Poll: Do You Use the Word "Gay" as an Insult?

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

Nah. It's too stupid-sounding. I've got plenty of gay friends that are easy-going about friends of theirs using it as an insult, but I find it tacky sounding as an insult. My little brother uses it to no end, to my ire. >_>

 

[Lizmichi]

No I don't and I never will.

 

[Whitenail]

Well sorry I'm not a perfect beacon of political correctness and vocabulary restraint but yes, yes I do.

I have absolutely nothing against the LGBT community, it's just that sometimes all you're reduced to is bringing your palm to your forehead and groaning "That's so GAY!" to yourself (usually when someone/something is douchebaggy or pretentious). If I found an alternative that simply...worked, as well as gay then yeah I'd probably use it. At the end of the day, it's just a word.

 

[Death God]

I do use it to describe something stupid. Like a boring movie, I'll say, "This movie is really gay.", or something along those lines but never as a actual insult to someone.

 

[Nexus424]

Meh I use it when I get severely upset but only because that insult has been programmed in my brain and I'm too lazy to force it out. Then a few of my buddies said it offended them so I cut back as much as I could but it still eeks out around the ones that don't care.

 

[A-Heart-Of-Gold]

Some times I use it a sort of slip of the tongue thing but other wise I try not to use it only when very apropriate!

 

[The_ModeRazor]

No.
I use "Fag" as an insult.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

It's about tone of voice, really.
I could use "hello" as an insult.

It's also about context. If someone orders a cosmopolitan at a bar, I'd be like "hah, you're so gay", but that'd be meant affectionately.

 

[jamesworkshop]

no that's just stupid

 

[binvjoh]

Nope. I severely dislike people who do.

 

[Engarde]

I do not say it at all. I am still young, and thank the lord I am mature beyond my years (not my words) and as such I did not get into that nonsense. As such, I do not use gay as an insult and find it jarring and grating whenever someone else does.

 

[EonEire]

No I don't because I have the decency to factor in others into the things I saw in general (in a direct argument its different format). Being straight means you dont get to tell gay people what they are insulted by. You dont know what its like when a gay person hears that so just saying " its not meant like that" HOLDS NO WATER WHAT SO EVER. Its ok for YOU to hear it.

In the same way White people don't get to tell black people what they are offended by and what they are not. The episode of South Park "With apologies to Jessy Jackson" when Stan has his revelation at the end is the best way to sum it up.

 

[thom_cat_]

Still, you're totally wrong. I'm not using it as an insult that is any way related to homosexuals. Your parallel of 'neggars' has exactly the same issue that your previous one did.

I personally am friends with 5 gay people and know and talk to countless more. I'm part of a school gay-straight alliance and I have gone on a street campaign with others, if more of my friends had gone on the one that is happening right NOW (melbourne CBD) I would have gone too. So saying I "exploit and feed off homophobia for your own ends" is moronic, and you have no right to say that without knowing me personally.

In reality the term I use doesn't have any connection with homosexuality. It's like all those other swear words out there. When I say 'fuck' or '****' or whatever else I do it's not like I'm actually talking about sexual intercourse or vaginas. If I call someone a 'retard' that's not me talking down people with intellectual disabilities. It's just a word that has been adapted to mean 'stupid' or 'thick'.

Well then you are an idiot as well as a hypocrite.

You think English words will simply lose their meaning if you will them not to. For god sakes, think OUTSIDE your own brain for a second.

When you say fuck, people think of fucking as in sex. When you say ****, people think of **** as in vagina, whether you want them to or whether you are or not. And you benefit off that association when you use those words as an insult. There is a universe beyond what is merely in your consciousness, you are exploiting words for our own ends - the word has a potent effect - and worse than that you lie to yourself that you are doing nothing wrong.

It doesn't bloody well matter what societies you belong to... one "good" doesn't out-weight another bad.

