# Bush, you're not at a frat party, you dick **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 18, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036 "2006-07-18T16:27:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/341 "2006-07-26T15:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] There are folks here whose opinions do matter to me, on the other hand, so I feel compelled to admit this: I cried at the end of _Brokeback Mountain_. I hope this establishes, as **Bricker** might say, my bona fides vis a vis homosexuals. [/QUOTE] Look, dude, the math is pretty simple. Implying that someone is gay as an insult is inherently homophobic. This is not something confusing or difficult to understand. Whatever you may have felt about _Brokeback Mountain_ (awful movie, incidentally), you’re perpetuating something really ugly. My general rule is if it walks like a bigot and talks like a bigot, it’s probably a bigot. If you don’t want to be taken as a bigot, I would suggest that the best way to avoid it is not to act like one. You don’t know how many people are listening without saying anything. After all, I wouldn’t have said anything until someone else brought it up. If you don’t care, then say what you want. I can’t stop you from spouting bigotry. I can’t read your mind to decide whether you actually are what you present yourself as. But like I said, using the imputation of homosexuality as an insult necessarily entails that being gay is something shameful. If you don’t mind perpetuating that idea, I can’t change your mind. I would hope someone who claims not to hate gay people would change their mind on their own, though. > [@Oy!](#): > > I never knew “That’s so gay” was considered a put-down of gays in general. Ya learn something new every day, I guess. Maybe it’s just that I’m 50 and out of touch… I haven’t quite accustomed myself to geezer-hood (or whatever the female equivalent is, if geezers can only be men). I think the usage in question is one that’s mostly common with teenagers. I’m less than half your age but I didn’t even notice the usage until relatively recently - probably after I graduated high school. But what I’m talking about is the general usage of “gay” to describe things that are bad - it’s not limited to things that are flamboyant or might be stereotypically associated with actual gay people. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/342 "2006-07-26T16:04:08Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] If you don’t care, then say what you want. I can’t stop you from spouting bigotry. I can’t read your mind to decide whether you actually are what you present yourself as. But like I said, using the imputation of homosexuality as an insult necessarily entails that being gay is something shameful. If you don’t mind perpetuating that idea, I can’t change your mind. [/quote] Alternatively, I can chalk you up as one looking to find offense and homophobia, and dismiss your concerns as hypersensitive. In addition, you might change from one presuming homophobic slight lurks around the corner of every non-vaginal intercourse yet sex related insult. If the number of people who I know not to be homophobic who do use such insults continues to exceed the number who perceive homophobia from their use, I probably won’t concern myself with the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/343 "2006-07-26T16:31:47Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] Alternatively, I can chalk you up as one looking to find offense and homophobia, and dismiss your concerns as hypersensitive. In addition, you might change from one presuming homophobic slight lurks around the corner of every non-vaginal intercourse yet sex related insult. If the number of people who I know not to be homophobic who do use such insults continues to exceed the number who perceive homophobia from their use, I probably won’t concern myself with the matter. [/QUOTE] You can decide what you want. Like I said, the math is simple. You can join up with the righties and declare that anyone who finds any evidence of racism, sexism, or homophobia anywhere is part of the mystical crowd of “offenderati”. Or you can join me in the reality-based community. It’s not hard to see that using “cocksucker” as an insult entails something homophobic. It’s deeply depressing to me that so many people are so afraid of a little self-examination. It’s amazing, in a way, to watch folks like you (and you ain’t the only one) who repeat a bigoted behavior over and over rather than honestly examining it - it’s better to continue acting like a bigot than to stop, because in order to stop you’d have to acknowledge that there’s something wrong with your behavior. I can’t even imagine being so terrified of looking at myself, especially when it means continuing the behavior whose implications I’m so ashamed of. Even if you’re not homophobic now, do you think you won’t successfully program it into yourself by repeating homophobic remarks over and over? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/344 "2006-07-26T17:05:34Z")
Wow…who would have guessed the directions this Pit thread would go in? Didn’t read it until now, because the OP didn’t really interest me too much. Seems to me, this was an obvious case of someone doing something they shouldn’t have done, but also pretty obviously something he didn’t think about before he did it…an unfortunate, impulsive gesture. Maybe her reaction will make him think about it the next time. I remember once the Queen of England went to visit someone in the US. I want to say it was Jimmy Carter, either in the White House, or in Georgia. Don’t remember the details. But, someone in Carter’s family (Miss Lillian, maybe? Wish I could remember this story exactly, and can’t find it by googling) hugged the queen! She said “in the South, we hug people when we meet them.” The queen put up with it, but I would not be surprised if privately, she was Not Amused. Now, I am not comparing the 2 situations…merely trying to use it as an illustration of how Americans are a little more informal & touch-feely. