Is it wrong to change the meaning of gay?

Autumnleaf · May 31, 2010

Gay used to mean happy. Gaylord used to be a name a man could carry with heterosexual pride. Now, sadly, those days are behind us for most heterosexual men. Am I the only one who recognizes the travesty here? The miscarriage of justice that has been done by manipulating the meaning of the beloved succinct word, "gay".

QuakerOats · May 31, 2010

Lots of words that once meant one thing, now [can] mean something else. Words or phrases typically perpetuated by youth are a good example. Dope, wicked, cool, hot, etc., are all good examples. Another example is 'mad.' At one time, it simply referred to someone whom people considered 'crazy,' now it's often used to refer to someone who's angry. All of these words, however, can still be used to mean what they once meant, including 'gay.' It's all about context. I don't think it's a 'miscarriage of justice' at all, just a language shift that tends to happen with every generation or so.

Mr. Ripley · May 31, 2010

You weep for the days when a man could take up the title "gaylord" with pride? Try ubermensch. It's got much punch.

EnemyPartyII · May 31, 2010

AINDERBY QUERNHOW (n.)

One who continually bemoans the 'loss' of the word 'gay' to the English
language, even though they had never used the word in any context at all
until they started complaining that they couldn't use it any more.

Douglas Adams; The meaning of Liff Douglas Adams. The Meaning of Liff

Autumnleaf · May 31, 2010

EnemyPartyII said:

The meaning isn't lost. Its changed.

Eudaimonist · May 31, 2010

Homer: They turned the Navy into a floating joke. They ruined all our best names like Bruce and Lance and Julian. Those were the toughest names we had! Now they're just...
John: Queer?
Homer: Yeah, and that's another thing! I resent you people using that word. That's our word for making fun of you! We need it!

eudaimonia,

Mark

lux et lex · May 31, 2010

Anti Choice people have changed the meaning of the word "murder". If that's okay, it's perfectly fine to change the meaning of "gay".

Maren · May 31, 2010

Better yet, is it ethical that the meaning of "awful" has done a 180? The word used to mean "filled with awe" (check dictionary definition) but now is used to mean "extremely disagreeable or objectionable".

The meaning of words (how they are used by people) change over time. Ethics has nothing to do with it.

OllieFranz · May 31, 2010

Maren said:
Better yet, is it ethical that the meaning of "awful" has done a 180? The word used to mean "filled with awe" (check dictionary definition) but now is used to mean "extremely disagreeable or objectionable".

The meaning of words (how they are used by people) change over time. Ethics has nothing to do with it.

Or the word "nice." If Chaucer called a person nice, it was no compliment. He was either calling him a pervert or a pr**k.

But back to "gay" as homosexual, it is much older than most people realize, and it is a completely different word from "gay" as happy. The first comes from the Scottish, and the second from the French. And the spelling has only been the same since the mid 20th century. Before then, the proper spelling for "gay" as homosexual was "gey." Perhaps we should revert to that spelling.

It is just a coincidence that the gey community in New York's Greenwich village was centered on the intersection of Christopher and Gay Streets just as it is that Philadelphia's gay district is centered on Queen Street.

trunks2k · May 31, 2010

OllieFranz said:
just as it is that Philadelphia's gay district is centered on Queen Street.

Huh? The gay section of Philadelphia isn't on Queen St. It's in the square, called the "Gayborhood", created roughly by 11th, Broad, Sansom, and Spruce St. Queen St is nowhere near that. Never heard of Queen st as a gay section of Philadelphia.

Autumnleaf · May 31, 2010

Maren said:
Better yet, is it ethical that the meaning of "awful" has done a 180? The word used to mean "filled with awe" (check dictionary definition) but now is used to mean "extremely disagreeable or objectionable".

The meaning of words (how they are used by people) change over time. Ethics has nothing to do with it.

Ethics has everything to do with it. Its just plain wrong to go carelessly manipulating the meaning of words on an unsuspecting public. You tell the old fellow whose parents named him Gaylord long ago how changing the meaning of gay is of no moral consequence.

lighthouse_hope · May 31, 2010

Autumnleaf said:
The meaning isn't lost. Its changed.

Why aren't you speaking Saxon? Why am I not speaking Latin? Change, that's life.

lighthouse_hope · May 31, 2010

Autumnleaf said:
Ethics has everything to do with it. Its just plain wrong to go carelessly manipulating the meaning of words on an unsuspecting public. You tell the old fellow whose parents named him Gaylord long ago how changing the meaning of gay is of no moral consequence.

Can you single out who did it?

OllieFranz · May 31, 2010

trunks2k said:
Huh? The gay section of Philadelphia isn't on Queen St. It's in the square, called the "Gayborhood", created roughly by 11th, Broad, Sansom, and Spruce St. Queen St is nowhere near that. Never heard of Queen st as a gay section of Philadelphia.

I was told that the gay district was centered on Queen Street with a secondary presence in the neighborhood of Rittenhouse Square. Apparently I was misinformed. I apologize.

The Penitent Man · May 31, 2010

lux et lex said:
Anti Choice people have changed the meaning of the word "murder". If that's okay, it's perfectly fine to change the meaning of "gay".

What has the meaning of "murder" been changed to?

And what does Anti-Choice mean?

lux et lex · May 31, 2010

The Penitent Man said:
What has the meaning of "murder" been changed to?

And what does Anti-Choice mean?

Anti choice...against abortion being a choice. Apparently murder now means any sort of killing instead of "an unlawful/illegal killing with malice aforethought"

david_x · May 31, 2010

Autumnleaf said:
Gay used to mean happy. Gaylord used to be a name a man could carry with heterosexual pride. Now, sadly, those days are behind us for most heterosexual men. Am I the only one who recognizes the travesty here? The miscarriage of justice that has been done by manipulating the meaning of the beloved succinct word, "gay".

What! the meaning of an English word changed! What a travesty!

The Penitent Man · May 31, 2010

lux et lex said:
Anti choice...against abortion being a choice. Apparently murder now means any sort of killing instead of "an unlawful/illegal killing with malice aforethought"

Ahh, I see.

The Penitent Man · May 31, 2010

Living languages are always changing. There is a word that used to mean "rooster" but has since because a vulgar anatomical reference. Go figure.

Speculative · May 31, 2010

This thread is gay.

Is it wrong to change the meaning of gay?

Legend

— ♥ — Living in Love — ♥ —

The New Fad Outrage

Well-Known Member

Legend

I believe in life before death!

light and law

Veteran

Senior Member

Contributor

Legend

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

the penitent man shall pass

light and law

I So Hate Consequences!!!!

the penitent man shall pass

the penitent man shall pass

Senior Veteran

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency