"Gay" as an Adjective

[Shalot]

A lot of people here (where I live - I don't know how it goes in the rest of the world) will use "gay" as an adjective for something they think is lame or just not up to par. For example, I had a guy ask me if I thought his voice mail message on his cell phone sounded gay. Or sometimes, an overly sentimental song will be termed a "gay" song in a social situation. Or, a ridiculously cliche "heartwarming" moment in a movie would be "gay."

I was wondering (in all seriousness) if this usage of the word gay is derogatory or offensive still? It seems like it would be, but I hear it so much that I was wondering if gay people take offense to this particular usage. I haven't had the opportunity to pose this question before. It's not that I don't know any gay people - I do actually. But, they're not comfortable with me knowing their preference so I can't exactly ask this stuff without them getting all uncomfortable. And that is why I am asking this on a forum - I am not trying to upset anyone if it is in fact offensive. You'll have to overlook my ignorance in this case. I would actually appreciate it if you did. There has been a lot of publicity about the reclaiming of the word "queer" so I was wondering if this was underway with this usage of the word gay? What's the consensus?

[mtpspur]

Here in Ohio it's pretty much exclusively used in a negative connotation refering to a sexual preference. Usually used at the expense of the person being commented on. I find it slightly amusing that when DC Comics reprints stories from the 30s/40s featuring a minor charater known as the Gay Ghost the reprint has been retitled Grim Ghost.

[jgweed]

Using "gay" in the context of something "broken," "lame," and "shoddy" is not only to the gay community but I think most decent people, completely unacceptable and certainly derogatory. I have seen some of my very close gay friends wince when it is used in that manner, even though they have the good manners not to slap someone's face.
Cheers,
John

[motherhubbard]

Shalot, I think it's a good question. I'm in the same boat on not being able to ask a close friend.

[Shalot]

Should I be embarrassed for asking this?

[jgweed]

Absolutely not, Shalot. I take it that everyone here sees your question as a sincere desire to understand if using the word in those senses is offensive, and most certainly assume you would not be comfortable using it if it were taken by gays (or anyone else) as derogatory.
I happen to live, by choice, in "boystown" and have many close friends, again by choice, who happen to be gay, so I am perhaps more aware of how gays react to the misuse of the term. Incidentally, I feel the same way about some gays' use of the term "breeders" as a derogatory term for straights, even if said jokingly.
Cheers,
John

[Shalot]

Absolutely not, Shalot. I take it that everyone here sees your question as a sincere desire to understand if using the word in those senses is offensive, and most certainly assume you would not be comfortable using it if it were taken by gays (or anyone else) as derogatory.
I happen to live, by choice, in "boystown" and have many close friends, again by choice, who happen to be gay, so I am perhaps more aware of how gays react to the misuse of the term. Incidentally, I feel the same way about some gays' use of the term "breeders" as a derogatory term for straights, even if said jokingly.
Cheers,
John


I've never heard "breeders" as the term for that, but it does make me smile. :lol:

[jgweed]

As in "alle menschen werden breeder" if you can forgive the Beethoven pun.
John

[Shalot]

As in "alle menschen werden breeder" if you can forgive the Beethoven pun.
John

I'm gonna have to go ahead and say that I do know who Beethoven was (I mean, I've heard people say "Beethoven's 5th and Beethoven's 9th), but I am real sketchy on what a pun is. Assuming you're not insulting me, (with my Southern manners and all), I am going to have to ask you respectfully, "What does that MEAN?"


Here in Ohio it's pretty much exclusively used in a negative connotation refering to a sexual preference. Usually used at the expense of the person being commented on. I find it slightly amusing that when DC Comics reprints stories from the 30s/40s featuring a minor charater known as the Gay Ghost the reprint has been retitled Grim Ghost.

God, I love this answer :lol:

[djy78usa]

I'm gonna have to go ahead and say that I do know who Beethoven was (I mean, I've heard people say "Beethoven's 5th and Beethoven's 9th), but I am real sketchy on what a pun is. Assuming you're not insulting me, (with my Southern manners and all), I am going to have to ask you respectfully, "What does that MEAN?"

It's a play on words. "Alle menschen werden brüder" is a line from An die Freude ([Ode] To Joy), which Beethoven put to music in his 9th symphony. It means, "All men become brothers."

[The Atheist]

A lot of people here (where I live - I don't know how it goes in the rest of the world) will use "gay" as an adjective for something they think is lame or just not up to par.

