"That's gay"

I think its interesting, because 'lame' was an actual scientific and medical designation at one point - but 'fag' and the n-word were both created from other words and used specifically as pejoratives. I'm fine if someone calls something 'gay' but just as long as they know exactly what they're insinuating - that the thing is happy.

I say that stuff is gay everyday.
I say the word fag almost everyday.
I say the word nigger almost everyday.
This list goes on and on...

If someone is offended by it, then I don't say it.

I happen to act rather... er... Flamboyantly. Some people think I'm gay. I'm not, but I take no offense. Homosexuality isn't a bad thing, it's a lifestyle. When people say to me, "OMG uR sooooo q4yyyyyyyyy.." I laugh. I honestly don't care. Some of the coolest people I know are gay. It is bad that some people use it as a derogatory word, but it shouldn't offend them. I was talking to a friend of my dad who happened to be gay (and blind, and he had a great sense of humor. It was hilarious) about people saying, "That's gay" He laughed when he first heard it. He told me that most gay people he knows are REALLY stupid. So not all gays are offended by it...

Wow, that was a long message.

I am not a fan of any word being used in a derogitory manner. Which is why I try not to curse and or use slurs. Ever

Just as a clarification before I continue, I do actually say the word 'gay' in the same context as one would 'lame', and I do it.....very frequently.

The main reason that a majority of our generation uses the word gay, at least as far as I can see, is quite simply...other people use gay in that context....and not just 'other people' or specific crowds of people, in the schools that I have attended the word 'Gay' is used damn near universally across the student body, there are some against it's use obviously, but it's use isn't associated with any specific crowd, or click, or group.
I just wanted to state how widely used it is

I think that the context that it is most frequently used in (as a synonym for the secondary meaning of lame I.E. Undesirable, Unsought, Uncool) it's perfectly acceptable, it is simply an evolution of slang,something that really can't be avoided(slang not the use of gay) and it will eventually cycle out of use and will stop being thought of in it's original meaning.

It's important for me to say that using gay in a direct correlation to homosexuality, and using coinciding it's use as an insult is both wrong and unnecessary
For example: bill:I didn't make the basketball team
John:Man, that's gay, I'm sorry
that is perfectly fine but
Bill:I Didn't make the team, I don't think the coach liked my moves
John: That's cause he's gay, dont stress
that isn't john is using gay, in i direct personal insult to a person, by referring to them as a homosexual

But to simply call the situation gay is doing nothing more than it would if he had simply said 'that's lame' or 'that's undesired', though I gotta say if one of my friends ever said 'that's undesired' it'd give him one heck of a funny look.

But I think that the biggest point I want to make is that by using Gay frequently and publicly we've truly taken the 'sting' out of the word, almost no one is really truly offended by being called gay, and yet we here it used so frequently that if it WERE still as offensive as it was just a few years ago it would be the equivalent of walking into a classroom loudly singing this song www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-xKUU5sWS4&feature=related

Because of it's frequent use we've made the word 'gay' a normal part of language and not in a negative way, just...a part of it, and I'm fine with that.

The archaic definition of gay is: foolish, silly, dimwitted, used to describe court jesters.

Like Dimstow said it all depends on how it's used, but if I know that it doesn't bother me if someone uses it meaning something along the archaic definition. If used as an insult by attempting to call a person a homosexual in a negative sense, then it's far from acceptable.

The words themselves are not important. It is the context in which you use them.

I don't care what the definition says. Unless I'm writing a professional, documented piece of work, I am going to use whatever comes to mind (unless of course I'm around people that are offended by the words).

To be honest, I'm not sure what it's like to everyone else but where I'm from "gay" is the type of insult used more by 10 year olds. So I don't use it for that reason - it's not the most inventive of insults.

Woo for Flamboyancy!

Well, unfortunately where I live, 17-year-olds talk and act like 10-year-olds. :\ I think that's what we should focus on: People need better insults. Whatever happened to insults like "Thou hast not so much brain as earwax"? THAT is an insult!


But on a more serious note: The words have nuances. Some people say it because they don't think of it's literal denotation, while others do it specifically because they are homophobic. The meaning of the word has changed, but not so much so that it ONLY means "stupid," so if someone says it, I assume they're homophobic.. :\