"That's Gay"

[Lilly]

So apparently I missed the newsflash that "gay" no longer means "homosexual" nor "happy," but it means stupid, and is to be placed where terms like "retarded" and "stupid" used to be.

The worst case happened when my friend called something gay and I literally spent 25 minutes telling him all the reasons why that was so horrible to be using as a synonym for stupid. The next night he came out to me.

We were discussing this linguistic transition in my sociology class and I argued that it was more that just people here saying it and that it only stemmed from ignorance and general fear which is why it's associated with subordinate terms like "retarded" and "stupid." Maybe it's just that I'm in one of the low-tolerance states or something, but do people around the country use it - or just college frat boys in South Dakota?

 

[Bonochick]

I was just talking about that today with my best friend, who is gay. He and I met because we worked together at the same place. Before I knew that he was homosexual, he made the comment that something stupid was gay. I said to him something like, "On behalf of all of my gay friends, I'm insulted." After I found out he was gay, he had to tease me about that. He said he thought it was the funniest thing when I said that. Now, it's such a joke with us. When we go shopping, he will ask me things like, "Do these pants make me look gay?"

 

[Sicy]

I think they use that everywhere... I've mostly heard teenagers using it

From California

 

[melon]

Well, it isn't acceptable, just as it wouldn't be acceptable to suddenly redefine "hillbilly" as not actually referring to poor and uneducated rural whites, but really meaning retarded. I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a consolation to people whom "hillbilly" is levelled against.

People do use it around the nation. I assure you of that, but considering the total lack of respect that homosexuals get in general, whether it be politicians who use their position as a platform to legislate their personal prejudices or hate groups in "Christian" clothing like "Focus on the Family" boycotting "Big Brothers and Big Sisters" for not banning homosexuals, can you see why such a term would not bother people?

Melon

 

[diamond]

I use it.
Ive used it here too.
I also got reprimanded here by an overzealously Mod once..

DB9

 

[diamond]

well my Dad was "lame" in his later years..
some ppl call me a "lame-ass"..
i dont hold it against them..
I think that would be over the top.

 

[Sicy]

I use it.
Ive used it here too.

Well that's no surprise.

 

[Lilly]

I don't think the mod (was it me?) was being overzealous in curbing the usage of "gay" as stupid.

Anyway, the context of the joke came up when someone mentioned they were partying in Gayville (a town not too far from here) and people snickered calling the guy fot and he replied with "oh you're GAY!" Then I burst out laughing at the idiocy of the situation and the conversation was started.

 

[diamond]

I don't think the mod (was it me?) was being overzealous in curbing the usage of "gay" as stupid.

Anyway, the context of the joke came up when someone mentioned they were partying in Gayville (a town not too far from here) and people snickered calling the guy fot and he replied with "oh you're GAY!" Then I burst out laughing at the idiocy of the situation and the conversation was started.

i guess "gay" people can call eachother that because there is a saying/idea..'its ok if youre in the family' (to use the term)..if you are gay, but not an "outsider".(a breeder)

I dont think retarded ppl should call eachother "retarded" though..

No Lilly it was not you

DB9

 

[BAW]

i guess "gay" people can call eachother that because there is a saying/idea..'its ok if youre in the family' (to use the term)..if you are gay, but not an "outsider".(a breeder)


DB9

sometimes you just make my head hurt

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i feel bad cuz i used to use it back when i was in high school. it was a case of if you hear people say something enough, sometimes you tend to pick up on vocabulary words. to make matters worse, one of my closest friends at the time was gay and i'd use it around him. thank god he wasn't offended. even more luckily for me, i don't use the term any more at all unless i'm describing a homosexual or very happy person.

 

[sharky]

I found the term when used like that to be offensive. We're family friends with someone whose son is mentally handicapped so I always check myself before I say something is retarded.

that being said, I think Diamond brought up an interesting point [I know, I'm sounding crazy!]. If you're gay, is it ok to say something is gay? Similar to blacks calling other blacks niggas but whites not calling blacks niggas. Do you get special permission if you take a bigoted term against you and use it in your favor to diminish its power?

 

[Beefeater]

One guy at my school was just called a homo for 'overzealously' defending Sarah Hughes as the greatest figure skater of all time, not because he's a homosexual, just that he was trying to force some unnatural and generally unaccepted viewpoint into the mainstream... but then again, the parallels are riveting.

Beefeater

 

[diamond]

I found the term when used like that to be offensive. We're family friends with someone whose son is mentally handicapped so I always check myself before I say something is retarded.

that being said, I think Diamond brought up an interesting point [I know, I'm sounding crazy!]. If you're gay, is it ok to say something is gay? Similar to blacks calling other blacks niggas but whites not calling blacks niggas. Do you get special permission if you take a bigoted term against you and use it in your favor to diminish its power?