Excellent question, and made a lot more interesting by gay friends of mine who use it exactly the same way. Admittedly with more humour than the average teenage boy says it. The same problem exists with the "N" word, which, if used by a fair-skinned entertainer, can get the person saying it into extreme trouble, while African Americans, Maori and many other dark-skinned ethnic groups use the same word to describe their friends.

Depends who's using it and how it's being used, but if the gay community is perpetuating the term as well, I trust they're not too offended by it.


Should I be embarrassed for asking this?

Definitely not.


Absolutely not, Shalot. I take it that everyone here sees your question as a sincere desire to understand if using the word in those senses is offensive, and most certainly assume you would not be comfortable using it if it were taken by gays (or anyone else) as derogatory.
I happen to live, by choice, in "boystown" and have many close friends, again by choice, who happen to be gay, so I am perhaps more aware of how gays react to the misuse of the term.

Interesting - as I said above, I probably know as many gay men who use the term as I do teenagers. I don't think I've personally heard anyone outside of teenagers using it negatively.

Maybe it all serves the gay community right for stealing a word which simply meant "happy" until the second half of the 20th century.


Incidentally, I feel the same way about some gays' use of the term "breeders" as a derogatory term for straights, even if said jokingly.
Cheers,
John

Dunno...

I tend to think that maybe we all ought to harden up a little. Did Irish jokes upset Irish people, or did the Thought Police outlaw them under ethnicity policing? I certainly never knew any Irishmen who were upset by and every Irish bloke I ever knew told more Irish jokes than anyone else. Several famous comedians made a pretty good living out of telling them. Same with blondes - my wife knows more blonde jokes than any living person and she is a natural blonde. The British have always had the ability to laugh at themselves and I've always found that attitude far healthier than those who take offence.

There certainly needs to be a line of where good taste starts and finishes, but I suspect that it's getting out of balance.

[Niamh]

People in Ireland use the word gay for similar things too. I dont think its offensive. I just see it as another way that words are evolving into new meanings. As Athist points out, Gay was a word for happy, then it represented the Homosexual, but now the word is being use in reference to things that are lame or odd. We also use the term Queer in Ireland, but that is in its original meaning of strange, odd etc. No one takes offence to that. The only time i see the use of the word gay as a bad thing is when someone says something off the wall and onother replies "Dude, you are so gay!" :rolleyes:

Residants on the Island of Lesbos, recently tried to have the word Lesbian in reference to gay women outlawed internationally. Mind you they lost but...



I tend to think that maybe we all ought to harden up a little. Did Irish jokes upset Irish people, or did the Thought Police outlaw them under ethnicity policing? I certainly never knew any Irishmen who were upset by and every Irish bloke I ever knew told more Irish jokes than anyone else. Several famous comedians made a pretty good living out of telling them. Same with blondes - my wife knows more blonde jokes than any living person and she is a natural blonde. The British have always had the ability to laugh at themselves and I've always found that attitude far healthier than those who take offence.

There certainly needs to be a line of where good taste starts and finishes, but I suspect that it's getting out of balance.

I couldnt have said that better myself. I dont take offence to Irish jokes, although i do know some people who do. But they are people who cant see the funny side and take it as a personal attack when they hear drunken irsh jokes. I grew up telling Paddy Englishman, Paddy Irishman, Paddy Scotsman jokes. And i also dont know any blondes that take offense to blonde jokes.
And yes the British have a tendancy to laugh at themselves. And it is definitely a healthier attitude.:)

[Virgil]

A lot of people here (where I live - I don't know how it goes in the rest of the world) will use "gay" as an adjective for something they think is lame or just not up to par. For example, I had a guy ask me if I thought his voice mail message on his cell phone sounded gay. Or sometimes, an overly sentimental song will be termed a "gay" song in a social situation. Or, a ridiculously cliche "heartwarming" moment in a movie would be "gay."


I've never heard it used as lame or odd. But apparently others have. I hear it used and have personally used it to reflect something as effeminate. Whether it's derogotory probably depends on the situation. If it's between heterosexual men and you say "that shirt looks gay," I think it challenges that man's masculinity and so would be derogotory. If it's directed at a homosexual, and the context and intent is not malicious, it may not be derogotory. Why would someone use it for lame or odd? It's a specific term for homosexual.

