Spiral_Staircase
War Child
joyfulgirl said:
Right. I hear you. I get pretty tire of all the PC language too.
haha...yeah, I would say "cautious" is the last word I would use to describe my language when I'm just with friends.
That's so gay.
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Right. I hear you. I get pretty tire of all the PC language too.
haha...yeah, I would say "cautious" is the last word I would use to describe my language when I'm just with friends.
Spiral_Staircase
War Child
Irvine511 said:
Yeah, I think that's largely true, but folks in the medical world definitely still use "mental retardation"..."special needs" just isn't descriptive enough.
redhotswami
Blue Crack Addict
Spiral_Staircase said:
Thank you. That's actually the point I was trying to make. You were, of course more eloquent about it. I don't think it is necessary to use particular groups of people and negative conditions synonomously. Yes, PC talk can get complicated and confusing. But I don't think this has anything to do with political correctness. It is just downright heartless and incompassionate when these words are used in such a manner. I personally don't understand how such a thing could even become a trend.
Vincent Vega
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Justin24 said:
My, this is how media works.
They get something, if it's not enough they make something more out of it, call it breaking news and publicize it.
Then, when people got interested they reveal more and more facts.
Or, they just got more facts because it always takes time to gather information, updates and voices or opinions.
The first thing is to do to bring out the news as fast as possible.
Maybe they didn't really know the facts earlier?
Vincent Vega
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Spiral_Staircase said:
Even more confusing, and tiresome, for foreigners.
When I grew up "blacks" was what I learned, handicapped was taught (retarded was never used, and I learned it as derogatory) and much more.
Then it wasn't handicapped anymore, but challenged. Don't know what it is now.
Imagine a German coming to the USA, calling the one being a handicapped, and the next being a black guy, and what else there is in PC language.
That doesn't mean we are bar from the increasing use of euphemisms.
Caretakers were first called builidng managers, then facility managers, and now you see building manager, facility manager and property manager. Always different.
Or room cleaners, don't know how we are now supposed to call them.
BrownEyedBoy
Rock n' Roll Doggie
That suspension is so gay.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
I expected nothing less.
phillyfan26
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Justin, the point here is that gay does not mean stupid. It's not the definition. People liken something to gay because they look at homosexuality as stupid. That's how it started. You think that students are that ignorant that they don't know gay means homosexual? C'mon, Justin. They know what they are saying.
MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
Student disciplined for uttering insult sues Calif. district
By Lisa Leff, Associated Press | March 2, 2007
SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" she shot back: "That's so gay."
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal's office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?
After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming officials at Santa Rosa's Maria Carillo High violated their daughter's First Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase that "enjoys widespread currency in youth culture," according to court documents.
Testifying last week about the 2002 incident, Rice, now 18, said that when she uttered those words, she was not referring to anyone's sexual orientation. She said the phrase meant "that's so stupid, that's so silly, that's so dumb."
But school officials say they took a strict stand against the putdown after two boys were paid to beat up a gay student the year before.
"The district has a statutory duty to protect gay students from harassment," the district's lawyers argued in a legal brief. "In furtherance of this goal, prohibition of the phrase 'That's so gay' . . . was a reasonable regulation."
Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing plans to issue a ruling in the nonjury trial after final written arguments are submitted next month. Her gag order prevents the two sides from discussing the case.
Derogatory terms for homosexuality have long been used as insults. But the landscape has become confusing in recent years as minority groups have tried to reclaim terms such as "queer" and "ghetto."
In recent years, gay rights advocates and educators have tried teaching students that it is hurtful to use the word "gay" as an all-purpose term for something disagreeable. At Berkeley High School, a gay student club passed out buttons with the words "That's so gay" crossed out to get their classmates to stop using them.
Rick Ayers, a retired teacher who helped compile and publish the "Berkeley High School Slang Dictionary," a compendium of trendy teen talk circa 2001, said educating students about offensive language is preferable to policing their speech.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this girl didn't even know the origin of that term," he said. "The kids who get caught saying it will claim it's been decontextualized, but others will say, 'No, you know what that means.' It's quite talked about."
Rice's parents, Elden and Katherine Rice, also claim the public high school employed a double-standard because, they say, administrators never sought to shield Rebekah from teasing based on Mormon stereotypes.
In addition, the Rices say their daughter was singled out because of the family's conservative views on sexuality. They are seeking unspecified damages and want the disciplinary notation expunged from Rebekah's school record.