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Pres temporarily forgot where he was, and what he was supposed to be doing. Far more interesting to me is this hijack about bigoted insults. Seems to me, and I am not referring to any particular group here, that if the group in question considers a particular word or phrase an insult, then you should think twice about using it if you don’t want people to think you are a bigot. Saying “I didn’t mean it to be an insult to (fill in the blank group)” just doesn’t tend to fly, if the word or phrase seems to be **referring to that particular group** , and **is being used as an insult**. This is why words that are used as perjoratives, and were derived from the names of ethnic groups (“Gypped,” “Welsh” on a bet, “Jew” them down) are considered not nice terms to use, because thank goodness we have become a little more accepting of diversity in this culture than we used to be. And, incidentally, it does not matter if the group in question is prone to using the same word or phrase in reference to each other. It may be a double standard, but it clearly exists in our society. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/345 "2006-07-26T17:20:16Z")
[QUOTE=Scylla] I agree with you concerning the internet statement/misquote of Al Gore. I disagree with your Kerry example. I think Kerry’s Iraq stance is a major policy issue for the voters and the fact that it tended to change quite a bit and contradict itself was a valid criticism. [/QUOTE] I see you’re still holding onto and repeating that lie. I’m going to give you a quote and let’s see if you can guess whose words these are. . . > [@](#): > > Last October, Congress authorized the President to use force, **if necessary** , to protect American security and disarm Iraq. **It also called on the President to work with the U.N.** … > > … > > We all hope that we can achieve Iraqi disarmament **without war**. But given the blatant Iraqi defiance of the U.N. Security Council along with the threat to our security and that of our allies, we must be willing to act militarily. **I agree with analysts who believe that if Saddam Hussein is convinced we will go to war, he is likely to give up the weapons or accept exile** and take his multibillion dollar fortune with him. **Being prepared and willing to enforce compliance with U.N. resolutions actually reduces the chances of war.** If Saddam Hussein does change course and accept exile or disarmament, it will be only because he fears gathering allied forces that are ready and willing to act. > > **Our State Department has increasing responsibility to improve communications with citizens of all countries that have a stake in this and other pressing issues.** Sounds an awful lot – no, _exactly_ – like what John Kerry said his stance was. Were these John Kerry’s words, then? Why, NO! They were the words of **Republican Congressman Nick Smith** , as [spoken before the Committee on International Relations in February, 2003](http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/108/smit0212.htm). OMG, you mean there’s actual, you know, _truth_ behind the notion that John Kerry could’ve voted along with the rest of Congress to give the President the authorization to go to war **if necessary** , and that it was not, in fact, a vote “for” actually going to war? You mean it’s possible to believe that the mere threat of war might actually be a deterrant to war, even if you’re not a Democrat? It’s possible to believe that the President should have the authority to go to war, yet still believe that working with the U.N. _first_ would be the more prudent and appropriate action, even if you’re not a Democrat? It’s possible to believe, even as a Republican, that this is a true statement? (emphasis mine) . . . > [@](#): > > "If you want to keep the peace, you’ve got to have the authorization to use force. . . [T]his is a chance for Congress to indicate support. It’s a chance for Congress to say, we support the administration’s ability to keep the peace. _That’s_ what this is all about.‘’ You mean the vote on the Resolution was _not_ about going to war, but about trying to _keep the peace_?! 3 guesses whose words _those_ were? If you didn’t guess [George W. Bush](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020919-1.html), you guessed wrong! Once and for all, Get This Straight; **There was NO CONTRADICTION and no “change [of] stance” at all, on John Kerry’s part with regard to his position on the war in Iraq.** I should know better than to go ahead and post this, seeing as how you’re nothing but a partisan liar who’ll never admit or acknowledge the lies of your party, but the repetition of this particular lie pisses me off so much that I’m going to post it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/346 "2006-07-26T17:53:43Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] I think the usage in question is one that’s mostly common with teenagers. I’m less than half your age but I didn’t even notice the usage until relatively recently - probably after I graduated high school. But what I’m talking about is the general usage of “gay” to describe things that are bad - it’s not limited to things that are flamboyant or might be stereotypically associated with actual gay people. [/QUOTE] Are you telling me that “That’s so gay” now means bad the way “bad” started meaning good over twenty years ago (by which time I was already very much out of touch, even in my tender twenties)? Oh, god, why don’t I get the _memos_?!?!? But if some guy walked into my house, beautifully dressed and coiffed and buffed up to the max, promptly admired every flower arrangement and antique, commented on the outstanding color coordination, and then insisted on seeing if my wardrobe was similarly coordinated, humming showtunes between his frequent shrieks of “Fabulous!” (we ARE talking hypothetically here, given that I don’t have a flower arrangement anywhere in the house for starters!), that after he left, my looking at my friend, her looking at me, and one of us saying “That’s _so_ gay!” would _not_ be an insult? How am I supposed to keep track of this stuff??? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/347 "2006-07-26T18:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Are you telling me that “That’s so gay” now means bad the way “bad” started meaning good over twenty years ago (by which time I was already very much out of touch, even in my tender twenties)? Oh, god, why don’t I get the _memos_?!?!? But if some guy walked into my house, beautifully dressed and coiffed and buffed up to the max, promptly admired every flower arrangement and antique, commented on the outstanding color coordination, and then insisted on seeing if my wardrobe was similarly coordinated, humming showtunes between his frequent shrieks of “Fabulous!” (we ARE talking hypothetically here, given that I don’t have a flower arrangement anywhere in the house for starters!), that after he left, my looking at my friend, her looking at me, and one of us saying “That’s _so_ gay!” would _not_ be an insult? How am I supposed to keep track of this stuff??? [/QUOTE] If someone is a walking gay stereotype, remarking on it in a joking manner doesn’t seem like bad taste to me. But yeah, those damn kids today are using “gay” as an all-purpose pejorative - “That class is so gay” or whatever. It’s not reserved for things that one would stereotypically associate with gay people, and it’s definitely reserved for things that the person wants to express a specifically negative opinion about. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/348 "2006-07-26T18:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] But if some guy walked into my house, beautifully dressed and coiffed and buffed up to the max, promptly admired every flower arrangement and antique, commented on the outstanding color coordination, and then insisted on seeing if my wardrobe was similarly coordinated, humming showtunes between his frequent shrieks of “Fabulous!” (we ARE talking hypothetically here, given that I don’t have a flower arrangement anywhere in the house for starters!), that after he left, my looking at my friend, her looking at me, and one of us saying “That’s _so_ gay!” would _not_ be an insult? [/QUOTE] Btw, I should mention that despite two out of my two brothers being gay and many male gay friends throughout my life, I’ve never met one who had a particular fondness for showtunes, or used the word “Fabulous” in anything but a humorous context. While my oldest brother does work out and dress well, that probably has as much to do with the fact that he always has been pretty darned good-looking as anything else (the only one in the family who can claim that, I’m afraid…). The two other gay men I’m closest to dress neatly and like a total slob respectively. My oldest brother also has an incredible eye for color and decorating, but again, this was his professional field (VP of Marketing for a Home Depot type chain) for many years. The other two are unlikely to be able to tell you how many rooms were in the house they just walked out of, let alone anything about the decor. On the other hand, I’ve known some straight men who made Eva Gabor in her prime look masculine. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/349 "2006-07-26T18:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] If someone is a walking gay stereotype, remarking on it in a joking manner doesn’t seem like bad taste to me. But yeah, those damn kids today are using “gay” as an all-purpose pejorative - “That class is so gay” or whatever. It’s not reserved for things that one would stereotypically associate with gay people, and it’s definitely reserved for things that the person wants to express a specifically negative opinion about. [/QUOTE] Oh, that’s just SO weird! How is it that over the past ten-fifteen years, I now keep finding myself thinking “What are these kids \*coming \* to these days?” It all started with the pants with the crotches at the knees and nine inches of underwear showing above - a style guaranteed to make most people over thirty just \*itch \* to slap the wearer silly. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/350 "2006-07-26T18:11:45Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] I haven’t quite accustomed myself to geezer-hood (or whatever the female equivalent is, if geezers can only be men). [/QUOTE] Geezette. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/351 "2006-07-26T18:16:44Z")
And the particularly weird thing is that the kids who are using this term are probably the least homophobic generation ever; gayness has been openly discussed and ‘officially’ societally blessed (meaning it’s not good taste in social circumstances to express a negative opinion even if you are ignorant enough to have one) all of their lives. I’m not talking the ultra-righties here; they’re probably not going to use that terminology anyway - it might corrupt their infinite purity or something. Just the regular kids. How very strange. I can’t imagine my generation or the generation after mine (I grew up in the early sixties, having been born in 1956) to have ever said “That’s so black.” How very odd! ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/352 "2006-07-26T18:17:48Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Geezette. [/QUOTE] I like it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/353 "2006-07-26T18:36:23Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] Once and for all, Get This Straight; **There was NO CONTRADICTION and no “change [of] stance” at all, on John Kerry’s part with regard to his position on the war in Iraq.** [/QUOTE] ::applause:: Very nicely said, **Shayna**. I get _so_ tired of bozos claiming that voting for the resolution was a vote for war. ISTM that the only possible counterargument is, “You should have known, even then, that Bush was completely untrustworthy on such a grave matter.” And very few people of any note were making that claim in 2002. Hell, I don’t think I realized until maybe January 2003 that Bush was pretty much in “[It’s too late - I’ve already paid a month’s rent on the battlefield](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023969/quotes)” mode, and my skepticism of Bush was already rather pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/354 "2006-07-26T18:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] “You should have known, even then, that Bush was completely untrustworthy on such a grave matter.” [/QUOTE] How about people of no consequence, like me, who said as much _before_ the vote, and saw Bush for the lying sack of shit he was from a mile away. Sorry, I’ve finished making excuses for the Dems who voted in favor (I don’t bother with the Pubs, who I really expected nothing but the worst of anyway, which they have delivered faithfully). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/355 "2006-07-26T18:43:12Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Oh, that’s just SO weird! How is it that over the past ten-fifteen years, I now keep finding myself thinking "What are these kids \*coming \* to these days?"QUOTE] It’s not new. I heard this usage of “that’s so gay” when I was in school in the mid-1970s. And it was so common that none of us actually thought we were calling people homosexuals when we said it. It was understood as an exact synonym of “stupid,” and although it might have originated in an anti-homosexual sentiment, I don’t think any of us knew that. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/356 "2006-07-26T18:45:49Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] But yeah, those damn kids today are using “gay” as an all-purpose pejorative - “That class is so gay” or whatever. It’s not reserved for things that one would stereotypically associate with gay people, and it’s definitely reserved for things that the person wants to express a specifically negative opinion about. [/QUOTE] But it’s not exactly an all-purpose pejorative; its use seems to strongly overlap with that of ‘lame.’ And heaven knows there are plenty of pejoratives that have nothing in common with ‘lame.’ You can go to the dictionary and find words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have two completely unrelated meanings - they are regarded as _different words_, and will have separate listings in the dictionary, rather than being treated as variant meanings of the same word. Do we know which is really happening here? When I first heard the teens use ‘gay’ in the ‘lame’ sense, it didn’t seem to have anything at all to do with homosexuality, and I still don’t hear that intonation there. But maybe that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/357 "2006-07-26T19:03:20Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] You can go to the dictionary and find words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have two completely unrelated meanings - they are regarded as _different words_, and will have separate listings in the dictionary, rather than being treated as variant meanings of the same word. [/QUOTE] So gay is a homonym for gay. The mind quails, yet is not a flock of small gallinaceous birds. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/358 "2006-07-26T19:05:12Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] But it’s not exactly an all-purpose pejorative; its use seems to strongly overlap with that of ‘lame.’ And heaven knows there are plenty of pejoratives that have nothing in common with ‘lame.’ You can go to the dictionary and find words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have two completely unrelated meanings - they are regarded as _different words_, and will have separate listings in the dictionary, rather than being treated as variant meanings of the same word. Do we know which is really happening here? When I first heard the teens use ‘gay’ in the ‘lame’ sense, it didn’t seem to have anything at all to do with homosexuality, and I still don’t hear that intonation there. But maybe that’s just me. [/QUOTE] What do you think the origin of it is? And you really imagine it’s free of all such associations? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/359 "2006-07-26T19:16:09Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] What do you think the origin of it is? And you really imagine it’s free of all such associations? [/QUOTE] To be happy or carefree, right? Isn’t the intent at the time of its use the primary issue? Do you want for some reason to hang onto the motivations of _some_ of the users of the word some time in the past, calling “Homophobe! Homophobe!” whenever you hear it? If so, why? Why then do you hang onto a hatred of the mentally retarded, running around calling people morons? What other bigoted insults might turn up through a search of your posts, however you might have intended them at the time? I’m not a fan of the term “offenderati”, but that doesn’t mean that sometimes people are looking to pick a fight/to be offended about an issue. Sometimes it helps with the formation of identity to be hyperfocused on terms and qualities related to that identity. It helps to establish your status, both to others and to yourself, that you can be such a staunch defender. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036/360 "2006-07-26T19:16:45Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] What do you think the origin of it is? And you really imagine it’s free of all such associations? [/QUOTE] Isn’t that all really beside the point, anyway? As I said, if the gay folks are insulted by it, why would any reasonably decent person insist that it is ok to say it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-youre-not-at-a-frat-party-you-dick/365036.md?page=19)