[Themis]

It's a specific term for homosexual.

Uhm, is it? I mean, do you perhaps know since when it is?

Because my dictionary says this:

gay |gā|
adjective ( gayer , gayest )
1 (of a person, esp. a man) homosexual : that friend of yours, is he gay?
• relating to or used by homosexuals : feminist, black, and gay perspectives.
2 lighthearted and carefree : Nan had a gay disposition and a very pretty face.
• characterized by cheerfulness or pleasure : we had a gay old time.
• brightly colored; showy; brilliant : a gay profusion of purple and pink sweet peas.

And I think, maybe, the second meaning would be older, or am I wrong? I seem to remember that I came across the word 'gay' in a book - could it be Shakespeare? - and there it definitely didn't refer to someone's sexual orientation.

[Taliesin]

Wow, this thread is so gay.

[jgweed]

"And we'll all feel gay/when Johnny comes marching home."

[TheFifthElement]

It's a specific term for homosexual.

And I thought it meant happy?!!

[lugdunum]

Shalot
(where I live - I don't know how it goes in the rest of the world)

well may I add that in French, the word gai means cheerful (applied to either people, animals or places). Apparently it came from an old French dialect the Provençal.

It was probably borrowed by the English language and became gay keeping the same meaning.

It came back to the French language (after a rather interesting evolution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay) as "gay" meaning homosexual.

So in modern French there are now two words: [gai] and [gay] (which slightly differ in their pronunciation saving the French of the difficult situtions you are mentioning) :)


I was wondering (in all seriousness) if this usage of the word gay is derogatory or offensive still?

As others have (well) said before, I think that it would only be derogatory or offensive to those who are not capable of not taking things seriously

[Virgil]

Uhm, is it? I mean, do you perhaps know since when it is?

Because my dictionary says this:

gay |gā|
adjective ( gayer , gayest )
1 (of a person, esp. a man) homosexual : that friend of yours, is he gay?
• relating to or used by homosexuals : feminist, black, and gay perspectives.
2 lighthearted and carefree : Nan had a gay disposition and a very pretty face.
• characterized by cheerfulness or pleasure : we had a gay old time.
• brightly colored; showy; brilliant : a gay profusion of purple and pink sweet peas.
And I think, maybe, the second meaning would be older, or am I wrong? I seem to remember that I came across the word 'gay' in a book - could it be Shakespeare? - and there it definitely didn't refer to someone's sexual orientation.

The second one is older, and until the 1960's perhaps 70's was the predominant and only meaning. Somewhere before that it became slang for homosexual. By the 1970's the slang became institutionalized and now is the predomominant meaning. That's why your dictionary lists it as such as number 1. Today almost no one uses it as cheerful. This is an example of semantic shift. At least I think off the top of my head it's called semantic shift. I can't recall my language terms and I don't have the time to look it up.

[papayahed]

Excellent question, and made a lot more interesting by gay friends of mine who use it exactly the same way. Admittedly with more humour than the average teenage boy says it. ...

Depends who's using it and how it's being used, but if the gay community is perpetuating the term as well, I trust they're not too offended by it.


My gay friends use the term as well, I don't recall them ever being offended by the word.

I've never been offended by the term breeder or straightie, however in the beginning I wasn't crazy about the term "fag hag" but I've learned to embrace it.

[kelby_lake]

Gay didn't originally mean homosexual. Surely when you use it for something pathetic you are making fun of the old-fashionedness of saying something is merry or gay. Not intentionally, but that's how I see it.
It does bug me that I can't use the word queer anymore without it having to mean homosexual.

Anything is offensive if it's said meaning to cause offence. There are far more offensive words to describe people.

[sprinks]

We get in trouble if we use it in that way at school - which makes things difficult when lots of kids use it. Like if someone does something annoying the automatic response is "Don't be gay!". Personally I try to avoid using it in such a way.... Most likely because the other people I know who use it often are also the people who are incredibly racist (but thats just the people I know.)

[Shalot]

It's a play on words. "Alle menschen werden brüder" is a line from An die Freude ([Ode] To Joy), which Beethoven put to music in his 9th symphony. It means, "All men become brothers."

So, I am re-reading this whole thread I started last night, and I just want to say that I do know what a pun is. I meant to ask what is "the" pun, instead of what is "a" pun (because I didn't get the reference there with the "Alle menschen..." ). At this point, it really doesn't matter so I don't know why I am trying to save face but I was re-reading and I was a bit embarrassed by what I typed there. Allergy pills and typing don't go well together. :)

[papayahed]

Gay didn't originally mean homosexual. Surely when you use it for something pathetic you are making fun of the old-fashionedness of saying something is merry or gay. Not intentionally, but that's how I see it.
It does bug me that I can't use the word queer anymore without it having to mean homosexual.

Anything is offensive if it's said meaning to cause offence. There are far more offensive words to describe people.

I'm trying to take the word queer back. I still use it for weird situations or when something just isn't right.

[Niamh]

I'm trying to take the word queer back. I still use it for weird situations or when something just isn't right.

We use it all the time in Ireland. It never really went away from its original meaning. We just suddenly had two different aproaches to the word.

[Virgil]

My gay friends use the term as well, I don't recall them ever being offended by the word.

I've never been offended by the term breeder or straightie, however in the beginning I wasn't crazy about the term "fag hag" but I've learned to embrace it.

It depends how you use it. I've heard heterosexuals use it derogatory.

[papayahed]

We use it all the time in Ireland. It never really went away from its original meaning. We just suddenly had two different aproaches to the word.


I may have seen you use the word which made me think to bring it back.

[Niamh]

I may have used it on sunday when i was talking to you.....

[kasie]

Uhm, is it? I mean, do you perhaps know since when it is?



And I think, maybe, the second meaning would be older, or am I wrong? I seem to remember that I came across the word 'gay' in a book - could it be Shakespeare? - and there it definitely didn't refer to someone's sexual orientation.

According to my Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, it was first used in the 1930s, but I seem to remember it coming into general usage in the 1980s. I'm old enough to regret the loss of the usage in its original sense.

My mother, who rarely ever discussed sex (not with her daughter for goodness' sake!) referred to men who showed no inclination to marry as 'a bit of a query', a variation on Niamh's Irish usage of 'queer', I suppose. Using 'queer' in UK would still be considered offensive, I think.

I've never come across the use of 'gay' as an adjective - but then I live in the Back of Beyond - so thanks for the warning! Does it hark back to the days when gay men were referred to as 'limp-wristed', do you think? If so, I think it is offensive.

Edit - sorry I seem to have repeated some of the replies - that's what comes of not going onto page 2....

[Nightshade]

humm I have heard it useed in a dergotary manner and it IS offensive. the same way retard.. spaz.. and increasingly dyslexic, are used as insults. In fact I think in a way lame is probably offesnive too. I know my younger sisters use it ..as long as they dont use it with hearing of my mum that is as the above words barring dyslexic are banned in our house unless you really want to sit through a half an hour lecture.. which weve all heard before and generally dont want to hear.
I like using queer and gay in their original meanings. some things just are gaily coloured like most of my happy colthes.
Another thing I dont quite understand is why are sexual orientations offensive? :confused: I mean surly its noones buisness but those people involved. then again there are much much older insults (that are a so old they are quaint and not really really offesnsive and b even usably semi affectionatly) that also relate to homosexulaity although I guess alot more specifically. Like Bugger and Sod.

[Themis]

Another thing I dont quite understand is why are sexual orientations offensive?
.

I suppose it's got to do with what the speaker intends. If lots of people use a certain word - e.g. gay - to insult other people, I think the word starts to be an insult all by itself. And you can't even use it anymore without people assuming you're trying to be insulting.

[jgweed]

Difficult it is to believe that people are not acquainted with the use of gay to describe homosexuality and homosexuals; when the word is used disparagingly to describe a broken object, etc., it is used knowingly in a disparaging way to also describe homosexuals as somehow "broken."
This doesn't mean that "gay" cannot be used in the older sense of being profoundly happy or elated or pleased.

[sprinks]

Also - this is a little off the exact topic, but I know many people named Gaye, such as my friends mum. When she hears "Stop being so gay!" she replies "I'm not gay, but my mum is!" And similarly with one of our teachers, he tells people that "My wife is Gaye" and people's (mainly students) reactions are hilarious, because they just don't think.

[Niamh]

I have an uncle Gay. :nod: short for gabriel of course. and one of my aunts friends is called Gay too as her name is obviously gabrielle

[LadyWentworth]

Today almost no one uses it as cheerful.
I use the word "gay" as cheerful. Quite often, in fact. :D


I'm trying to take the word queer back. I still use it for weird situations or when something just isn't right.

I also quite often use "queer" as something strange or weird.


I guess I am just that old-fashioned. :)

[Virgil]

I use the word "gay" as cheerful. Quite often, in fact. :D



I also quite often use "queer" as something strange or weird.


I guess I am just that old-fashioned. :)

:lol: You are. I'm sure there are pockets of people who do, but I bet when you use it people stop to think which way you are using it. Maybe it's because i live in a city with a large gay community that it's so rarely used in the old sense.

[Shalot]

My mom uses the word queer in its original sense and when I hear someone else use it the same way, it makes me happy. I don't know why - maybe because it makes the most sense.

I NEVER hear anyone use the word gay to mean happy, though. If someone uses the word gay they're either describing someone's sexual preference (usually without the negative connotation), or they're describing something cheesy or all those other things I mentioned in my original post.

I don't really know where I was going with that, but I was thinking about the difference between the two "original" meanings of the word (in American English as I know it here - I can't wrap my mind around any origins of the words or the way they're used in France or the Phillipines or any of that). So the original meanings of the words queer and gay are:

queer: differing in some way from what is usual or normal; eccentric; mildly insane; not quite well

gay: happily excited, keenly excited, having or inducing high spirits.

queer is bad and gay is good. but the usage of both words has been sort of distorted.

If you use the word queer to mean "odd" and not homosexual (with or without the negative connoation), does that make you "un-cool?" Or does it make you enlightened? Or does it make you SO behind because the gay community has reclaimed the word and you're still using queer in a negative way you old fart. Or does it matter???

And if you say "gay" to describe how you feel happy (i.e. "I'm feeling so merry and gay," said Nancy Drew as she skipped through the fields to her sedan) does that make you a geek?

And if you do use the word queer when you're describing something that is odd, are you obligated to say, "I mean queer as in strange you know, NOT homosexual or anything like that." ??

Or are secure enough to use the words however you want because you know the people around you can pick up what you mean and how you mean it??

[Bakiryu]

Yes, I hear that word quite a lot around here with the connotations you said Shalot. It annoys me.

I only use it on it's original meaning or when talking about sexual orientation.

The whole gender, sexual orientation, judgment thing annoys me.

[Shalot]

Yes, I hear that word quite a lot around here with the connotations you said Shalot. It annoys me.

I only use it on it's original meaning or when talking about sexual orientation.

The whole gender, sexual orientation, judgment thing annoys me.

the judgement thing is beyond annoying in my opinion. Some people hide who they are out of fear. Or, they pretend to be someone else so that they won't get their *** kicked (I don't know - that's just an example that came to mind - NOT) at the expense of the props they recruit to protect themselves. It's not annoying. It's insane.

[Bakiryu]

the judgement thing is beyond annoying in my opinion. Some people hide who they are out of fear. Or, they pretend to be someone else so that they won't get their *** kicked (I don't know - that's just an example that came to mind - NOT) at the expense of the props they recruit to protect themselves. It's not annoying. It's insane.

what I think it's insane is that people feel the need to judge others based in their preferences, race or gender. How evolved are we that we must do this?

[Shalot]

what I think it's insane is that people feel the need to judge others based in their preferences, race or gender. How evolved are we that we must do this?


I'd say we're all (for the most part) just working on it. It's a life lesson, I think.

[LadyWentworth]

:lol: You are.
Well, not only am I old-fashioned with the words that I use (I have a long list of them), but I also like to speak in Shakespearian tongue. Of course that I do just to confuse people. It is fun. :p


I'm sure there are pockets of people who do, but I bet when you use it people stop to think which way you are using it. Maybe it's because i live in a city with a large gay community that it's so rarely used in the old sense.
You know, I have yet to have someone question me on which way I am using those two words. I think that maybe they hear the context in which I use these words and they know what I am saying.

We have a pretty big gay community here, actually. I know a few people, but I am good friends with one man who happens to be gay. In the beginning, when we were first knew each other, we were talking about some movie. I remember just talking and saying without thinking, "It really wasn't all that gay of a story". After I said it I started to think "Oh, God" over and over again. I was a little embaressed. But the thing is that he KNEW what I meant because he agreed and went on about how the film was somewhat of a downer. I could tell that he, as a gay man, didn't think twice about what I said. I never had any problem using the word "queer" either. When I think about it, I really do use queer an awful lot with many different people. Nobody has questioned me on it yet.



