“Gah! We can’t say anything offensive anymore! But it’s so much fun! …What? Oh, well, if you want to get technical, we can, but someone will try to shut us up! …Oh, okay, you’re right, they can’t shut us up per se, they’ll just say they’re upset. Why don’t they just shut up about being upset?!”
Matt:
I believe you may have misread my post. I’m on your side of this one.
gobear, I apologise. Not for the first time in my life, I have let the lure of a piece of smart-alec humour cloud my judgement. It wasn’t intended as an attack, btw. I originally intended to use the familiar figure of speech and posted a revised version because it struck me as funnier.
In excuse I can only say that, though faggot is by no means a term of endearment in the circles I’m used to, neither is it an out-and-out hate word, and since I would neither bottle someone nor hit them with a chain for the crime :rolleyes: of being gay, I find it hard to remember that other people do, or what they say when they do it.
Once again, I apologise for the bad word. Your moderate and reasoned response deserves nothing less.
Best,
M.
One of the things I love the most about this board is that it is completely unlike other general interest boards I’ve been to. There’s an overall lack of the kind of boorish, idiotic behavior that I find on other boards when it comes to gays or lesbians. (Heck, I won’t even mention my orientation in passing, because I know it’ll result in at least one or two assholes offering to participate or telling me how sick I am.) And I think a lot of the difference is because this board has more vocal homosexual posters who aren’t afraid to call foul when someone makes a nasty or just smartassed comment.
Right on, Esprix, and matt_mcl, and andygirl, and all the other posters who are here and queer.
Malacandra and Gary Kumquat, thank you.
It’s down to the old cultural difference (see the “cunt” thread) again.
I too am chastened by gobear’s comments. But just to show that the word “faggot” can raise a smile in US gay circles, I quote from Eve in the thread I cited:
Quite aside from which, what’s wrong with being a screechy hissy drama queen anyhow?
Don’t get me wrong, mearlchan. gobear reasonably invited me to distance myself from the kind of language associated with gay-bashing, as in for-real physical assault - and as I despise anything of the sort, I was more than happy to apologise unreservedly.
The behaviour alluded to in the OP however is another kettle of fish…
jjimm, there’s also a reference in LOtR (“The Ring Goes South”) to “the last faggot was thrown on the fire”. That gave me a chuckle the last time I read it… I hope I don’t really need to insert a disclaimer here?
I read the other thread and I don’t see where the offence came from.
Maybe I’ll try and look again.
Spoken by someone unfamiliar with Bobby Trendy. 
My post wasn’t responding to your faggot comment. It was just a general response that I don’t see anything bad about Esprix’s behavior, and in fact I’d rather see overzealousness in opposing rude and homophobic remarks than see them posted all over the place.
As for jjimm’s comment, I think the reason that was so funny is because it’s also a bit shocking. Sort of like finding out “nigger” is a food product in another language. Members of the group the word is aimed at might find it funny amongst themselves, but it really is a VERY nasty word in the US. Probably the worst word used towards gay people.
Gosh, I kind of like the word “faggot.” I especially like the variation in pronunciation one can get. My two favorites are the very clipped and the streched out “faaaa-git.”
Now “fag” I don’t like. Probably because the nasal a most midwesterners give it make the word sound somehow…incomplete to my ear.
Are we finished now?
Esprix
Oh please… do you want that indexed? Better yet have pity on the message board, even hamsters on steroids have their limits.
The OP was amusing. Didn’t get the pun though, dunno what faggot is besides a slur. By the way if Esprix could get over himself, that would be nice.
Evidently not.
Esprix
Yeah. Don’t you hate those threads that don’t end when you personally want them to. The horror.
Yes imagine what this board would be like if all threads ended when one participant was done talking.
What, exactly, was the point here? To prove him right one example at a time? Jesus Christ. Never mind that every single self-identified lesbian in the other thread agreed that lame “lesbian in a man’s body” joke was hugely offensive to them. Let’s pit Esprix over it anyway.
Can I switch sides? The company over here sucks. I’m not gay, but I am willing to learn.
You’d better go look again Miller. For one Cadbury-Angel said she agreed it was stupid but not worth a pitting or a hysterical claim of hateful ignorance.
Thought they made their own. (rimshot)
For a change I plan to stay out of the “one man’s drama queen is another man’s freedom fighter” discussion except for suggesting we do an FAQ with all of the offensive terms and jokes so Pit threads can be limited to “Dear USERX, please see FAQ 6.1b.”
However, count me as yet another parochial Yank who only knows three definitions for “faggot” and who considers none of them edible, even with gravy. I would love to be able to get that pun but I cannot.