The word "Gay".

• Byte wrote on 2010-09-22 19:08
  Since I feel heated and want to see a good debate...
  
  What do you think of the word "Gay" and how it should be used?
  [No Personal bashings/pointing out a certain individual, keep it a debate!]
  **I'm asking if you have a color, please use black, it makes it a lot more bearable to read :thumb:
  
  My views on the topic remain like 70% of our country, it's just a word that implies stupid. I'm happy to change it if I know it offends someone or edit it out, but it's how I've talked for a long time so I probably won't stop saying it in general.
  
  From what I see Homosexuality is becoming a big part of the united states, and will probably be worldly accepted in 20-50 years. So, like everyone else, they'll get their rights eventually.
  
  So how about you?
  
  
  
• Shirayuki wrote on 2010-09-22 19:11
  I say gay when people just act like faggots around me. Otherwise, I just say the normal -inappropriatetermhere-.
• Byte wrote on 2010-09-22 19:13
  But, in todays terms Gay = Faggot. So... you're calling them the same thing? I think you mean if they're acting like idiots, which I completely agree with.
• Shirayuki wrote on 2010-09-22 19:14
  Then how about I word it as 'if someone acts gay around me, I'll call them gay.'
  
  I just use faggot when I think someone's a creep ><;
• Blassreiter wrote on 2010-09-22 19:15
  I believe the words "gay" and "faggot" are just words. The meanings of these words depend on the context clues. It can be used to call something/someone foolish, or it just means homosexual with the exception of "faggot" and homosexuals should not be called faggots.
• Byte wrote on 2010-09-22 19:17

  Quote from Blassreiter;163006:

  I believe the words "gay" and "faggot" are just words. The meanings of these words depend on the context clues. It can be used to call something/someone foolish, or it just means homosexual with the exception of "faggot" and homosexuals should not be called faggots.

  
  
  [COLOR="black"]Faggot is, in my mind, clearly meant to be an insult you just don't say it loosely, it's like saying "bi*ch" or "whore". Yes, context does greatly decipher the actual meaning of the word, you basically hit my point on the head.[/COLOR]
• Zid wrote on 2010-09-22 19:21
  I used to use the word "gay" like that offensively, but then my homosexual friends during high school convinced me to stop. It's just like saying being Asian is offensive.
  
  I now use the term "gay" for homosexuals and homosexual males. Hard to use the word "gay" to mean "jolly" or "happy" though.
• Shirayuki wrote on 2010-09-22 19:22

  Quote from Zid;163011:

  I used to use the word "gay" like that offensively, but then my homosexual friends during high school convinced me to stop. It's just like saying being Asian is offensive.
  
  I now use the term "gay" for homosexuals and homosexual males. Hard to use the word "gay" to mean "jolly" or "happy" though.

  
  
  I use gay as the literal meaning in class just to phuck with my teachers' minds :D
• Byte wrote on 2010-09-22 19:23

  Quote from Zid;163011:

  I used to use the word "gay" like that offensively, but then my homosexual friends during high school convinced me to stop. It's just like saying being Asian is offensive.
  
  I now use the term "gay" for homosexuals and homosexual males. Hard to use the word "gay" to mean "jolly" or "happy" though.

  
  
  I've never used the word "gay" to be offensive to anyone, just to imply that "it's stupid". (I don't know how being Asian fits into being offensive but oky ^^; )
  
  I've rarely seen the term "gay" used as "jolly" or "happy", unless we're A) Singing the Flinstones theme or B)Talking about Christmas.
• Chiri wrote on 2010-09-22 19:26
  There is a limit to being too PC. That said, if you know you are being offensive, and that's not your immediate intention, I don't see why you shouldn't want to change yourself for the better.
  
  But I do not hold the same standards to all people. If, say, on these forums, there was a member that said something like, "I ran Alby4 100 times and no page, that's so gaaaaaaaay," I would write them off as a idiot and get on with my day.
  
  If a moderator said those same words? I will comment on it. People take the words of moderators more heavily than those of other members, and thus moderators should be held to higher levels of conduct than your average member.
  
