Words we mustn't use

[MaryPoppins]

Benedict Cumberbatch race row: 9 offensive words we need to ditch - Telegraph

1) Gay

Once, this word meant 'happy' - think Victorian children dancing prettily around a maypole.

Now, the common word for 'homosexual' can also be used to mean 'pathetic'. Many young people (this is often a millennial thing) still have a hangover from the playground and utter sentences such as 'that's so gay' - meaning 'that's lame'.

Use this instead: C**p

I have a real issue with anyone who actually uses this word in this way. I'm not sure it is a 'young' thing.

[Platypus]

I have a real issue with anyone who actually uses this word in this way. I'm not sure it is a 'young' thing.

Out of curiosity, why?

Surely not because the homosexual community hi-jacked the word for themselves and now get all pissy when someone uses it in this new way?

[TykeMerc]

I have a real issue with anyone who actually uses this word in this way. I'm not sure it is a 'young' thing.

I find it annoying because it just seems out of context and a bit of a stupid use of the word, not sure I have an issue as such other than thinking that the user is a complete prat!

[MaryPoppins]

Out of curiosity, why?

Surely not because the homosexual community hi-jacked the word for themselves and now get all pissy when someone uses it in this new way?

I think because people using it in this way are equating being crap with being homosexual.

[jjdarg]

Reference?

Scottish Hillbillies and Rednecks, Scotland - UK History. is one place.

I've seen it in loads of others.

[mudskipper]

Scottish Hillbillies and Rednecks, Scotland - UK History. is one place.

I've seen it in loads of others.

But then there's this too
rooinek - Wiktionary

[jjdarg]

Yeah, but I doubt many Afrikaners kept on trekking across the Atlantic.

[d000hg]

Out of curiosity, why?

Surely not because the homosexual community hi-jacked the word for themselves and now get all pissy when someone uses it in this new way?

That's not the case though. The root of using 'gay' as a generic derogatory term stems from calling people gay as a homophobic slur, where being gay is something to be sneered at. Everytime you use "gay" in the new sense you are referring to it's old sense, they're not two separate uses of the word.

[mudskipper]

That's not the case though. The root of using 'gay' as a generic derogatory term stems from calling people gay as a homophobic slur, where being gay is something to be sneered at.

WHS. "Jew" is also commonly heard in playgrounds. Many of the kids haven't even made the connection that it refers to Jewish people - it's just a word you use if someone annoys you.

[MaryPoppins]

WHS. "Jew" is also commonly heard in playgrounds. Many of the kids haven't even made the connection that it refers to Jewish people - it's just a word you use if someone annoys you.

Eh? Is this actually a thing?