Orca_Azure said: Why can't gay just get third definition? 1: happy 2: homosexual 3: stupid

Which dictionary are you using? Here's Merriam-Webster

• Main Entry: ¹gay 
• Pronunciation: \ˈgā\
• Function: adjective
• Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French gai, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High Germangāhi quick, sudden
• Date: 14th century

1 a : happily excited : merry gay mood> b : keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits gay spring song>
2 a : bright, lively <gay sunny meadows> b : brilliant in color
3 : given to social pleasures; also : licentious
4 a : homosexual <gay men> b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals gay rights movement>gay bar>

• Main Entry: ²gay
• Function: noun
• Date: 1953

: homosexual; especially : a homosexual male

 Here's Dictionary.com

–adjective

 

 

Gay does not mean stupid in any way. And if it were to be added to a dictionary, how would that read?

9. To be stupid, negative or unacceptable by way of relating to homosexuality

10. the implied negative connotations of homosexuality

It really surprises me that not only have so many people not realized or thought about this, but that they also feel the need to defend the practice. Gay can't just get a third definition because that isn't an innocent and separate definition. It directly relates to slandering homosexuality. In any given day the term "that's gay" will be applied both innocently to things people think are stupid, and intentionally by people associating things they don't like with homosexuality. Most of the people here are claiming to be of the former, so why do you want to keep upholding the practices of the latter?

 

And to people saying whatever, it's just words... Words are the basis of human communication. They're more powerful than any tool or weapon concieved by our hands. 

 

 

Some people compares religions with sexual orientations. I don't think it's relevant in this situation.

You don't born christian or jew. It's a choice of life your making. Of course your parents have a huge influence when your young but as you get older, you can quit it all whenever you want.

But you do born gay, bi or straight. You can't change that.


It would be better to compare sexual orientation with nationality.

stof said: ... And to people saying whatever, it's just words... Words are the basis of human communication. They're more powerful than any tool or weapon concieved by our hands.

Words are only what the indivudual makes them out to be. To be "offended" is purely subjective, and is a result of a certain individual's reaction to what he or she believes a certain word to mean.

In my honest opinion, we should let the human population grow and mature socially by themselves, and with time, use of this word in a derogatory manner will slowly disappear. As much as I believe that words like this should not be used maliciously, I also believe that we have to stray from the idea that a simple word can truly offend a person. If I were gay, and I heard somebody calling another person a faggot as a generic insult, I honestly wouldn't care. If I saw a guy beating a gay man while calling him a faggot, then I would draw the line. That man has malicious intent, and people like him should be stopped, not immature kids who just say the first "insult" that comes to mind.

"Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world."

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can incite riots, revolutions and wars"

@Stof. Really, the way people use the word 'gay' simply means 'bad'. It has nothing to do with connotations of homosexuality or relations to homosexuality at all, that is where the word came from but the majority of people no longer use it in that sense. You just defined the word in a way that completely missed the point of his post. Really the way it would be defined would be something like;

9. To be bad or unacceptable


I agree that saying something is gay is a bad thing but the majority of the people saying it are not saying it due to a prejudice against gays - they're saying it because its meaning is simply 'bad' now to them. Like when people say 'Christ!' they aren't actually praying.

Exactly Rath!

Most people that use the word gay don't mean to slander gays at all. So why the hell do they use it!? My original and constant point still stands. If you showed up to school/work tomorrow and people around you said that's so nigger, don't be a fag and what a piece of jew, would you join in because "hey, they don't mean it in a bad way"?

I hope not.

Gay has become a term for bad because people used it to denote gay as being bad. And now, in a world where gays are still one of the most repressed, oppressed and misunderstood groups in the world. At a time when they are still fighting for their rights and freedoms (the right to be accepted and legally recognized in some countries, the right not to be executed in others" their name has become the label for anything negative.

I made this thread exactly for those people who use the word gay just because they think it means bad. The ones who are anti-gay require a whole different process. They need to have their views challanged, their minds expanded. But the people that for some reason think it doesn't hurt anyone to just throw the word gay at anything they don't like is a totally different and potentially easier problem to deal with.

They just need it brought to their attention that it's an offensive and hateful practice whether they intend it to be or not.

Gay does not mean to be bad or unacceptable. And half the people who use it in that manner really are using it because they equate gay with being bad. But the other half... There's still hope for that half.

Well, I've never said it. While those who do don't mean ill, it originates from a hatred if them propmting them to associate the word with horribilty.

Also words do mean nothing, but do not say they don't effect. It isn't the words themselves but the intent.

Meh. I think its soooo gay to say thats so gay!!!!!!!!! ;)

Oh wait >_>

pbroy said: If they would have made it more sympathizing, lots of people would have listened. For example, boy walks by and other boys say "thats so gay". Boy walking by puts head down as he walks by with a sad face. Boy goes into the bathroom at his house. looks in the mirror, wondering whats wrong with him. camera pans down to his hands. he has a razor blade. screen says "words hurt". END

It seems harsh, but it really drives the point home. I am comfortable in who I am, yet, yes, hearing that saying still does annoy me. However, I'm also aware of the lexicon that gets into peoples' brains. It's like I apparently have something against gypsies? Nonetheless, the word does already have existing meanings, and to correctly use a word is to use its given meaning(s). Calling something "gay" as an insult is a deroggatory word toward homosexuals. And I do think this ad campaign is a step in the right direction, even if it does seem rather wordy.

Oh, and for those who say that it's just words, that may be true, but how they are received may be different based on who hears them. Someone like me can let them bounce off if needbe, but there are also younger ones who are growing up, and coming to terms with their sexuality. If they're constantly around people who use the word as a negative one, then there's a good chance they'll start to see themself in a negative light. And this brings us back full-circle (using a total of 3 points- though that was pure coincidence) to the commercial idea I quoted. Gay teens have the highest suicide rate. While some of this comes from non-supportive families, I'd not be surprised if another part of it just comes from the fact that they now, their very beings, are associated with a negative word.