This thread is so happy.

[ethan22122]

i don't really like the term "retarted" because i know some disabled people and thier nice people.

 

[Mcupobob]

Most offesnive words have lost there meaning now and are just used as insultes they really mean a attack on people who are homosexual or handicaped.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Personally I don't really care what words people use, it's the sentiment that counts. If somebody calls me "a marvellous ****" I'm not offended. If somebody says I'm "not especially bright" I am insulted.

As for use of the word "gay" as derogatory I couldn't care less. I don't think it really means you're homophobic if you use it, I used to say it all the time when I was like 13. But I'm from Brighton [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_community_of_Brighton_and_Hove] and we really couldn't care less what you choose to have sex with... as long as it's all consential. I don't think anybody gets particularly offended by it, not that I've ever seen at least.

I was in Brighton this new year. Lovely place. I was amazed at the news; someone got stabbed, and the papers were reporting it like Armageddon had come. I'm from Southamtpon, so we generally don't even bother to report such things. Aaaanyway, I wandered into a gay pub by accident and my girlfriend wouldn't let me leave. She's always been a big supporter of gay rights but comes from a hick town in Arizona, so she was thrilled to be in a pub with real live gay people!. It did kinda bother me, but only because the atmosphere was so friendly. Everyone there clearly knew each other and I felt like I was invading their space.

OT: I have no problem with being called gay, or calling someone else gay. It just doesn't bother me because it isn't offensive. Same with racist abuse, it tends to be funny more often than not because if my friends and I are just messing around, we know it isn't serious and that none of us are actually racist. Shock humour is all it is. Being racist towards someone is very different from telling a joke, unless the joke is intended to make others feel bad.

Funny (and largely unconnected, I just like the story) story actually, my family are big football - soccer to you dirty foreigners - fans, and go to every home game for Southampton. They have season tickets and regular seats, and know most of the people who'll be around them at a game. At one match a few years back, some new guy was a few seats in front of my mum and was shouting that a black player was a 'dirty ******' as loud as he could, properly yelling at the pitch. Far from what you'd expect from the media portrayal of British hooligans, people were not happy with him. My mum eventually told him to shut up or else, to which he apparently replied something along the lines of "You and whose army?". She gestured at the people behind her, mostly young-ish lager-lout type lads who were glaring at this bloke, and he promptly shut up. It's nice when these things happen.

 

[SonicWaffle]

But I'm from Brighton [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_community_of_Brighton_and_Hove]

Aside from myself, you're the second person from the south of the UK I've found on here. Hello!

ooh, hello, where are you from... don't say London... everyone in the south is from feckin' london...

Pretty much right between Guildford and Reading.

Cool, I win on southernness then. Because yes, it's totally a competition.

Southampton. I own you both in Southernness, until some bugger from the Isle of White shows up...

 

[omega 616]

I don't find it offensive and no, there are no words that offend me.

I feel sorry for people who use gay as an offensive term, if gay/fag is the best you can come up with then don't even bother trying to insult me, it's so PG 13.

You could call me an amalgamation of offensive terms and I would be nothing but amused/impressed depending on the words and the quantity of words used.

I am not easily offended, I do loathe people, girls have a taste for this, to blurt out an uncalled for insult at random.

I usually end up firing those ones down by returning the favor.

 

[Souplex]

Spoiler: Funny comics

 

[TheSquirrelisKing]

-snip-

-snip-.

That brings up another interesting point. When black people use the word ******, it is never taken anywhere near as offensive as when a white non black person uses it. Actually there's a fairly nice tv tropes page dealing with the subject http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NWordPrivileges
DISCLAIMER! Do not visit tv tropes unless you are willing to go "oh, that page looks interesting! I'm going to open it in a new tab and read it after this one" about five times a minute.

Spoiler: Seriously

 

[quiet_samurai]

I try not to use potentially offensive language, but I am not offended by their usage. The only word that I actually feel offended by I can't even type. It's the C word. No not that C word. Yes...that C word.

You mean ****? Seriously I hate it when people do this, we all you you mean the word ****, you are refering to the word ****, the brining up **** in a conversation, but you don't want to actually say it. So instead you use the term "the C word" because you don't want to seem offensive. In a thread about offending people no less.

We all know what you are refering to, so just say it. Because when you say "The C word" we all instantly hear the word **** in our minds, so your not toning anything down. You're just not taking responsibility for being offensive.

And no, words don't offend me... only people do.

 

[Doitpow]

But I'm from Brighton [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_community_of_Brighton_and_Hove]

Aside from myself, you're the second person from the south of the UK I've found on here. Hello!

ooh, hello, where are you from... don't say London... everyone in the south is from feckin' london...

Pretty much right between Guildford and Reading.

Cool, I win on southernness then. Because yes, it's totally a competition.

Southampton. I own you both in Southernness, until some bugger from the Isle of White shows up...

What up, I'm from the isle of Wight.
Nah i'm joshing ya, I'm from dorset

Oh and yes I think the word Gay is offensive. When not actually being used to describe someone as homosexual I think it is.
As is retard.

 

[TheSquirrelisKing]

I try not to use potentially offensive language, but I am not offended by their usage. The only word that I actually feel offended by I can't even type. It's the C word. No not that C word. Yes...that C word.

You mean ****? Seriously I hate it when people do this, we all you you mean the word ****, you are refering to the word ****, the brining up **** in a conversation, but you don't want to actually say it. So instead you use the term "the C word" because you don't want to seem offensive. In a thread about offending people no less.

