You know what's kind of odd? I don't like the other f-word being tossed around just because it's been used to hurt so many gay men, but because the word dyke has been reclaimed so much, I kinda like it. I'm a trans guy and if a lesbian said something like, "Check out that hot dyke," I don't think I'd be offended. Fact is that someone found me attractive for being in my current body, sans hormones or anything, and I'd be a little happy about that more than dysphoric. Sound weird?
Words only have as much power as we give to them. I call people fags and people call me fag plenty. I have several friends with whom we use Fag as a way to say hello. It's never bothered me in the slightest.
Yeah I dislike that word. To me it is just as bad as the c word which is the equivalent of the n word for women. Honestly I think it's an ugly word which its original meaning (type of cigarette) gas been tossed by the wayside. Somepony might tell me to "lighten up" or "have thicker skin/toughen up". But even though I cuss like a sailor in real life I would never udder those certain words. They're taboo to me.
It's the same as any word to me; just a jumble of letters and sounds. If it's used as an insult then of course that's not good, but not because of the word itself (any word can be turned around and used as an insult), rather just because of the fact that this metaphorical human being is insulting me in the first place, yanno?? Same with curse words. If it's not being used as an insult then of course i won't be offended ( 'w' )
honey it's your choice what you want to say but please don't tell us how to use language directed at us. I use queer all the time, I have never heard it used as an insult in my personal life. I prefer not to use f*ggot but I still respect people who do. (as long as it's not used as an insult) Also I'm sorry but I don't know what weaboo means?? I have never heard that term before
Seriously? This might be the first time I've seen "weaboo" put in the same category of offensiveness as faggot or queer...
Weeb/weaboo is one of those people who watch a lot of anime, is obsessed with Japan, and occasionally throws Japanese words into their speech. Example: "My cat is so kawaii!!"
Whenever my girlfriend or I do something stereotypical, we call each other fag as a joke. I think this is okay because we both know the other person is joking, and its not really an insult as we are both gay. But my problem is when people use it a derogatory phrase, then I tell them to stop.
Huh. It appears people are split pretty evenly on this. Now I'm curious as to wether this is an age, home country or no particular reason based thing.
Personally never use faggot or queer (then again 'faggots and peas' is a name of a local speciality food where I'm from :lol: so maybe that's to avoid confusion). Maybe I'll become more comfortable with them with time.
I don't feel comfortable using it, because I'm not a gay guy and I feel like it would be offensive if I did.
I throw faggot and fag around all the time when talking to my friends. For some reason I don't really like queer though, but it's not that I find it offensive.
But individuals don't often have the power to remove meaning from a word. A society's act of giving meaning to a word can't be negated by an individual, nor is the burden on that individual to be passively forced to reclaim that word and accept it unwillingly even if they could successfully rewrite its meaning in the long-term.
Queer doesn't exist in my native language but we've taken it as it is, to mean anything other than straight, so I use it too, sometimes (it's in my description box too). I know the history of the word. Do many native english speakers find it offensive?