Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 19 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 2 months ago by
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Why do so many people refer to non-sexually related items or actions as ‘gay’? The word ‘gay’ has developed nearly the same importance as the words ‘stupid’ or ‘inane.’ Why is it used instead of these supposed synonyms?
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Name : Will M., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : Pine Grove, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,Ugh, tell me about it. I was chatting with my 14-year-old cousin a couple of weeks back, and when I asked him what he was doing for Earth Day, he replied, ‘Earth Day? Ew … that is so gay.’ I challenged his manner of applying a sexual term to something as inanimate as a holiday. He said flatly: ‘Because it is a gay holiday. I don’t like it.’ I told him he could say he didn’t like it, but not that it was gay, because that term can only be applied to a person. He replied: ‘I DON’T LIKE IT! … and it is gay.’ Talk about an age gap.
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Name : Kelly, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : I'm not sure anymore, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Christian, Age : 20, City : East Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,I’m not sure why, but it’s not new: when I was in high school in the early ’80s I remember it being a common slam. But some slams don’t even make sense. For example, why is it bad to call someone a f*cker? The way some people throw around the f-bombs, you’d think f*cking was a bad thing.
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Name : Jay-G, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 39, City : Freeland, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : web guy, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am straight and have gay family members and acquaintances. When something is referred to as gay, it means more like dreaded or unfavorable. Simple human nature says that people don’t want to be different in any way, so I guess gay is an easy way to totally alienate yourself. When someone refers to something as being gay, it is more like the last thing you want to be. I could easily see other words being substituted for gay, but especially because this term is used by adolescents, gay is an easy term to use.
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Name : Eric-B, Gender : M, City : Norwalk, State : CA, Country : United States,The word gay is not a sexual term. It is a word that conveys happiness and frivolity. Yes I know that is considered an old definition, which only goes to show that you have an age gap on both sides. Are you a baby boomer by chance?
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Name : John29286, Gender : M, City : Detroit, State : MI, Country : United States,Ignorance perhaps. I am not sure whether you have observed this, but I have: many homosexuals humorously refer to one another as being ‘so gay’ and things like that. If you watch the show ‘WIll and Grace,’ you’ll understand what I mean. It doesn’t really make it OK, though. As long as they aren’t offended, I guess. I think people just shouldn’t say things like that, just like the ‘n’ word, or the word ‘retarded’. All of those things seem like ignorant comments. I am disappointed in our society for prolonging the lives of insensitive terms that should have died out a long time ago.
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Name : l, City : newyork, State : NY, Country : United States,You mean like saying gay instead of happy? ‘Let’s dress up in victorian costumes from the 1890s.’ ‘Oh, that is so gay.’ Is a faggot a bundle of malnourished homosexuals? We can talk about using the word retarded next! ‘Why is the water in th spigot so slow?’ ‘Because the flow is retarded.’ Sorry, I guess that was really gay.
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Name : Vail24491, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : mutt, Religion : Atheist, Age : 40, City : Philly, State : PA, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I’m bordering on ‘old fart’, but I can remember when ‘gay’ had no sexual or gender connotation at all. It simply meant ‘happy, carefree, joyous’. Now, as with many words such as ‘bad,’ the younger generation has turned the meaning completely around. It’s this kind of thing that makes linguistics such a fascinating study.
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Name : J.D. Ricks, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : crippled (the word doesn't bother ME!), Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 50, City : Mesa, State : AZ, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am a teenager, and the word ‘gay ,.. is just gay ,..sorry to offend any homosexual people, but Im from the South, being gay is just not acceptable here. So I’ll have to say being ‘gay’ just means stupid, or kiddish, or something for ‘younger’ kids. If you are a homosexual,..dont take it personally, but kids don’t always understand …so we just use words that trigger our thoughts.
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Name : Kara26754, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 14, City : Cooter, State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,Gay people who say ‘gay’ *don’t* use it as a term of derision. There are plenty of traits overrepresented among gay people — effemininity, for example — and the term gains those connotations. ‘That hairstyle is really gay’, to them, doesn’t mean ‘that hairstlye sucks’ or ‘that hairstyle has sex with other hairstyles that are the same gender’ but something along the lines of ‘that hairstyle reminds me of hairstyles I’ve seen gay people wear’ or even just ‘that hairstyle is kind of cool, in a sleek, forward way’. Amomg gay people, in fact, ‘gay’ is starting to be preferred to ‘homosexual’, which has something of a medical connotation. This is why we’re pissed off when people use it to mean ‘crappy’ — especially because its connotations in that usage are exactly the connotations we’re trying to detatch from non-heterosexuality (e.g. spectacularly uncool, totally non-self-aware).
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Name : Ben, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 21, City : Ann Arbor, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : pizza delivery, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Words evolve over time. Gay seems to have four general meanings as an adjective: happy, showy, homosexual, and stupid.
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Name : Andrea19801, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Diest, Age : 19, City : Granbury, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,The press and conservative groups have given ‘gay’ a negative connotation. Just as Spam has been the laughing stock of luncheon meat byproducts and now is a familiar, negative term for junk e-mail, so has ‘gay’ taken the same path in the world of slang.
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Name : Jen, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 31, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,It’s just turned into slang. I have many gay friends and some of them use it themselves. They are quite open minded, and don’t let it get to them.
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Name : Ashley20357, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 18, City : Pasadena, State : MD, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,Using the word gay as a derogatory term is a way of taking the word back. Gay meant happy or carefree until the homosexual community took it on. Many people feel odd using it now since to call yourself gay no longer means you are happy. By using it for ‘stupid’ or ‘inane’ you are setting it up so if someone calls themself gay you can infer they are stupid or inane. Do this enough, the meaning will stick and the homosexual community will have to find another word.
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Name : Kirk, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Secular Humanist, Age : 48, City : Ft Worth, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think this is only common among people who disagree with homosexuality. Gay equals bad or weird or New Age-fruity. If it bothers you, just wait a week for a new slang term to become popular, or maybe you could man up and stop whining.
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Name : Nick20026, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 23, City : College Station, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Soldier, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,
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