Gay as a pejorative

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

“Ladies and Gentlemen, electric cars are gay,” Vaughn’s character Ronnie Valentine says. “I mean, not ‘homosexual’ gay, but ‘my parents are chaperoning the dance gay.”

-         The Dilemma

 

This preview has been getting a lot of negative press because of the use of the word ‘gay’ as a pejorative.

This is a pet peeve of mine among young people. I’ve noticed that 10-19 year olds seem to default to ‘gay’ way too much. So for me, it’s not a question of sensitivity to treatment of homosexuals as it is to the lame minds of our youth.

Ron Howard has said he will not remove this comment from the movie. I kind of think it fits the sort of comment and back peddle you typically hear from a Vince Vaughn character.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2010/10/ron-howard-on-the-dilemmas-gay-joke-it-stays-in-the-movie.html

So my questions:

1)       What do you do when you hear someone say “that’s gay” as a pejorative?

a.       What is a more apropos term/slang? I don’t want ‘lame’ coming back because of my time spent in the 80s…. I feel ‘lame’ is the gateway word to ‘gnarly’. Gnarly makes me want to gag myself with a spoon…like totally.

2)       Are you planning on seeing this movie? Does the ‘gay’ comment affect your decision?

3)      Is it okay to call Sponge Bob and Flapjack gay okay? I mean…come on they are gay..right?        

Comments

Re: Irony

[hey-its-michael.livejournal.com]

Complaining about it is...gay.


Except most homosexuals themselves refer to themselves as gay, and most of society refers to homosexuals as gay, including "our kids". Ergo, your comparison is invalid.

Re: Irony

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

I heard a woman say that her homosexual friends criticize her for self-identifying as "gay."

Re: Irony

[hey-its-michael.livejournal.com]

Weird. I have never encountered that.

Re: Irony

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

Except that your except isn't a refutation (or even a refudiation) of what I said.

When terms change there is going to be a transitional phase. People 40 and over tend to use "by accident" while those under 20 tend to use "on accident". The ages in between use both.

That doesn't negate the fact that the language is changing.

Re: Irony

[hey-its-michael.livejournal.com]

Yes, it did.

Because a bunch of teenagers decide to call things they don't like "gay" because they don't like gay people, and it caught one, doesn't make it acceptable.

People like me are gay, inanimate objects, stupid actions, and other similar things are not.