SPLIT topic: Etymology or osmethne

Subject: Re: dude

pitu wrote: [quote=nodirection]that's gay.
just joshing.

you're going to have to come up with something better than that, dude

not to mention, that is soooooo not a gay boy list!
or
(if in fact armchair *is* a 12 year old girl)
not a lesbian list.

*giggles like a 12 year old school girl.

Subject: Re: dude

nodirection wrote: that's gay.
just joshing.

just a reminder: gay is a NOUN, not and adjective.

armchair_warrior wrote: i basiclly listen to lesbian music :P.

kitten, I speak from experience
no you don't

Subject: Re: dude

doctorj wrote: [quote=brooklynpotter][quote=nodirection]that's gay.
just joshing.

just a reminder: gay is a NOUN, not and adjective.

Since when? Have you checked a dictionary? It was certainly an adjective before it started getting used as a noun. Unless you're refering to the archæic noun: "a gay" meaning "an ornament".

In English, as in various languages, we regularly drop a generic noun (such as "people") and effectively use an adjective as if it were a noun. For example: the rich, the poor, the unemployed, the straight, the gay. In this way, "gay person" has been shortened to "gay" and the adjective has been getting a workout as a noun lately, but I can't imagine what agenda would make you want to pick at someone's grammatically correct use of it as an adjective.

I don't object to all sorts of grammatical horrors on the boards, but I strongly object to someone mis-correcting someone's perfectly fine grammar.

also worth noting that the use of such substantives of personal category can be pejorative in tone, e.g. "isn't he a gay" or "the gays aren't just happy, you know".

in fact, it's on the whole safer just to use it as an adjective. but not a mean one. because, if nothing else, the playground useage of gay to mean lame is just plain old inaccurate.

ok, then let me re-phrase: i find the use of the word "gay" as an adjective to be, for lack of a better term, offensive and insulting.

brooklynpotter wrote: ok, then let me re-phrase: i find the use of the word "gay" as an adjective to be, for lack of a better term, offensive and insulting.

Not to mention juvenile.

I think this is a much clearer explanation of what you were getting at, btw, although I'm guessing you meant you find the use of the word "gay" as an insulting adjective.

brooklynpotter wrote: [quote=apollonia666][quote=brooklynpotter]ok, then let me re-phrase: i find the use of the word "gay" as an adjective to be, for lack of a better term, offensive and insulting.

Not to mention juvenile.

I think this is a much clearer explanation of what you were getting at, btw, although I'm guessing you meant you find the use of the word "gay" as an insulting adjective.

yes, an insulting adjective. for example, my old computer, an imac, was the "flower power" version; instead of a color on the back it was a flowery pattern. i liked it, but knew a lot of others thought it was silly or wimpy. one person said it was "gay", which i find offensive. esp. since i don't know ANY gay men who'd want a flowery computer.
The adjective "gay" as juvenile slang for "lame" is objectionable. The adjective "gay" meaning "homosexual" is simply accurate.

EDIT: Actually, the term "lame" as a synonym for "crappy" should be equally objectionable as a slur against the disabled.

Carnivore wrote:
EDIT: Actually, the term "lame" as a synonym for "crappy" should be equally objectionable as a slur against the disabled.

And "crappy" is a slur against people suffering bowel dysfunction through no fault of their own. See -- we can't win.

But I do wish the weather were a little more bright and gay today.

that's interesting emilym; i've noticed something similar. it is, however, not my favorite trend of all time, for just the reason you note: that the people using the word are rarely the ones who might remember the feeling of intense nausea from the un-ironic grade school usage.

that said, though, gay IS an adjective. not that there's anything wrong with that.

armchair_warrior wrote: i been hearing the word gay being use in the gaming world since like the late 90's alot. they use it to death. it's one of the most common words we use to describe games that is lame and sucks.

its also spelled ghey in teh gaming world .

Maybe we shouldn't take our cues for appropriate discourse from 12 year-old boys.

armchair_warrior wrote: i been hearing the word gay being use in the gaming world since like the late 90's alot. they use it to death. it's one of the most common words we use to describe games that is lame and sucks.

its also spelled ghey in teh gaming world .

ghey?

(since I'm not a 12 year old boy girl or trans gamer...)

yes ghey, some gamers want to distance themsleves with the word gay. its just like the n word. so they spelled it sometimes as ghey.

there are gaymers out there you know . hehe.

guys can we get a split topic here :P. you know this thread got hijacked hehe.

heights249 wrote: So this may help explain some things - now in the gaming "world" is the also spelled as teh?

no :P the world "the" and "teh" its teh cool way of writing it plus its a very common mistake. but in the gaming world the word "teh" is very cool to use.

you use it in titles.

"teh snake and bird" story book title etc...

heights249 wrote: So this may help explain some things - now in the gaming "world" is the also spelled as teh?

According to Wikipedia:

Besides being an alternate spelling of the, "teh" also has grammatical properties not generally applied to "the"; in general, it is used somewhat like an intensified "the".

(snip, snip...)

Furthermore, "teh" is sometimes used in front of a verb in a novel form of gerund. The best-known example of this is the word "suck". Thus, the phrase "this sucks" can be converted into "this is teh suck"; the word "pwn" can be similarly converted ("teh pwn"). Another common variation is "teh ghey". These phrases can be declinated further, such as "teh sux0rz", or "teh pwnage", yet another evolution of this lingual phenomenon. The above phrases are primarily used by the computer gaming community, and often intended humorously.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh

And the etymology of ghey:

Originally gaming slang. Possibly invented in order to bypass profanity filters in chat rooms or messageboards.

Adjective

1. (Internet) slang spelling of gay chiefly used in pejorative senses

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghey

And finally, you can learn more about leet here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet