Are you offended by the usage of "gay" as a synonym for "stupid"?

[CLARENCE 2015!]

Ive never heard that used that way

[Gustaf]

I never heard it used non-ironically. Too stupid to be really offensive.

[MaxQue]

Benoit: It would be "in cervisia veritas", then. Like in cervoise (see Asterix) or cervesa, for people liking vacations in Mexico/Cuba/Dominican Republic.

I would like to add than enculé isn't only Marseillais. I know a guy from Ariège which use it all the time.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Oh no, I totally agree. I'm more offended by the word "f****t" than I ever will be of the slang usage of "gay." For me, "gay" does not inherently carry bad connotations. It's a sexual orientation by definition. However, "f****t" is inherently a slur, meant to offend. I just found the graph kinda funny. Sorta cuz it's true.

I tend to not get offended by 'words' but how the words are expressed.

'f****t' as a word offends me for the reasons you state - it's a personal slur. However, I saw my cousin and his friends 16-17 years old and they were throwing 'gay' in there meaning stupid. I warned them at University to avoid using that. But I don't think it's something should be encouraged... the etymology of words can skew off into weird places in a short period of time.

I mean, look at the word 'gay', it only took 30 years for gay to stop meaning 'happy' to mean 'homosexual'...

[Pheurton Skeurto]

Oh no, I totally agree. I'm more offended by the word "f****t" than I ever will be of the slang usage of "gay." For me, "gay" does not inherently carry bad connotations. It's a sexual orientation by definition. However, "f****t" is inherently a slur, meant to offend. I just found the graph kinda funny. Sorta cuz it's true.

I tend to not get offended by 'words' but how the words are expressed.

'f****t' as a word offends me for the reasons you state - it's a personal slur. However, I saw my cousin and his friends 16-17 years old and they were throwing 'gay' in there meaning stupid. I warned them at University to avoid using that. But I don't think it's something should be encouraged... the etymology of words can skew off into weird places in a short period of time.

I mean, look at the word 'gay', it only took 30 years for gay to stop meaning 'happy' to mean 'homosexual'...

I tend not to get offended by words at all, cuz I just don't think that words are harmful.

Of course there's also plenty of definitions for different words, "f****t" and "fag" especially. However, because I live in America, I don't hear it used in that context very often.

[© tweed]

I used to do this a lot but now generally don't/try not to.  I'm not offended by it.

[opebo]

How could this not be offensive?

(though my disgust at the term is only partly motivated by my offended feeling - it is also due to the age of the offenders.  I dislike all those know-nothing young people)

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Benoit: It would be "in cervisia veritas", then. Like in cervoise (see Asterix) or cervesa, for people liking vacations in Mexico/Cuba/Dominican Republic.

Indeed, but well, let's be inventive, and if I had cervoise in the mind, I hadn't the Latin one anymore.

I would like to add than enculé isn't only Marseillais. I know a guy from Ariège which use it all the time.

It is indeed Francewide, but in Marseille and around it became like a daily normal word, then mostly used in the Southern half of France (lol seems the word sticks to places where the southern accents are the most marked, Ariège is one), and then to a lesser extent the rest of France.

[dead0man]

Offended?  no.  But it is stupid though.


Using "gay" to describe "gay" things is ok though......"Dude, that scarf is gay!"

[Insula Dei]

Enculé is less offensive than f****t? I'd have thought that considering it's a quite,..., uhm, plastic description, it might be about equally (non-)offensive?

[MaxQue]

I think it is was more offensive, yet, it is very used, in a non-malicious way.

[Ebowed]

None of my friends use it, but sometimes I meet people who talk like this, which generally guarantees that I will not be having further conversations with them voluntarily.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

[Gustaf]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Enculé is less offensive than f****t? I'd have thought that considering it's a quite,..., uhm, plastic description, it might be about equally (non-)offensive?

One more time it can depend on the tone and the context (as always), as I said in the 1st post about that it can be offensively used, but as MaxQue said, it also really became a widespread word used mostly in unoffensive context (the evolution of the use of that word is interesting though).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

[Gustaf]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

I guess the non-straights are crooked or twisted or something? I don't think etymology is all that important in determining whether words are offensive or not.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

I guess the non-straights are crooked or twisted or something? I don't think etymology is all that important in determining whether words are offensive or not.

Yeah, that was the point. But no, it's not an etymological issue considering the word straight is AFAIK still used in english with its original meaning.

[Gustaf]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

I guess the non-straights are crooked or twisted or something? I don't think etymology is all that important in determining whether words are offensive or not.

Yeah, that was the point. But no, it's not an etymological issue considering the word straight is AFAIK still used in english with its original meaning.

No, it's not. It's used to mean heterosexual, not implying that gay people are weird. Otherwise, gay people obviously wouldn't use it.

A word can change meaning even when referring to the same thing - that's how slurs usually work. A word like negroe is offensive not because of its etymological roots but because of how it ended up being used.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I usually just say, "Yo, that is so homosexual!"

I would perfer the word gay go back to it's original meaning.  It used to be a perfectly good word. Same thing for the word fag.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

I guess the non-straights are crooked or twisted or something? I don't think etymology is all that important in determining whether words are offensive or not.

Yeah, that was the point. But no, it's not an etymological issue considering the word straight is AFAIK still used in english with its original meaning.

No, it's not. It's used to mean heterosexual, not implying that gay people are weird. Otherwise, gay people obviously wouldn't use it.

A word can change meaning even when referring to the same thing - that's how slurs usually work. A word like negroe is offensive not because of its etymological roots but because of how it ended up being used.

Can "straight" not be used anymore in contemporary English to mean what it's supposed to mean ?

[angus]

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yes, a lot. I'm surprised so much people still find it cool to talk that way.

Though it's norwhere as bas as refering to heterosexuals as "straight". This is outright unacceptable.

Really? I hear gay people use the word straight all the time.

Still, the idea behind such a word is pretty clear.

I'm actually really confused by this. I use 'straight' all the time. It actually has a negative connotation?

I guess the non-straights are crooked or twisted or something? I don't think etymology is all that important in determining whether words are offensive or not.

Yeah, that was the point. But no, it's not an etymological issue considering the word straight is AFAIK still used in english with its original meaning.

No, it's not. It's used to mean heterosexual, not implying that gay people are weird. Otherwise, gay people obviously wouldn't use it.

A word can change meaning even when referring to the same thing - that's how slurs usually work. A word like negroe is offensive not because of its etymological roots but because of how it ended up being used.

Negro isn't generally considered offensive, just old-fashioned.  It's the other n-word that's offensive.

[The Mikado]

...I don't hang out with people that talk that way.