  

  My views on the topic remain like 70% of our country

  
  By the way, this is the Library, so please cite your references when you throw around 'statistics'.
• Cannibal wrote on 2010-09-22 19:27
  Before I say what my views on it are, I'd like to reply to your post in the other topic:
  

  Quote from Byte;162995:

  Sorry that I do not find my position as Moderator enough to change how I think daily.

  
  Like Chiri said, it shouldn't change the way you think. However, you should stop and think, "Gay can be used as a derogatory term... I know I don't see it this way, but someone else may... would this upset someone...?"
  
  

  Quote from Byte;162995:

  I've said the word for many years, I've even had homosexual friends of mine say it was okay, and they do not take offense to it.

  
  Just because your homosexual friends say it's okay to them, it doesn't mean it's okay to all homosexual people. I have some black friends who don't mind when other races come up to them and say, "What's up my Nigga?" However, there are other black people I know who can't stand when people do this, and are ready to jump down someone's throat when they hear it.
  
  

  Quote from Byte;162995:

  Assumptions are a bad thing my friend.

  
  Maybe they are, but not everyone is aware of that. You could really hurt someone's feelings is they don't understand what you mean when you say something like that, which is why it shouldn't have been said at all.
  
  
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  My problem with using the word "gay" as stupid, is that not everyone is going to understand exactly what you mean. If you're walking down the street with a group of friends, and you call one of them gay, there may be a homosexual person walking down that same street who doesn't understand that you mean it in a jokingly way, and not as a derogatory term.
  
  I made this mistake once, which I why I will never, ever do it again. Me and my best friend were walking from one building to another at school, and while we were outside, I said faggot, in a joking manner, not meaning anything to do with homosexuality. When I said that, a boy turned around and stopped me. He asked, "Did I really just hear you say that..?" Guess what? He was gay. Do you have any idea how humiliated I felt? How bad I wanted to kick myself? He found me at lunch and we talked about what had happened. I probably apologized a million times. I felt terrible. While it was a misunderstanding, it hurt him. That's why I won't make this mistake again. I understand how it makes people feel.
• Athde wrote on 2010-09-22 19:34
  I just use like some, fag/faggot, or if they are being a total noob newfag
• Phunkie wrote on 2010-09-22 19:35
  I used to hate it when people said, "Oh, that's so gay."
  
  In fact, I often got into discussions with a friend of mine because she used to say it all the time. I would tell her to stop because it offended me. She stopped.
  
  Over the years, I kinda learned to not make such a fuss over this. I don't say "gay" as stupid or dumb. In fact, I think it's stupid. Whenever I want to say stupid, I say stupid. Whenever I want to mean queer, I say gay. But that's just for me.
  
  I won't mind whatever someone says unless it gets on my nerves. You know, like those "That's what she said" jokes. Every other sentences of "that's what she said" gets annoying after awhile. Same with "gay."
  
  But I agree with Chiri, Byte. As a moderator, you shouldn't say it. Just like as a boss of a company, you shouldn't say gay or retarded or nigga. At least not in public.
  
  
  Same for word "fag" or "faggot." I don't say it, but I do agree that it's moreso offensive than "gay."
  
  I once got called a fag before. Like, offensively. I wanted to kill someone.
  
  But yeah. Sometimes we gotta learn to laugh at ourselves. Nigga, bi tch, asshole, chink, rednecks, midgets, retards... they're all funny words when not used offensively.
  
  Like "ginger" for example. Apparently, it's derogatory for red-headed people. That just doesn't make sense to me. Ginger isn't at all a bad thing. It's the meaning you add to the word which makes it bad.
  
  So just laugh about 'em.
• Zid wrote on 2010-09-22 19:39

  Quote from Sin;163019:

  I made this mistake once, which I why I will never, ever do it again. Me and my best friend were walking from one building to another at school, and while we were outside, I said faggot, in a joking manner, not meaning anything to do with homosexuality. When I said that, a boy turned around and stopped me. He asked, "Did I really just hear you say that..?" Guess what? He was gay. Do you have any idea how humiliated I felt? How bad I wanted to kick myself? He found me at lunch and we talked about what had happened. I probably apologized a million times. I felt terrible. While it was a misunderstanding, it hurt him. That's why I won't make this mistake again. I understand how it makes people feel.

