What do you say to someone who keeps saying stuff like "That's so Gay"? — Page 3

"And the definition of gay is not exclusive to homosexuals, thus the use of it to mean whacked."

Actually, the derrogatory use of "gay" referred to homosexuality and became a popular slang phrase in the 80s. I know because I was there and the people who used it did so in a consciously homophobic way. Back then, they would sometimes accompany this with a limp-wrist gesture to ridicule those who liked anything that could be considered "gay". Nowadays, the people who use it may not realize the origins of the slang usage of "gay" when they use it, but that does not make it go away. I am not always offended by it now unless it is truly spoken in a dileberately mean-spirited way.

You are right that the definition of the word is not exclusive to homosexuality, but its definition never had negative connotations until this particular slang usage was coined.

Here is the Mirriam-Webster definition:

Main Entry: 1gay
Pronunciation: 'gA
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French gai
1 a : happily excited : MERRY b : keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits
2 a : BRIGHT, LIVELY b : brilliant in color
3 : given to social pleasures; also : LICENTIOUS
4 a : HOMOSEXUAL b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals
synonym see LIVELY

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"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

If by gay, you mean fashionable and witty, why yes. Yes it is.

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Well, okay, they do have a learning disability. You can't work some place for a year and still NOT know what you are doing.

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DayDreamer, thank you, I was going to post something about the use of "retarded" after reading this thread as well. Do all of you that complain about the derrogatory use of the word "gay" complain/yell/etc. when someone says "That's so retarded"? Probably not.

I had teachers in school that would send kids to the office for saying "That's so gay" but use "That's so retarded" themselves. Way to promote a double standard, educators.

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That may be the case, Justice, but when 9th graders use "retarded" to describe the English assignment they were supposed to do over the weekend, it can't be easily assumed that they meant the English assignment occured later than expected. Of course "retarded" isn't just a politically incorrect way to refer to someone with a mental disability- it has other meanings- but in the majority of the instances I've heard it used in, the other meanings wouldn't apply.

I yell at people in my school for saying it all the time. For the longest time they were convinced I was a lesbian because I yelled at them for saying it. They've been better lately because I'm on their case all the time, but I find it really obnoxious when they say stuff like that.

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I have to deal with this more than I would like. here are a few ways

1) Play dumb and say "wait, I don't understand how a homework assignment / whatever can be gay! how can ____ be attracted to someone of the same sex? or do you mean it like "happy", as the word used to mean?" then they kind of give up
2) That's not the right adjective. How about "stupid" or "lame" or "awful" or another one of the colorful words the english language includes?

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