Dumb but Honest Question

jpeirpont · Nov 1, 2010

Is ****** offensive to gays, like *****r is to Blacks , **** is to Jews and so on?

acidboy · Nov 1, 2010

like the n-word to blacks and k-word to jews, I think the only time it's not offensive is if someone from that community's saying it, in a non-serious manner.

Rambo · Nov 1, 2010

Depends. If you're British then its a cigarette. If you're old school, or past the age of 60, then *** probably = sissy. Queer was used to single out ****'s back then.

CouttsClient · Nov 1, 2010

Reggs · Nov 1, 2010

In the south its a go-to insult for anyone. Outside you can assume its a specific reference to homosexuality.

Douglas · Nov 1, 2010

As a black guy, I'd think you'd know that it is definitely offensive when uttered by a stranger as a slur, but can have a whole host of different grades of meaning depending on context.

CharlieAngel · Nov 1, 2010

****** harkens back to the times when homosexuals were burned alive. Put another ****** on the fire. I can see how that can be offensive, when put into context.

rdaws · Nov 1, 2010

Good rule of thumb: If a word is used to insult somebody based on an innate characteristic, it is offensive.

Those words exist not to describe something, but rather as an insult that carries all the baggage associated with that characteristic and can't be defended against. It can be context-specific if it's not used to carry the loaded meaning as an insult (by members of the same group, for example), but that still doesn't make it OK to everyone.

AgentQ · Nov 2, 2010

This reminds me of some of Mike Tyson's insults. Like, "You're sweet. I'm going to make sure you kiss me good with those big lips. I'm gonna make you my girlfriend." And the classic, "I'll **** you 'til you love me, ******."
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CouttsClient · Nov 2, 2010

Originally Posted by AgentQ

This reminds me of some of Mike Tyson's insults. Like, "You're sweet. I'm going to make sure you kiss me good with those big lips. I'm gonna make you my girlfriend." And the classic, "I'll **** you 'til you love me, ******."
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Wow

Lone Wolf · Nov 3, 2010

Originally Posted by CharlieAngel

****** harkens back to the times when homosexuals were burned alive. Put another ****** on the fire. I can see how that can be offensive, when put into context.

Hence the adjective "flaming", as in flaming homosexual, flaming ******, etc.

MrG · Nov 3, 2010

Originally Posted by CharlieAngel

****** harkens back to the times when homosexuals were burned alive. Put another ****** on the fire. I can see how that can be offensive, when put into context.

Originally Posted by Lone Wolf

Hence the adjective "flaming", as in flaming homosexual, flaming ******, etc.

No.

From Dictionary.com:

"male homosexual," 1914, Amer.Eng. slang (shortened form *** is from 1921), probably from earlier contemptuous term for "woman" (1591), especially an old and unpleasant one, in reference to ****** (1) "bundle of sticks," as something awkward that has to be carried (cf. baggage ). It was used in this sense in 20c. by D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, among others. It may also be reinforced by Yiddish faygele "homosexual," lit. "little bird." It also may have roots in Brit. public school slang *** "a junior who does certain duties for a senior" (1785), with suggestions of "catamite," from *** (v.). This was also used as a verb.

"He [the prefect] used to *** me to blow the chapel organ for him." ["Boy's Own Paper," 1889]

Other obsolete senses of ****** were "man hired into military service simply to fill out the ranks at muster" (1700) and "vote manufactured for party purposes" (1817). The oft-heard statement that male homosexuals were called faggots in reference to their being burned at the stake is an etymological urban legend. Burning was sometimes a punishment meted out to homosexuals in Christian Europe (on the suggestion of the Biblical fate of Sodom and Gomorah), but in England, where parliament had made homosexuality a capital offense in 1533, hanging was the method prescribed. Any use of ****** in connection with public executions had long become an English historical obscurity by the time the word began to be used for "male homosexual" in 20th century American slang, whereas the contemptuous slang word for "woman" (and the other possible sources or influences listed here) was in active use.

edinatlanta · Nov 3, 2010

Originally Posted by MrG

No.

From Dictionary.com:

It seems every word/phrase with an apocryphal etymology is not correct.

L'Incandescent · Nov 4, 2010

Anyone who has been young and gay, or even young and somewhat effeminate, has almost certainly been called a ******. By other young people and even by adults. (One of my teachers called me a ****** once!) There's no way you could fail to notice the pejorative sense of the term. In fact, use of the term was typically accompanied by a threat of violence. If you are gay, then, you've probably spent most of your life very keenly aware of what the term means.

Gays have made some effort to co-opt the term. In my experience, gays will sometimes use "***" affectionately. But I haven't heard "******" used affectionately nearly as often.

T4phage · Nov 4, 2010

Dumb but Honest Question

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