H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°Many people argue that our generation of college students is a demographic known for outrageous fashion choices, addiction to drugs and alcohol, and an unwavering habit of watching lots of television and playing lots of videogames. It seems to me that too much attention is being paid to what we wear and do and not nearly enough on what comes out of our mouths on a daily basis.
It will not take long in an average student’s day here at UW to hear someone refer to something — whether an outfit, a bad grade on a test or their disdain — as “gay.” Every time I hear someone say “gay” in this context, I cringe. We attend one of the best public universities in the country. Why, then, are we lowering ourselves with such ignorant, uneducated habits?
Other slang words that our generation has become accustomed to using are nowhere near as offensive and inappropriate as the use of the word “gay.” It is just as inappropriate as calling someone “retarded,” a middle school fad that seems, fortunately, to have faded out of our daily rhetoric. As for using “gay” as just another adjective, there are two main arguments to consider.
First, if you were, in fact, homosexual, would you want everything negative to be labeled as “gay?” As elementary as this may seem, do unto others as you wish done unto you. You don’t see students running around campus calling the bad party or bad weather “straight.”
Second, if you try to justify the use of the word “gay” in examples such as, “Oh, that test was so gay,” I am sure you will run into difficulty. Does your test have a sexual preference? I think not. Why not just take the extra minute to explain, intelligently for that matter, why you are so angry about the test? Was it hard? Was it unfair? Possibly. Nevertheless, it certainly was not gay.
Back in middle school, I remember that the boys in my class would constantly refer to the grade outcasts as “fags.” Anything they did was automatically “gay.” Over the years, it became a hard habit to kick. I challenge you to consider this: you have just graduated from UW and you have spent part of your savings on a brand new suit to wear to a job interview for your dream job. Upon sitting down you realize how nervous you are and how your palms are dripping with sweat. The employer asks you to explain your one poor grade on your transcript, and you reply, “Oh that class was gay.” From that point on, it really doesn’t matter what comes out of your mouth. Any right-minded employer would immediately excuse you from his or her office and wonder how on earth you managed to graduate from such a highly regarded institution with absolutely no idea how to speak appropriately and sensitively.
Okay, so many of you who use “gay” in your daily vocabulary would know better than to say it during an job interview. If this is the case, then why not stop saying it altogether? It brings absolutely nothing to a conversation. In fact, whenever I hear someone use the word “gay” in a context that makes no sense, I stop, tune out the conversation and honestly wonder why I am bothering with this human being who clearly is so out of touch with the real world.
I am okay with our parents and our teachers passing judgments on what we wear and how we spend our free time. I’m even okay with admitting we all probably do dress strangely on occasion,and we probably all do drink a little bit too much. I am not okay, though, with being labeled as out of touch, ignorant and insensitive. Next time you are about to say that something is “gay,” please stop and think: is it straight, too?
Emily Friedman ([email protected]) is a sophomore intending to major in journalism.
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Emily, your piece was totally straight-on! Uh, wait…it was…it was totally…wait, give me a minute…it’s on the tip of my tongue…
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Two points. One, if the gay community wants everyone to stop using the word gay, they have to stop using the words in an altered version of the way straight people do. My gay friends call everything gay and call each other f*gs all the time. I’m sorry, but if the gay community is going to do that and have so much fun with it, then I’m not going to change my language.
Two, making the world PC does not make it a more tolerant or better place. It just cuts down the langauge, making a real dialogue about the issues more difficult.
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“My gay friends call everything gay and call each other f*gs all the time. I’m sorry, but if the gay community is going to do that and have so much fun with it, then I’m not going to change my language.”
Consider this parallel: do your black friends call each other “nigga”? Would you do the same?
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Here’s the parallel and where it holds up. If gay people call each other f*gs I still do not. A derogatory noun that is directed explicitly at a member of a group is too going too far, even if that group’s members use it amongst themselves.
However, “nigga” cannot be used as an adjective. You can’t say “That is so ‘nigga’” but you can and quite possibly do say, “That is so ghetto,” typically implying that something, negatively or positively, reflects poor, inner city, African American neighborhoods. Just as many people say, “That is so gay.” My main issue with this is people believe that eradicating the language will be a major piece in the puzzle to solving the problem. That just is not true.
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great article. should have been in print.
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You know, I’d heard all kinks of stories about the PC scene here in Madison long before I thought I’d ever move here. I wanted to believe that those stories were just wild exaggerations of what Madison is really like. Now that I do live here I’m like “These people are friggin’ nuts!” Sly gets slammed for calling Colin Powell an “Uncle Tom” and Condoleeza Rice an “Aunt Jemima.” African-Americans call those two people the same thing in the same context. If Sly were African-American himself, no one would give it a second thought.
I read on the Internet this weekend where A Catholic priest in Los Angeles was forced to apologize to his students for telling them there is no Santa Claus. Okay, now it’s gotten completely out of hand!
