Words and its definitions have been constantly changing since the beginning of the English Language. Some jump back and forth between definitions over time and many have dual meaning that are still debated or misunderstood till this day. I believe that people are the cause for the misperception of certain words and their definitions. Most debated words are ones that can be offensive if taken in the negative connotation. I believe that these changes or misperceptions of the definition certain word indicates negative things about our language and our culture as a whole. ‘Gay’ is a word that I find to be misperceived in a bad way. I, however, do not find it offensive at all. It goes by what the definition says it is in the dictionary and if people can not handle that then that is their problem.
The word ‘gay’ has two common definitions ever since it was introduced in the English Language. It first appeared around 1310 used as an adjective meaning: of persons, their attributes and actions, full of or dispersed to joy and mirth, manifesting or characterized by joyous mirth, light-hearted, exuberantly cheerful, sportive, and merry. Clearly at first there was no derogatory use of this word in anyway. The first rather negative definition of the word occurred around the 1930s when it meant a homosexual. Still, this definition is just a noun and I think it is the same as saying a whale is a mammal. It is just another term for the word and not as specific. Gay began to be used as a verb around 1950 and it meant to make gay, to give a bright and pleasant look to, or to embellish. Again, nothing came to my attention that this word should be debated or misunderstood as anything negative. The first real bad use of this word occurred around 1978 when it meant foolish, stupid, socially disapproving. However, this was used in slang English. Nowadays, it has become very popular and used in everyday conversation. The two main definitions people apply with the word gay these days are foolish, stupid and homosexual. Personally, I believe that this word should stick to its original two meanings and leave the slang one out, because that is what I believe started the misconception of the word to begin with.
In order for me to have found out what people thought whether this word was derogatory or not was to survey several of my friends. Out of the 25 I questioned, 13 thought it was always used as a derogatory term, 7 did not believe so, and only 5 believed that it depended upon the context of the word. The 5 believed that it was not negative when it meant something of a homosexual-like nature; however, they did believe it was derogatory when it meant that someone was stupid or socially disapproving. Because of these numbers and surveys, I firmly believe that it depends upon the individual and how he approaches the meaning of the word. In my case, I do not find it offensive in anyway. When people tell me that I am gay, I do not mind it at all because I find it a foolish thing to call someone. Whenever any of my friends use it, it usually is a joke and never hurts anyone at all. People tend to just brush it to the side and forget it ever happened.
Though I believe that this is not a derogatory term, I think that it gives a negative view about our language and culture. First of all, gay has no definitive derogatory term in the Websters dictionary so why should it be taken in that way. But many native English speaking people nowadays have made this out to be hurtful to other people. I still can not comprehend how the definition of the word started out to mean lively, cheerful, and exuberant to being foolish and idiotic. This change in definition over time proves to me that our culture can be seen as debasing and demeaning to people. Our culture has always been viewed as angry and violent by others, and I believe that it all began with our diction and that this one word is one bit of evidence to prove it.
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5 comments:
I think it is going to be really cool to look at all the papers on the word gay but I also think that this means it's going to be tougher on the grading. I enjoyed reading what you have so far in your paper and look forward to seeing more of it. The main things I noticed in your paper was that you don't really address much of the opposing side. If you are gay, and gay is used as a negative connotation in our society then wouldn't this be offensive to you? I think you could also address some issues of what could have made the word gay go from extremely positive to negative- examples might be the media. You could look into different sources that use it in a sentence and show those sentences in your paper to give more examples of the word usage. I think you have a lot of potential for the paper!!
Because several students are doing the term 'gay' it would be smart to check out their papers and try to make an original opposing arguement that has not been addressed.
A few minor things. In the middle of your paper some of your word choices, like 'people', are repetitive and I am easily lost. Instead of using 'people' try using 'society' or 'citizens'. Changing those few minor words will make your body paragraphs really stand out.
Another thing: don't be afraid to use more than one or two sources. It may be a little late, but try to use a varity of sources. This small detail will add more depth to your arguements and will give you more ideas.
Other than that, you have a good paper going for you.
Even gay people use the word gay in disrespectful, and bad ways. I do not think that it is that big of a deal when used to talk about certain objects.
The survey you did, did you by chance find any homosexuals to take the survey? That would give you a real idea of how it either hurts or doesnt. I realize that you would only be able to survey the ones who are very open about their sexuality but still. I think you would be supprised on how homosexuals view the different words that surround it.
I have noticed that there is kind of a stepping stone to how gay someone is to the term that applys to them. I know this is insane but it is how it really works.
The paper overall is well written, you probably should have split some of the paragraphs up for the blog post but I think your OK. Dont forget to talk a little more about the history because there is pleanty. And dont be tied to just the dictionary uses, plenty of gay right campains, huge steps in congress on the marrige ban and other places have used the word gay to mean a lot more than homosexual.
I WISH I WOULD HAVE CHOOSE THIS WORD NOW
I am also doing a paper on the word gay. I agreed completley with you on the changing of the words meaning. I however believe that there are many things about the word gay that can be offensive. Mr. Barnette also metioned to me to have more of a focus on the historical meaning of the word gay and to not focus so much on its modern adaptation of using it to mean something is stupid. Otherwise I think that you have great evidence and argument in your paper.
I'd say you've gotten good comments here, so certainly you ought to take them into consideration.
One other thing I'd point out is that you seem to say, on the one hand, that the meaning of the word "depends upon the individual," but on the other hand that you can appeal to Webster's dictionary to find out the true meaning. This seems like a contradiction, so which is it?
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