Or are secure enough to use the words however you want because you know the people around you can pick up what you mean and how you mean it??
I can honestly say that I am secure enough to know what I mean. Because I know what I mean, I will assume that everyone else will know. Maybe I shouldn't assume, but like I said, I tend to use these words (at least I hope that I do) with the help of the context of the words surrounding them to mean exactly what I want them to mean. Does that make sense? I don't know if I am explaining that correctly. :)

My nephew said something was "gay" not too long ago. He is 8. My brother then said to him that he shouldn't say that. He asked him if he remembered what my brother told him "gay" meant. So my nephew said "'Gay' means 'happy'". My brother said "Remember that it means 'happy'". My brother isn't telling him this so that he is ignorant to the world and not know what someone means when they say that a person is gay. He is doing this so that my nephew doesn't grow up using that word in the negative sense.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Well, it's certainly convenient (for them) that homosexuals have coöpted the English adjective 'gay' for themselves.

[DanielBenoit]

Well, it's certainly convenient (for them) that homosexuals have coöpted the English adjective 'gay' for themselves.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_khYoWIBgmBI/SLgW8V4pbYI/AAAAAAAAAN0/j7bjT2S5P-8/s320/Annex_-_Grant,_Cary_(Bringing_Up_Baby)_01[1].jpg

I don't know, I just got a little gay all of a sudden!

[OrphanPip]

Well, it's certainly convenient (for them) that homosexuals have coöpted the English adjective 'gay' for themselves.

Oh, ya because we were so very much better with terms like sodomite, bent, broken, homosexual (originally referring primarily to a mental disorder, but now considered a PC term), fairy, faggot, and all those other nice words.

[DanielBenoit]

Oh, ya because we were so very much better with terms like sodomite, bent, broken, homosexual (originally referring primarily to a mental disorder, but now considered a PC term), fairy, faggot, and all those other nice words.

But. . . .I think you're missing out, my-fairy-in-crime, that we hijacked the word 'gay' so as to disguise ourselves as innocent, happy law-abiding citizens in order to cover up our plan for world domination :devil:

[OrphanPip]

Shhh! We mustn't let the normals in on the plan, it won't work if they see it coming.

[Basil]

Shhh! We mustn't let the normals in on the plan, it won't work if they see it coming.

I don't think you gays should be allowed to refer to us heteros as normals. It just sounds offensive coming from you.

[Serena03]

The term under pejorative use is really not meant to be derogatory towards homosexuals, it has been used as a slang term for 'lame' among youth since the seventies, much like the terms "bad" or "stupid" meant good in the eighties and nineties. The word is really becoming obsolete in reference to happiness. If used, homosexuals are still commonly thought to be the reference. Nevertheless I still try to refrain from using it in a phrase as it still sounds juvenile and could be offensive.

[billl]

I don't think you gays should be allowed to refer to us heteros as normals. It just sounds offensive coming from you.

It is also a stereotype.

[OrphanPip]

I don't think you gays should be allowed to refer to us heteros as normals. It just sounds offensive coming from you.

Now, now if I wanted to be derogatory I would have called heteros breeders. To emphasize how the heterosexual "lifestyle" harms me by limiting my access to food and jobs by creating more human beings.

[DanielBenoit]

Now, now if I wanted to be derogatory I would have called heteros breeders. To emphasize how the heterosexual "lifestyle" harms me by limiting my access to food and jobs by creating more human beings.

Yeah those damn breeders and their babies and birth control pills. Yuck, who needs some big infant coming out of an overstretched vagina :sick: The thought should disturb every heterosexual and homosexual man.






(ladies take not offense, I speak in jest :cheers2:)

[Basil]

It is also a stereotype.

:smilielol5:

[Nightshade]

Two years on and I still don''t undersatnd why sexuality is offensive. Or why idiots are afraid of gay people. It all makes no sense at all.
But on the use of words got curious as to teh word Faggot. Well actually its the link to fag as in cigereete I was wondering about but here are a few facts that you might have not know:
1) It actually measn a bundle of sticks.
2) in medieval times it was linked to the burning of hertics and witches. If they renounced they had to wear a faggot symbol to show that they weren't really 'good' people.
3) It was once an offensive word refering to women ( back in the 16th centurey)

And lastly its just an ugly ugly word it looks ugly it sounds ugly people shouldn't use it.