Eliza Byard, deputy executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said nearly 9 out of 10 gay students her organization surveyed in 2005 reported hearing "That's so gay" or "You're so gay" frequently.
"It bothers them a lot," Byard said. "As odd or funny as the phrase sounds, imagine what it feels like to be in a setting where you consistently hear it used to describe something undesirable or stupid, and it also refers to you."
She said it is OK to discipline students for using the phrase after efforts have been made to educate them.
"The job of a school is to deal proactively and consistently with all forms of bullying, name-calling and harassment," she said.
Jordan Lorence, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization, agreed "That's so gay" carries a negative meaning and said he would not want his children to say it. But he said formal discipline is not the answer.
"Reasonable people should say, 'Let's put a stop to this kind of search-and-destroy mission by school officials for everything that is politically incorrect,' " he sai
By Lisa Leff, Associated Press | March 2, 2007
SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" she shot back: "That's so gay."
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal's office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?
After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming officials at Santa Rosa's Maria Carillo High violated their daughter's First Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase that "enjoys widespread currency in youth culture," according to court documents.
Testifying last week about the 2002 incident, Rice, now 18, said that when she uttered those words, she was not referring to anyone's sexual orientation. She said the phrase meant "that's so stupid, that's so silly, that's so dumb."
But school officials say they took a strict stand against the putdown after two boys were paid to beat up a gay student the year before.
"The district has a statutory duty to protect gay students from harassment," the district's lawyers argued in a legal brief. "In furtherance of this goal, prohibition of the phrase 'That's so gay' . . . was a reasonable regulation."
Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing plans to issue a ruling in the nonjury trial after final written arguments are submitted next month. Her gag order prevents the two sides from discussing the case.
Derogatory terms for homosexuality have long been used as insults. But the landscape has become confusing in recent years as minority groups have tried to reclaim terms such as "queer" and "ghetto."
In recent years, gay rights advocates and educators have tried teaching students that it is hurtful to use the word "gay" as an all-purpose term for something disagreeable. At Berkeley High School, a gay student club passed out buttons with the words "That's so gay" crossed out to get their classmates to stop using them.
Rick Ayers, a retired teacher who helped compile and publish the "Berkeley High School Slang Dictionary," a compendium of trendy teen talk circa 2001, said educating students about offensive language is preferable to policing their speech.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this girl didn't even know the origin of that term," he said. "The kids who get caught saying it will claim it's been decontextualized, but others will say, 'No, you know what that means.' It's quite talked about."
Rice's parents, Elden and Katherine Rice, also claim the public high school employed a double-standard because, they say, administrators never sought to shield Rebekah from teasing based on Mormon stereotypes.
In addition, the Rices say their daughter was singled out because of the family's conservative views on sexuality. They are seeking unspecified damages and want the disciplinary notation expunged from Rebekah's school record.
Eliza Byard, deputy executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said nearly 9 out of 10 gay students her organization surveyed in 2005 reported hearing "That's so gay" or "You're so gay" frequently.
"It bothers them a lot," Byard said. "As odd or funny as the phrase sounds, imagine what it feels like to be in a setting where you consistently hear it used to describe something undesirable or stupid, and it also refers to you."
She said it is OK to discipline students for using the phrase after efforts have been made to educate them.
"The job of a school is to deal proactively and consistently with all forms of bullying, name-calling and harassment," she said.
Jordan Lorence, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization, agreed "That's so gay" carries a negative meaning and said he would not want his children to say it. But he said formal discipline is not the answer.
"Reasonable people should say, 'Let's put a stop to this kind of search-and-destroy mission by school officials for everything that is politically incorrect,' " he sai
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Re: Re: Re: That's so gay.
This thread is so bitch.
Really, I think the girl was hardly trying to bash gays. Gay is a totally common word in schools nowadays, so I'm about 98% sure she was just using it as another word for stupid. Now, whether or not someone else could be offended by that is a completely different issue, and apparently there are others up in arms over this. It's a silly issue really, but it was bound to come up eventually.
Justin24 said:
This thread is so bitch.
Really, I think the girl was hardly trying to bash gays. Gay is a totally common word in schools nowadays, so I'm about 98% sure she was just using it as another word for stupid. Now, whether or not someone else could be offended by that is a completely different issue, and apparently there are others up in arms over this. It's a silly issue really, but it was bound to come up eventually.
Last edited:
phillyfan26
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There are lots of inappropriate things we say among our friends. Just because many people do it with friends doesn't mean it should be used in public speech, like the classroom.
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