The new "gay", my $.02

   There is currently a hot debate over the term "gay". As in, "That movie was so gay", or, "My mom won't let me go to the party, she's being gay". In my opinion, it's just something else to get hot under the collar about and protest. Ironically, it seems to be the "straight" community who takes the most offense. Well, thanks for stepping up to the plate, but really, there's no need to get all popular-actress-in-a-commercial about it.


   As most of us know, "gay" used to mean "joyful", "carefree", "bright and showy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay). As a matter of fact, this was how the term "gay" was used for most of its existence (twelfth century-seventeenth century). In the late seventeenth century it came to mean "addicted to pleasures and dissipations." ( Oxford English Dictionary, entry for Gay.).   "In the early 19th Century it was used to refer to women who lived off immoral earnings," (Clive Upton, professor of Modern English Language at Leeds University). And then in the nineteen seventies it became a term to describe the homosexual lifestyle. 


   Nowadays it has taken on a different meaning; 

gay
	lame, not worthy of attention, waste of time, stupid or idiotic You're so gay! That was the lamest joke ever!

 (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gay&page=2)

   When you hear somebody referring to a movie as being gay, a joke as being gay, or the person telling the joke as being gay, they are not accusing the movie, joke, or jokester as being homosexual, they are saying it was "stupid", "lame", "boring" or just generally disliked.

   Even when I call my lgbt friends "gay", I'm not telling them they are homosexual, they already know that, I'm saying something they did or said was lame.

   Hey, speaking of lame, "lame" used to mean; 

lame

¹  noun

adjective

1.

crippled or physically disabled, especially in the foot or leg soas to limp or walk with difficulty.

2.

impaired or disabled through defect or injury: a lame arm. (1)


   Then; 

3.

weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory; clumsy: a lame excuse. (2)

   And THEN; 

4.  Slang . out of touch with modern fads or trends;unsophisticated. (3) [ (1), (2), and (3) all taken from  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lame )

   So do disabled people take offense when something is referred to as "lame"? Did happy people get pissed when the homosexuals took "gay"? And the next time someone says I look "killer", should I come up with an alibi? :P

   The English language is ever evolving. If it didn't we'd be saying, "Wherefore art thou?" instead of  "Where you at?" ;) Come on now people, get with it. :P