"fucking hell" = hell reproducing?
"FUCK, that hurt!" = SEX, that hurt!
"You're a fucking retard" = You're a intellectually disabled fornicating person

It's the usage of the word that gives it meaning. Just because you don't get how language is used by others doesn't mean shit.
See? Shit doesn't mean faeces there, it means bugger all. Oh wait, bugger all doesn't mean fuck everyone up the ass? It means squat. Oh wait? Squat doesn't mean sit down? IT MEANS NOTHING.

WORDS HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS.

GET THE FUCK OVER IT. And stop insulting things you are too ignorant to understand.

 

[Treblaine]

Yeah, but not like that...

My group of friends say it to each other as a light insult. Not because it's bad to be homo or happy. We use it to mean stupid or shitty. For example:

"Aw man, I have to work 5-10 today, after a full day of college"

"That's gay"

And to any retard out there that says "look at the dictionary, it doesn't mean stupid!" I say shut the fuck up. It's meant homosexual long before it was in the dictionary as that. In a couple of years, it'll be in the dictionary as stupid.

And the blatantly HOMOPHOBIC etymology is fucking clear and undeniable.

It came from inbred backward bigots equating homosexuality in absolutely unambiguously categorical terms with the negative, not just stupid, but anything bad. Absolutely no positive connotations.

That's like saying eventually "jew" will end up in the dictionary as a term for anyone who is tight with their money, just as long as people use it enough. For the love of god, you think just because it is widely accepted and maybe if a dictionary picks it up it is acceptable?

Fuck. Sake. What the hell has happened to this website? What drew these type of people here?

Funny you should say, it's people like you that make me think twice about visiting this website. So because the first ever person that said "gay" to mean something bad was a homophobe, everyone that uses it it homophobic? When it was first used to mean gay, it would've been by some moron that thought all gay people were really happy and camp. So I could say that you using it is small minded as by using it to mean homo you're putting all homosexuals into the 'flaming homo' stereotype. Or is that not what you were saying? You're pretentious language made it difficult to tell.

Auuurghhh

The straw man arguments... it's all anyone seems to have.

You think I am arguing against the use of a word changing for ANY reason. No. Read it the fuck again, that is not my objection and you are lying to yourself and others to say it was my argument.

My argument was for a REASON for the drift in definition was down to HATE, DISGUST, PREJUDICE... all the aspects of homophobia that lead to such abuse, violence, ostracism and bullying to the point of driving teenagers to vagrancy and even suicide. That should be condemned, we cannot dissociate the etymology. "Happy and lively" are not negative constructs, it is not bad to apply them to an entire strata of society.

So I could say that you using it is small minded as by using it to mean homo you're putting all homosexuals into the 'flaming homo' stereotype.

Yes, and that would be a lie. Are you so pathetic that you must slander me at every opportunity to hide your own prejudice?

At no point did I ever suggest the proper use of the term "gay" was limited to open and "flaming" homosexuals. Merely any man who had a clear intimate preference for the same gender.

 

[Treblaine]

It came from inbred backward bigots equating homosexuality in absolutely unambiguously categorical terms with the negative, not just stupid, but anything bad. Absolutely no positive connotations.

The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. I don't happen to have a copy of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang readily available at the moment.


Yep them homosexuals sure are backwoods bigots. Also the word in 1637 had why different meanings and was once used as a teem for prostitutes. The word is comes from is gaiety which means happy while gay means joyful. Interesting how a group takes a word to describe themselves, and you ascribe it to bigotry.
Dictionary.com (?Usage note
In addition to its original and continuing senses of ?merry, lively? and ?bright or showy,? gay has had various senses dealing with sexual conduct since the 17th century. A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, a gay house a brothel. This sexual world included homosexuals too, and gay as an adjective meaning ?homosexual? goes back at least to the early 1900s. After World War II, as social attitudes toward sexuality began to change, gay was applied openly by homosexuals to themselves, first as an adjective and later as a noun. Today, the noun often designates only a male homosexual: gays and lesbians. The word has ceased to be slang and is not used disparagingly. Homosexual as a noun is sometimes used only in reference to a male.)

Isn't history fun?