Madison liberals, do you see what you have begun? You’re the ones who started it all. Are you proud of yourselves? Do you feel that you have made the world a more hospitable place? It would have been nice if you would’ve stuck with the more obvious, more blatant verbal assaults, but blowing up over everything everyone says just to get them fired, expelled, evicted or even arrested just because it may be borderline offensive is just asking for backlash!
If you don’t want to hear offensive language, then stop using it yourselves!
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Good logic, blaming Madison liberals for something that happened in LA. PC didn’t start here, it just got out of hand here.
“If Sly were African-American himself, no one would give it a second thought.” This is true, but it doesn’t make it ok to make racist comments like that. Especially since to be racist, you have to be saying something about someone outside of your own race. The reason African-Americans and gays use the words “nigga” and “fag” is to change the implied meaning of the word, which obviously they failed to do so. Because stupid homophobes and racists still use the words for derogatory reasons.
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“PC didn’t start here, it just got out of hand here.”
Wrong! PC started right here.
“Especially since to be racist, you have to be saying something about someone outside of your own race.”
C’mon, you idiot, it’s the same word regardless! Just because it’s used to refer to one’s own race or another’s does not instantly change the meaning of the word! “Nigga” and “fag” were intended to be derogatory right from the beginning. Do you hear heterosexuals referring to themselves as “heteros” or “breeders”? Do you hear white people refer to themselves as “honkies” or “patio boys”? Those words are offensive too, and that’s why they don’t use them on themselves.
To me, the whole idea behind double-standerds is to try to entrap people just so you can hassle them. It’s just another sign that some people find it more enjoyable to hate than to get along. And not all those people are white, male or heterosexual either.
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Your PC obsession is really gay.
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Give me proof PC started here in Madison.
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“Give me proof PC started here in Madison.”
Are you stupid?! What do you think Madison is most famous for? It all started with Donna Shalala. You need proof? You’re living right in the middle of it all and no one even bothered to point it out to you? You even needed to be told about it in the first place? Not only is Madison PC, it’s full of morons! Give you proof?!
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So if I were to be obsessed with PC, it would mean that I’m gay. Well, OK.
“PC-obsessed gay male seeks other gay males with similar qualities. Must know how to cook, dance and decorate. Race, religion or ethnicity not important…”
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“Are you stupid?! What do you think Madison is most famous for? It all started with Donna Shalala.”
If you think PC started with Donna Shalala, you’re the idiot.
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“C’mon, you idiot, it’s the same word regardless! Just because it’s used to refer to one’s own race or another’s does not instantly change the meaning of the word!”
Actaully, words can have varying social meanings. If you think that a black person and a klan member both saying “nigga” mean the same thing you must be retarded.
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“Actaully, words can have varying social meanings. If you think that a black person and a klan member both saying “nigga” mean the same thing you must be retarded.”
Guzizzah, my dilznufus!
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To answer your question Emily, no, something that is “gay” is not “straight.” If you were up on modern slanguage you would no straight means “cool” or “things are as they should be.” An example would be “don’t worry homie, we’re straight” or to answer a question posed about a relationship you would respond “everything’s straight.” If you’re going to write a column on slang at least be able to pretend you’re somewhat “with it.” You sound like my mother.
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Now we all know what a UW-Madison degree is really worth.
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Heterosexual white males are the only minority that has a restricted vocabulary.
Well, I guess they could call themselves honky cracker breeders if they want, everbody else does.
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“Heterosexual white males are the only minority that has a restricted vocabulary.
Well, I guess they could call themselves honky cracker breeders if they want, everbody else does.”
Well, now that we all know just how tolerant minorities are, I guess we don’t have to care about minorities anymore, do we?
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it’s about ownership. black people own “nigga” and white people do not. so black people get to use it. gays own the word “fag” so they get to use it and straight people don’t.
and there is nothing wrong with that.
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i guess it’s ok now to call minorities niggers, faggots, dykes, spics, gooks, hymies, camel jockies, etc. yeh, we are certainly learning a lot about tolerance. too bad minorities haven’t learned a damn thing. they all think they can be as prejudiced as they want. they even hate each other. so why should anyone bother wasting their time learning about tolerance and diversity if minorities aren’t tolerant themselves? f* ‘em!
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“it’s about ownership. black people own “nigga” and white people do not. so black people get to use it. gays own the word “fag” so they get to use it and straight people don’t.
and there is nothing wrong with that.”
Absolutely right. Similarly, pompous pseudointellectual nitwits own “asshole” and get to use it.
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Man oh man, you Madison liberals are the shit! This is intelligent discussion at its best. Where else can you find such intellectualy stimulating conversation that immediately disintegrates into name-calling. That’s it, I’m transferring at the end of the semester. I’m totally serious. I do not want “UW-Madison” at the top of my diploma.
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You know, I used to loathe conservatives, but now I’m beginning to see their point. They seem to be more mentally healthy, they are more successful and they don’t waste their time with trivial bullshit like the retards on this board do. F^#* majoring in Human Sciences, I’m switching to Marketing!