ANSWERS: 30
  • No I am not taking it serious at all.
  • Back in the day it did, when being gay was like having a disease. Now it is so common that the insult means nothing.
  • Many people use the word "gay" as an insult, because they - and many of the people that they are insulting - think that it IS an insult. The phrase offends many because they do not wish to be thought of as "gay" (ie. different, immoral, unaccepted, lots of prejudices). I find the phrase insulting because it presumes that there is something insulting/wrong with being gay.
  • Yes, it does offend people. (full disclaimer: I'm heterosexual). Unfortunately, the term "gay" has made a comeback (at least among adolescents and young adults) as a catch-all put-down term for anything the speaker regards as stupid, offensive or negative. It grated on me when I was a teacher and my students would shout "That's so gay!" when somebody (including me) said something that they disagreed with. (More full disclosure - this was in the supposedly 'tolerant' San Francisco Bay Area).
  • Gay used to be a perfectly fine word when I was a little girl. The baggage that now is associated with it makes it too heavy to carry, utilize or employ..sad,very sad. :(
  • It puts me on edge - makes me feel less safe and more on guard. And yeah, I find it offensive on principle.
  • I agree with Old School. It's used by Australian adolescents in the same way as he described - so I don't know what TV show spawned the use. It annoys me because I think that there will be kids in the class who feel that their whole being is reduced to a negative epithet. Those who use the phrase seem genuinely puzzled when challenged about it. Is there an equivalent phrase that is owned by one group and tossed casually into conversation as an adjective to the detriment of another. You had to actively describe someone else as a n*gger before that word was erased - and I never actually saw any of the oft quoted instances of political correctness regarding colour; for example I still teach with a blackboard rather than a chalkboard (a chalk board would crumble and fall off the wall!) How did racial abuse become erased from the language of the majority? Or is the use of the word "gay" analogous to the use of the word "girl" when used to describe a bloke who compains about an injury?
  • Feel privileged...we are currently experiencing the evolution of a word... Most people who use gay as an insult in the context you're talking about dont even see the correlation between "thats so gay" and gay people. Its a word with multiple meanings. Our grand parents certainly didn't use gay the way we do. Do you think they ever feel bad that a word used in their childhood to mean innocence, happiness and lightheartedness has been appropriated to describe a sexuality?
  • I've always thought it was a stupid thing to say.
  • I find it very ininsulting due to being accused of being a lesbian / gay my self. Its a very strong word to use and when people think they know you and yet they know nothing about you it really hurts, ive been accused of this for many years, i keep mmy self to my self, and have a one friend ofn whom i trust. People can be very small minded and their actions have a lot to answer for. Ive been on the recieving end of mallious nasty comments.
  • I don't think it is offensive when a gay person calls another gay person gay. I see it on tv a lot. I worked with lesbians and they would call each other dyke as well. Any gays out there with an opinion.
  • It's just a word that turned into an insult/joke(?). Not a big whoop
  • Cos they have their own problem without being included in the "hetero stupid" venacular.
  • I personally never understood why people use this word as an insult..I'm hoping other peoples' answers will enlighten me. :P
  • i love it... just wish people would stop being gay about the term...
  • Its passed on from Generations gone by. Why do four year olds lie. why Did God say Liars shall be Thrust to hell. then why did Peter Deny he knew the Christ. Hence Lying? we could make up whys forever i suppose.
  • It's just like using the phrase "retarded" it doesn't necessarily mean that the person referred to is mentally disabled. It's just an expression :)
  • It offends me. I find it offensive when any trait that anyone cannot change is used as an insult (shorty, girly, nigger...).
  • i actually have a lot of friends who are gay and les. and most of them will say "oh, thats gay!". so i dont think it insults them or that they even care. i think it only matters when you use it in a direct attack against thier life or lifestyle.
  • I consider it a very "lightweight" insult. When Bob says "I want to pick up some flowers for my mother in law" and Rich says "that's so gay," Rich is not saying that Bob is worthless, only that buying the flowers for his mother in law suggests he's a bit too compliant. And it's almost a return to the original meaning of the word, as indeed the flowers are a "gay" (happy, festive) addition to the room. I wouldn't get my panties in a bunch over this one.
  • Surely only homophobes would find it insulting. It's simply a light-hearted way of saying to someone that they've just said / done something a bit camp or unexpectedly feminine, (not that all gays are camp of course but non-camp gays didn't adopt the term 'gay'). Gays use it. straights use it, and it's fine if levelled at someone in a jovial manner.
  • It will fade out of fashion, but not as quickly as people would prefer. It'll take time.
  • I really don't get this. Gay means lighthearted, happy, pleasant. I understood it was practising homosexuals who began to use it as a euphemism for their sexual preferences. For a word to be insulting it has to have a negative connotation which was certainly never present with the original meaning of gay. Are you saying that it's misappropriated meaning has now become insulting to practising homosexual's?
  • I guess it offends some...I think kids just use it as a word that also means stupid
  • Please read about this 11-year old's suicide and get back to me! http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2400.html
  • In modern day times it is more like saying that you are a sissy or wuss if it is meant to be harmful they usually use the word fag or faggot I have seen this be hurtful to even Homosexual's
  • I really don't know the origins of people using it as an insult. I'm friends with quite a few gay people and none of them care. Many of them use the phrase on a regular basis too. I find it ironic, because my school put up posters everywhere that say "Saying Gay Hurts Your Community." Personally, I don't use the word that way because I think it's sortof puerile.
  • When I was a kid if someone was wearing a pair of pants that were bright and say plaid, they would be deemed "gay" It had absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality or being labelled as such at all. For that matter, neither does the word 'gay', but the origianl meaning of the word has been altered to mean a homosexual male. Not sure how that happened. Does anyone know? Insult is a strong word, we use it more like saying loser (but again, I must clarify that it has nothing to do with homosexuality or a disdain for it).
  • You would think it would engender the same kind of anit-gay sentiment that the word "fag" had. Strangly enough, the humorous use of the word seems to have divested it of its hateful payload. Lol, do you realize who we have to thank for that?? SouthPark! They did quite a profound bit on the "N" word too. (Even thought the word is past redemption.>)
  • I think it primary demonstrates the user's ignorance, bigotry, and lack of intelligent vocabulary. It is inherently offensive and clearly intended to be so. Suppose we used the word "woman" to mean "dumb, stupid"; or "black"; or "Japanese?" Isn't that just as prejudicial against these groups? The same thing is going on with this usage.

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