  
  
  Never realized "faggot" is a homosexual term. I just learned something new today.
  
  Faggot (slang) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Byte wrote on 2010-09-22 19:44

  Quote from Chiri;163018:

  There is a limit to being too PC. That said, if you know you are being offensive, and that's not your immediate intention, I don't see why you shouldn't want to change yourself for the better.
  
  But I do not hold the same standards to all people. If, say, on these forums, there was a member that said something like, "I ran Alby4 100 times and no page, that's so gaaaaaaaay," I would write them off as a idiot and get on with my day.
  
  If a moderator said those same words? I will comment on it. People take the words of moderators more heavily than those of other members, and thus moderators should be held to higher levels of conduct than your average member.
  
  
  By the way, this is the Library, so please cite your references when you throw around 'statistics'.

  
  
  In my mind my immediate thought is not "Am I being offensive". I come to the conclusion that people could ask me to change wording, rather than moaning about it. Some people may think "Oh he's a mod so he must be someone I should look to", while in my head, I think mods are just here to keep the peace. It's mostly about preference.
  
  My "statistics" were a rough estimation on the 7-10% of Americans who are in "Homosexual Relationships" added on the people willing to defend them when someone throws out the word "gay", meaning stupid.
  
  Gay and Lesbian Families in the United States: Same-Sex Unmarried Partner Households
  
  
  

  Quote from Sin;163019:

  Before I say what my views on it are, I'd like to reply to your post in the other topic:
  
  Like Chiri said, it shouldn't change the way you think. However, you should stop and think, "Gay can be used as a derogatory term... I know I don't see it this way, but someone else may... would this upset someone...?"
  
  I should have, but as I said above, it's not my immediate thought, and I expect people to say something rather than blow up in my face(in this case over the internet).
  
  Just because your homosexual friends say it's okay to them, it doesn't mean it's okay to all homosexual people. I have some black friends who don't mind when other races come up to them and say, "What's up my Nigga?" However, there are other black people I know who can't stand when people do this, and are ready to jump down someone's throat when they hear it.
  
  I live in a small town in southern ohio, we've known each other for MANY years, so we're comfortable about saying stuff like that, I can't compare my views with yours because I've never been in situations like that.
  
  Maybe they are, but not everyone is aware of that. You could really hurt someone's feelings is they don't understand what you mean when you say something like that, which is why it shouldn't have been said at all.
  
  Then they should have the decency to ask, or at least try to find out what I meant. I don't really like to offend people, if I do, I don't mean to.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  My problem with using the word "gay" as stupid, is that not everyone is going to understand exactly what you mean. If you're walking down the street with a group of friends, and you call one of them gay, there may be a homosexual person walking down that same street who doesn't understand that you mean it in a jokingly way, and not as a derogatory term.
  
  Most people from what I see in my town, don't mind, or ask before assuming. Except one kid, who is the reason I love talking about this word(he moved from out of town and blew up in my face after I told another friend that them charging me for my lunch was gay[first day of school, I had free lunch])
  
  I made this mistake once, which I why I will never, ever do it again. Me and my best friend were walking from one building to another at school, and while we were outside, I said faggot, in a joking manner, not meaning anything to do with homosexuality. When I said that, a boy turned around and stopped me. He asked, "Did I really just hear you say that..?" Guess what? He was gay. Do you have any idea how humiliated I felt? How bad I wanted to kick myself? He found me at lunch and we talked about what had happened. I probably apologized a million times. I felt terrible. While it was a misunderstanding, it hurt him. That's why I won't make this mistake again. I understand how it makes people feel.

  
  
  I made this mistake too, as I said above. I didn't use the word "faggot" though because I've always found it inappropriate and the context meaning an insult. That doesn't mean, I'm going to let people walk all over me because they don't like one word I said, without a reasonable request to not say it around them.
  
  @Phunkie
  
  I completely understand if you read above, you'll see that I don't think of it right away, but I probably will from this point on, though if I do slip up, asking to change it is better than going "OH NO HE DIDNT".
  
  
  This song does imply to everything that probably will be discussed in this thread. :)
  
  [video=youtube;tbud8rLejLM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbud8rLejLM[/video]