BAW-
Sharky has it right.

Howard Stern says Bono is retarded..

DB9

 

[BAW]

BAW-
Sharky has it right.

Howard Stern says Bono is retarded..

DB9

I didn't disagree with what you said...it was more how you said it, in typical diamond style.

And don't get me started on Howard Stern.

 

[Bonochick]

i feel bad cuz i used to use it back when i was in high school. it was a case of if you hear people say something enough, sometimes you tend to pick up on vocabulary words.

Back home, we lived out in the country on a dead end road, so we all had to meet at the end of the road for the school bus. This one kid always insulted people by calling them "fags"...I had no clue what "fag" meant, but I started using it then too. Eventually, I used it in front of Mom...whoa...I think that might have been a "soap in the mouth" moment. I learned quickly that that wasn't a nice word...

 

[Beefeater]

Do you get special permission if you take a bigoted term against you and use it in your favor to diminish its power?

I'd have to take exception to 'gay' being a bigoted term to begin with. I've been hearing that 'homosexual' is becoming more and more frowned upon by the proverbial PC police.

I just asked one of the '@ssholes' in my school about this because this is an interesting topic, and in typical high school hijinks fashion, he dismissed my attempt at social research by using the phrase, 'taking the backdoor banana'.. Oh well.

Beefeater

 

[Lilly]

Again, PLEASE watch how you reply to threads. Your wording is often offensive, adding to the sting of your overall posts. You're being warned.

Thanks.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I, too, hate this expression and when I bring it to people's attention they just go, 'whah?' like they didn't even think about it.

Incidentally, my gay friends don't use this expression but have returned to the offensive expression of my youth..."that's so queer" which used to mean "that's stupid" when "queer" also meant "gay".

 

[Sicy]

Looks like the leprechauns are on the loose again.

 

[Screaming Flower]

i knew it.

 

[bonoman]

i call things gay all the time. I call things that are femine gay. I have a friend who's husband broke up with her because of his gayness. Gay has become a mainstream word that it can be used for any number of meanings. Or maybe its because i dont know any gay people.

 

[Lilly]

I would venture to say it's the latter.

 

[BAW]

At a birthday party a few months ago, my niece was telling a story about taking some bottles of cheap wine into a restaurant but paying more to have them uncorked than they cost in the first place...she said that she felt "so gay" asking the waiter to uncork her cheap wine. My gay sister-in-law happened to be sitting there and without missing a step said "yeah, I feel pretty gay sometimes too." My niece didn't even realize what she had said but I give my sister-in-law credit... she knew it wasn't meant offensively and didn't make a big deal out of it.

Her way of dealing with it is to turn the tables...if someone is giving her directions in the car and tells her to "go straight" she'll correct them and say "you mean, proceed forward, right?"

I do know that it can be offensive depending on how its said so I just try not to say it at all.

 

[Klaus]

it's interesting how some people were able to add that meaning of the word gay.

Gay as i knew it:

1) Showing or characterize by cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement
2)bright or lively in color
3)homosexual
4)given to social pleasures

 

[melon]

I think, from now on, I shall start saying, "That's straight." I think people I know will get a kick out of that. With any luck, "straight" will become synonymous with stupid, retarded, close-minded, and overall despicable--and my word will catch on nationwide. What do you think?

Melon

 

[Angela Harlem]

Is it offensive for a homosexual person to be called gay then? I've gotten to know 4-5 homosexuals well in my life and they all describe themselves as 'gay', so I am wondering if its the actual term itself, or the misplaced meaning. I always figured it had simply developed another meaning and was no big deal, much like comparisons to other words with new or misplaced meanings, like 'lame'.

All this is neither here not there though. If people say it offends them, it is no skin off anyone's nose to simply refrain from using the term. Its just a word, and one that can easily be removed from someone's vocabulary considering the effects it has.

 

[Angela Harlem]

I think, from now on, I shall start saying, "That's straight." I think people I know will get a kick out of that. With any luck, "straight" will become synonymous with stupid, retarded, close-minded, and overall despicable--and my word will catch on nationwide. What do you think?

Melon

There's a phrase around these parts, perhaps it worldwide? It is 'damn straight!' used to add vehemence to a fact, like 'gee its hot today' and reply 'damn straight it is!'

Its adouble whammy, you get to offend heterosexuals and religous folk!

 

[Klaus]

melon:

Great idea

 

[gvox]

This particularly lively thread is making me excessively cheerful, queerly lightheaded and given to social pleasures.

Hence I can unoffensively say, it is so gay.









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