you know how much i love that expression, right? almost as much as i like being kneed in the groin. sadly, i hear it all the time; at work (albeit infrequently), in the subway, at Squirt's softball games, and in my parent's dining room. it's an expression that has become synonymous with "that's so completely uncool" or, simply, "lame".
well, the other day i was surfing around Blogger, when i came across this blog entry, and felt compelled to comment. i won't bore you on my stance, since i'm sure you know how i feel by now. i am going to tell you that after a volley of comments with another blogger on the aforementioned blog (and several other comments, from other bloggers, which i urge you to read), i've decided to take back the expression and turn it around. i'm going to use it like a gay person to reflect what is "gay":
anger. frustration. humor. music. irony. being femme. being butch. being loud. being scared to death. being scared of death. being alone. being surrounded by people that are more family than friends.
over the last year, this blog has come to reflect me and my attitude about what's going on in the world around me. about a month ago, had a post where i wondered if i was too gay. a month later, i'm pretty sure i'm not. i'm pretty sure that there's really no such thing. therefore, i'm changing my blog's title to That's So Gay, 'cuz the more i think about it the more i realize that this blog is really really gay.
btw: i want to hear what you think, about the expression "that's so gay"....
"Fags are a hoot"~ Karen Walker (Will & Grace)
3 comments:
Funny,
When I use the "that's so gay", I use it to denote something that is intrisically gay. "like the new Armistad Maupin book." That truely is SO gay.
But I do concur with you when I hear a kid saying it and thinking it's a "negative" thing. I find it offensive and the younger the child the more offensive the remark sounds. I mean, after all, at that young age, who is teaching them to talk like that?
So I don't think the expression is the evil part. It's people not taking responsibility for what they're actually saying.
I. HATE. IT.
I was recently with a really good straight friend of mine who used it in front of his other straight friends without even thinking...and then when I finally said something to him he said: "You know I don't mean anything by it...but they get it...and they don't mean to be mean...but it's just the way we describe things we don't like."
I was floored. He tried to explain that he liked and cared about me, but gay still meant bad or that it sucks. So, yah.
But do black people find it offensive to hear the term "black heart" or "black soul?"
I ask not to provoke, but because someone asked that question on my blog. And I was a bit stumped. Is it the same thing? I just don't know.
Above all else, I am fascinated by language and the way it evolves -- I mean look at the word "gay" and how its meaning is completely different than what it was 50 years ago, by way of example. Even "fuck" is not nearly the word it used to be because it has become so ubiquitous and so multi-purposed.
It is the linguistic evolution of the word "gay" and others like it that I find interesting.
However, if even one gay person takes offence that it's used to denote lameness, than that's enough for me to cease ever thinking of using it in that way.
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