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I've never heard it used as a derogatory toward homosexuals. o: That's just me.

I will now work on using something else other than, "That's gay."

Not really directly derogatory per se, but using "gay" as an synonym of "stupid" etc. is an insult to gays. It's basically using the concept that being homosexual is bad, and therefore to say something is bad, say "that's gay." Associating homosexuality with [anything you don't like (with may include homosexuality... in which case the person is probably using "that's gay" more acerbically] just adds to the general negative climate that gays have to live in.

(What I meant to say in the first place, but didn't express adequately.)

I'm okay with it. I haven't heard it used with intentional homophobic connotations in a long time.
It practically died after highschool anyway. The more common version I hear now is the prefixed 'fag' to denote a person with a particular attribute.

I think the word gay has risen above homosexuals and gotten a new definition, just like the words sissy or pantywaist have gone on to be general insults rather then ways to refer to a gay person. Should people use it in everyday conversation? Probably not, its still pretty boarder line on appropriateness and definitely shouldn't be used in a formal setting. In a casual setting should it be used when the comment is going to be extremely funny? Sure go for it, just use it very sparingly. I think the most common people who say gay are those in high school or middle school and are still dealing with the shock that is the realization that you can say bad things and not instantly be zapped to hell, or maybe high school students are just dumbasses. Either way, trying to make them stop using it will only make them want to say it more.

I think the best way to decide if you are going to be insulted is by intent. When a person says a chef statue is gay or a biker who is being loud and disruptive is a fag are they actually saying that the statue or biker is attracted to their own gender? No they aren't. If they say god hates all gay fags and will smite them with his just wrath are they being homophobic, probably. They should stop that.

The fact that it sparks so much discussion proves it's dumb. Let's just call people morons and be done with it.

I think it's stupid, but it doesn't offend me. Life's too short to be offended by stupidity. There will always be stupidity.

It doesn't really offend me per se, it just annoys the pants out of me when people say it, because not only is it overused, it is overused incorrectly. So I voted yes.

But how is it used incorrectly? Technically, calling men gay is using it incorrectly as the original meaning of the word was "happy". Words evolve and change/add meanings. No matter how annoying it is. o: So essentially, I agree with Maggot.

The usage of 'gay' to mean 'homosexual' is very well-established - in literature and journalism as well as the common parlance - to such an extent that dictionaries no longer consider it slang. The usage of 'gay' as a catch-all derogatory term is nowhere near as accepted. The meanings of words do change over time, yes, but it is well-understood that 'gay' refers to a homosexual; using 'gay' to refer to something which is not by any accepted definition of the term essentially degrades it.

The reason I most despise this usage of 'gay', however, does not concern its actual definition but the way in which it is used. Because of its employment as a term of disapproval for anything at all, it encourages a kind of linguistic laziness which I find infuriating and which essentially deprives the statement of meaning. The sentence "That test was gay!" tells me essentially nothing, except for some sort of vague disapproval of the test (and not necessarily even that). Why bother saying anything at all?

(This has turned out to be somewhat lengthier than I had expected!)

lol you just figured that if something that wasn't favorable was "gay" it wasn't really derogatory?

I hate it when gay guys act like bitchy women. DX

I hate it when gay guys act like bitchy women. DX

I love gay guys as long as they don't act like Jack on Will and Grace.

I voted no. I don't really care, and it seems to me like people who do just want something to complain about. It sounds stupid if it's overused but what doesn't. I don't see it as any different to other slang alternatives such as ones mentioned in this thread dumb/sucks/etc. Slang will be overused by middle school/high school students. Slang will be slang.

I'd probably have more to say about it if I heard it used in a derogatory way towards homosexuals, which it may have started out like in the 70's. Truly. But I haven't heard it used in that way any more than I have heard "dumb" used in a derogatory way towards mute people or "sucks" in a derogatory way towards drinking straws.

actually "gay" as a slang is a direct relation to things that "suck".

Now that I think about it I hear the phrase "that's homosexual" instead which somehow results in being less offensive than "that's gay". I didn't see this alternate version mentioned in this topic, is it not used over there?

Yes, it offends me.

I hate it when gay guys act like bitchy women. DX

Or become them?