We all know what you are refering to, so just say it. Because when you say "The C word" we all instantly hear the word **** in our minds, so your not toning anything down. You're just not taking responsibility for being offensive.

And no, words don't offend me... only people do.

I know, it's just...something I can't bring myself to say. It...just makes me feel bad. I really hope that the good lady who does the Vagina monologues can succeed in taking it back. I would love nothing more than for the word to mean vagina again.

 

[RobThePrezodent]

i dont see why everyone is so prescritivist about it; gay can mean homosexual, or just crap. i can see why people could be offended by it but personally im not. to be honest the word is so overused nowadays it kinda lost a lot of its meaning to me.

 

[quiet_samurai]

I try not to use potentially offensive language, but I am not offended by their usage. The only word that I actually feel offended by I can't even type. It's the C word. No not that C word. Yes...that C word.

You mean ****? Seriously I hate it when people do this, we all you you mean the word ****, you are refering to the word ****, the brining up **** in a conversation, but you don't want to actually say it. So instead you use the term "the C word" because you don't want to seem offensive. In a thread about offending people no less.

We all know what you are refering to, so just say it. Because when you say "The C word" we all instantly hear the word **** in our minds, so your not toning anything down. You're just not taking responsibility for being offensive.

And no, words don't offend me... only people do.

I know, it's just...something I can't bring myself to say. It...just makes me feel bad. I really hope that the good lady who does the Vagina monologues can succeed in taking it back. I would love nothing more than for the word to mean vagina again.

Just look at yourself in the mirror and say it over and over until it no longer bothers you.

 

[ThePocketWeasel]

Words don't offend me, they're just words at the end of the day.

And as for the 'c word' everyone seems to hate....it's just a word. I honestly don't understand why people make a big deal with it. I think there's much worse things to be called..surely.

 

[thats it exclamation]

-snip-
And by "c-word" I assume you mean Canary.

...What? I have never heard of that... No the word I am speaking of refers to "country" matters. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CountryMatters

-snip-

oh right no i dont mind that that much what i do mind is when those damn bankers and property developers dont get shit done about them. not even arrested on made up charges which we quickly make legal while their being questioned!!!!

yes i know its not exactly the time and the plce but fuck it. and im talking about the irish part of the damn reccession in case anyone gives half a shit. sorry, shite, thats less lude right? actually is it im kinda curious now is it?

 

[SonicWaffle]

That brings up another interesting point. When black people use the word ******, it is never taken anywhere near as offensive as when a white non black person uses it.

Paki too. I have Asian friends who refer to one another, and themselves, as pakis. If someone else were to say it to their face, they'd get the shit kicked out of them. It's just a word. Absent of context, it is just a collection of syllables. It is only very primitive people who believe that words hold transcendental powers; that words like gay said in any context have the magical power to be offensive. If I went out into the street and shout 'Paki! Queer! Jungle bunny!" to the sky, would I be directing my words at any person? No. Should they feel insulted? No! A word is a word. The intention, the feeling behind them is what matters, not the words themselves. I understand that certain words have many negative connotations, but at the end of the day it's still just a group of letters collected together to form something we recognise.

I try not to hate. It isn't good for the soul. Racism, particularly, is a teribly stupid idea. The problem is that people who hate others can, through the usage, turn any term into an offensive one. If I dress up in KKK gear and go around lynching black people and calling them toothbrushes, in a hundred years time the word will be taboo. Remove the taboo from the word, and you'll remove the power it holds to offend, which takes another weapon away from the people who would use words to hurt others.

Actually there's a fairly nice tv tropes page dealing with the subject.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NWordPrivileges
DISCLAIMER! Do not visit tv tropes unless you are willing to go "oh, that page looks interesting! I'm going to open it in a new tab and read it after this one" about five times a minute.

Spoiler: Seriously

To anyone reading this, don't go there. Really. You may never leave.

 

[thats it exclamation]

gone and back

 

[thats it exclamation]

Words don't offend me, they're just words at the end of the day.

And as for the 'c word' everyone seems to hate....it's just a word. I honestly don't understand why people make a big deal with it. I think there's much worse things to be called..surely.

there is. and dont call me sherly. just to everyone, im real sorry bout butchering a great airplane joke. sorry.

 

[Iron Criterion]

So question 1. How do you feel about the usage of the word "gay" as a derogatory description (example: "Those shoes are gay!" or "Brokeback Mountain was gay!"). Does that usage offend you?
Question 2. What words do you find offensive.
As for me, I find the use of gay as a derogatory descriptor to be immature, but I don't find it particularly offensive, and if used right it can be hilarious (see above comment about brokeback mountain. GET IT?) I try to avoid using it as much as possible, personally.
As for words that I find offensive...I really don't have a problem with words. I try not to use potentially offensive language, but I am not offended by their usage. The only word that I actually feel offended by I can't even type. It's the C word. No not that C word. Yes...that C word.
Of course apparently that word isn't even necessarily offensive in some parts of the world.

I've never understood why people find that word [which I won't type because people here do find it offensive], so offensive it is no different from calling someone a dick really.

 

[Voodoomancer]

To both I say; it's not the word that bothers me, but the bigoted prick using it.

Awesome words have been spoken (typed?)

 

[thats it exclamation]

seriously??? has no one said it yet.

****. wait thats what everyones talkin bout, yeah?