Lawtechguy:
I realize you are gay. I realize that you associate the word with your sexuality. But you have gone a bit to far with it.
Lets have some examples.
Damn = A wall made to keep water in/out By adding a letter it supposidly is considered a curse word. Someone went a little to far wiht this.
******* = Donkey hole
Now come on, seriously, can you really be mad at someone for calling someone else this? It is only offensive, because someone decided to take offense to it.
***** = A dog that has had at least one litter of puppies.
Again, this is only offensive, because someone was too sensitive, and let it become offensive.
**** = *****.
Again a duck by any other name is still a duck. Why is **** offensive, but ***** isnt? Because someone was being too sensitive, and allowed it to get to them. They probably had to work really hard at makeing people think it wa soffensive, and then right wind idealists, forced it to become offensive.
***** = ******
See ****
Gay = Happy. Gay did not = homosexual, untill people began to associate the words. In fact im inclined to think that Gay's original definition, was actually someones nice way of describing a homosexual. "That guy is a little gay (meaning happy). Hes not like the rest of us".
So since your takeing Gay so far, lets think of some others you should also be against.
Fruit. Some people call homosexuals fruits. So anytime someone calls someone a fruit (i say this sometimes, and it has nothing to do with sexuality), then you should take a stand.
Fairy. Some people call homosexuals fairy's. Make sure you take a stand on that as well.
***. In Europe ***=Cigarette. So make sure you get on the Europeans abotu useing it.
Now I realize your beef is with people useing it in a derogatory manner. But what your doing is takeing a word, that originally had a different meaning, that society added a meaning to, and takeing it offensive.
So lets start a new trend right here right now.
The word Joy = Happy (to summarize). This is almost exactly the same meaning the word Gay originally had. From here on out, the word Joy is going to have a second meaning. Is is going to mean "Someone who lives in a trailer, spends all their money on alcohol, and beats their wife".
Instead of trailer trash, we will now call these people Joy. In a few years, society will adapt to this new meaning. And at that point your telling me people will have a right to be upset when someone calls them a Joy?
Im sorry, but you just cant steal a word, assign a meaning to it, and then be mad at people for useing it wrong (i say you, but im refering to the gay people who actually adopted this meaning to the word).
If your secure wiht your sexual preference, the word gay should have no affect on you. People useing it wrong should have no affect on you. Because in all actuality, when someone says something i gay, they mean
1: bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
2: full of or showing high-spirited merriment
3: given to social pleasures often including dissipation;
4: brightly colored and showy;
5: offering fun and gaiety;
IF your getting upset because people mis-use words, then you need to be equal about it. Theres thousands of words people mis-use daily here, in RL, everywhere. So if your so stuck on forceing people to use the proper words, dont restrict yourself to just the one that your offended by. Be fair and equal, and protect all words.
I know this was kind of long, but I have seen you go on about this mis-used word a few times. And im here to tell you your over reacting. Thats of course my opinion, and i attempted to back my opinion up with some facts. Take it or leave it, but i think if your going to take such a huge stand against something, you should take that stand for all words, and not just the one that suits you best.
P.S. Searchign the forums and rateing down all of someones posts, is a sure fire way to never rate anyone again. I had someoen do that to me, and they will never rate anyone again. Not to mention its rather pointless, and pathetic.