Gonzomax, you’re usually a pretty firmly left-wing poster, so perhaps I was mistaken in hanging the full spectrum of left-wing beliefs on you, but you really did surprise and disappoint me with this thread.
Seriously, describing the standard show cut for poodles as “faggy” (in the thread title, no less!) and “fagafied”? First of all, why is something fancy and impractical supposed to be gay? Second of all, I can guarantee you that the vast majority of owners of show poodles are heterosexual. Third of all, even if your characterization of the show cut as being typical of gay men were true, is there a particular reason to use the words you used?
I find it hard to believe that you don’t understand just how kick-in-the-gut that word is when uttered or posted by a straight person. You wouldn’t characterize the frizzy natural coat of a poodle as “niggery”, would you? You wouldn’t characterize the curve of a parrot’s beak as “kikey”, would you?
You need to think things through before you post, sir…if you were going for humor, you missed the target.
You’re not very familiar with gonzomax’s posting style, are you? He is second only to the departed Handy for off-the-cuff-and-most-likely-to-be-completely-wrong posts in the history of this message board.
It’s a mistake, in my humble view, to feel that because a poster has “reliably left wing” views, he (or she) is a paragon of intelligence or consideration.
I had an online friend from Spain, in another forum, whose username was Kike. No, not the insulting term for Jew that your first reaction probably envisioned – it was pronounced “Kee-kay,” and was his little brother’s attempt to say his real name, Enrique, which he’d adopted as a unique nickname.
Which reminds me, in a stream-of-consciousness way, of the girl I went to high school with whose surname was McQueer, and also of former San Diego Padres outfielder Ethan Faggett (who of course had a mostly unfabulous social life).
A gay assassin in the book “The Eiger Sanction” had a small dog named Faggot. When an empty-headed woman inquired about this unusual name, the dog owner explained that it was because “he’s a bundle of nerves”. “Oh, how interesting!” the woman exclaimed.
Somehow I don’t think that exchange made it to the movie version.
I’m not surprised that gonzomax said something stupid. I am mildly surprised that he said something that’s stupid in this specific manner. I am not particularly disappointed, though. Being disappointed requires one to expect something from the subject, and I stopped expecting anything useful from gonzomax years ago.
I grew up in the go-go 80s and 90s, where the proper slang for something lame or stupid was “gay”. I have no anti-homosexual feelings, and I completely understand how that would be construed as insulting to gay people.
But I just can’t stop using it. I use the word “gay” all the time. This is gay, that’s gay, etc., etc. Strangely, I never use it to refer to people (even when they’re lame or stupid) and never use it to describe behavior that would be homosexual…
So, is using “gay” hurtful to gay people?
ETA: I never say “fag” or “faggot” unless I’m trying to be funny and refer to a cigarette that way…
Well think about it. When you say something is gay are you generally trying to put it down? Of course, you are never referring to something as gay as to compliment or in a neutral way, like saying something is red or green. It is meant in a derraugatory way toward whatever. It associates being gay with sojmething less than desirable. You never say, “That’s so gay.” if you want to compliment something, I presume.
Right - I get that part. I was just wondering if a random gay person would hate me forever if I said something like “I can’t believe they’re charging $5 extra for popcorn butter - that’s gay.”
That word is just so far disconnected from homosexuality for me, I have a hard time judging its actual offensive value. In the same way that gay used to = happy, for me, gay doesn’t = anything about homosexuality to me…