The word has evolved and will continue to evolve. Also you could have done some research on the word gay. A quick Google search got me all of this information. I do and will continue to use it as a insult, for i don know the history of the word. Plus its just a word words only have power if your give them power. More interestingly the homosexual people i know and it seems like some others as evidence in the very thread use it as in insult themselves and don't care it someone else does.

Oooh my god are you trying to be stupid?!? Is it like some kind desperation to defend your indefensible position are you using the "Wookie defence" just spouting such inane nonsense you hope to completely derail the discussion on a point you superficially won?

That is a BLATANT straw man argument, attacking me for something I DID NOT SAY!

I talk about the FUTURE of the word and you blather on about its PAST!!?!?

You are a deceptive fucking liar, you deliberately abuse the quotation system to make it seem like I said something I didn't. Shifting me from talking about new definitions to seem like an idiot who didn't know the OLD and ESTABLISHED definition.

I re-iterate my point, to spite your best efforts to defame me:

IF "gay" comes to mean a general purpose insult it will be for the worst possible and most shameful reasons, because homosexuality was categorically seen as negative; homophobia.

That is bad. That is indefensible. That is indicative of how hated and despised gays are in modern society. The only other place I've seen this happen before is with the term "Nazi" as a general negative term. And the same thing is being done with the word gay?

Seriously, how the fuck can you accept this abuse of language and denigration of so many people who cannot be less deserving?

Are you just wilfully ignorant? Are you just putting your fingers in you ears going "La la la, can't hear you, if I can't hear you it's not true" too cowardly to face up to your own dehumanising prejudice.

Coward.

Hypocrite.

Liar.

These are English words that RIGHTLY apply to you.

 

[Treblaine]

Still, you're totally wrong. I'm not using it as an insult that is any way related to homosexuals. Your parallel of 'neggars' has exactly the same issue that your previous one did.

I personally am friends with 5 gay people and know and talk to countless more. I'm part of a school gay-straight alliance and I have gone on a street campaign with others, if more of my friends had gone on the one that is happening right NOW (melbourne CBD) I would have gone too. So saying I "exploit and feed off homophobia for your own ends" is moronic, and you have no right to say that without knowing me personally.

In reality the term I use doesn't have any connection with homosexuality. It's like all those other swear words out there. When I say 'fuck' or '****' or whatever else I do it's not like I'm actually talking about sexual intercourse or vaginas. If I call someone a 'retard' that's not me talking down people with intellectual disabilities. It's just a word that has been adapted to mean 'stupid' or 'thick'.

Well then you are an idiot as well as a hypocrite.

You think English words will simply lose their meaning if you will them not to. For god sakes, think OUTSIDE your own brain for a second.

When you say fuck, people think of fucking as in sex. When you say ****, people think of **** as in vagina, whether you want them to or whether you are or not. And you benefit off that association when you use those words as an insult. There is a universe beyond what is merely in your consciousness, you are exploiting words for our own ends - the word has a potent effect - and worse than that you lie to yourself that you are doing nothing wrong.

It doesn't bloody well matter what societies you belong to... one "good" doesn't out-weight another bad.

"fucking hell" = hell reproducing?
"FUCK, that hurt!" = SEX, that hurt!
"You're a fucking retard" = You're a intellectually disabled fornicating person

It's the usage of the word that gives it meaning. Just because you don't get how language is used by others doesn't mean shit.
See? Shit doesn't mean faeces there, it means bugger all. Oh wait, bugger all doesn't mean fuck everyone up the ass? It means squat. Oh wait? Squat doesn't mean sit down? IT MEANS NOTHING.

WORDS HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS.

GET THE FUCK OVER IT. And stop insulting things you are too ignorant to understand.

Don't be thick headed, fuck and other words are not used LITERALLY, but by ASSOCIATION!

Using the term gay is obviously not literally... merely negative association.

Your argument is let down by your inability to see or think beyond the literal. Beyond the superficial.

 

[subject_87]

Well, I think this thread might hold the record of being the biggest flame war ever.