“‘Gay’ is his new favorite adjective.”
“As in, he assigns sexual orientation to inanimate objects?”
“No, ‘gay’ as in bad or undesirable. The meaning has evolved.”
I was speechless, which is unusual. I literally could not think of anything to say to counter my mother’s assertion that it was perfectly okay to use homosexuality as an insult. She certainly speaks up whenever the person in question uses femininity as a slur–somehow calling something or someone a ‘pussy’ or ’sissy’ is horribly wrong, but blatantly using ‘gay’ in a derogatory way doesn’t even register on her radar. Looking back, I should have suggested this comparison.
‘Cunt,’ ‘pussy,’ ’sissy,’ etc. imply weakness or dirtiness because of femininity; in my mind, saying ‘that’s so gay’ when you could say ‘that’s so bad’ is similar. No corresponding male- or heterosexual-based insults exist; ‘cock’, ‘dick,’ and the like spring to mind, but those words are associated with meanness or arrogance. Le sigh.
