, gay and homo originated from the beliefs that to be a fag, queer, gay or homo was bad.

It probably evolved as a way for people to emasculate other people, as though ones biggest fear would be to be perceived as a homosexual.

TBH though, I don't think a lot of people put that much weight into it anymore. I know when I use gay, I usually mean something is shit, and I can distinguish this for myself because I don't believe homosexuality is wrong/shit/abhorrent, etc.

Occasionally I will use it in front of gay friends to emphasise the fact that they are being really gay.
Gay friend: That hot dog looks like a big cock
Me: You are really fucking gay/you're a fag/omg stfu homo

Sometimes I'll use it to describe hetero friends, because it is a play on their biggest nightmare.

But whenever I use it, deep down I am not using it as a discriminative thing against homosexuals, and I don't put much thought into it, but I always just assume that any gay people I know understand that I don't have anything against homosexuals. To a point, it's probably a reflection of my complete meh that homosexuals exist. Like I said in the earlier thread, it doesn't even occur to me to separate straight friends from homo friends, and as a result I probably deep down believe that homosexuals shouldn't be exempt from ridicule any more than any person/friend of mine.

tl;dr I know. The only word I really use in a derogatory fashion is abos, because I hate abos.

 

[Napstar]

The problem I find is that there are still some in the gay community that wish to continually victimise themselves - by making such a fuss over the use of the word gay. This is true for homosexuals and for straight people who think it makes them a decidedly better person if they get offended on behalf of gay people.

A chick at uni who was SRC president or some shit, used to go off her rocket on the uni forums at the use of the word gay. It's derogatory, it's offensive, blah blah blah. Go fuck yourself love, you're not gay so what have you got to be offended over?

 

[Kwayera]

Gay. I call shit things gay all the time.

When I call something/someone gay, I don't have the meaning 'homosexual' in mind, just like 40 years ago when gay wasn't associated with homosexuality either.

I don't know many gay people who are offended by the use of 'gay' as a derogatory word. I know a heap of retarded fucking 'gay rights campaigners' who do, but they can stfu because they're gay cunts.

Agreed, though nowadays I try and spell it "ghey" to make the distinction.

 

[kokodamonkey]

so which ones ghey cat?

 

[ClockworkSoldier]

Inanimate objects can't be gay!