Ninetales

I mean that's probably why people care about it being casually said right

The Batlord

Well yeah but there's still a version that has its place, just a narrow place. I don't use it in real life mostly because A.) I got scared off from using it for years for reasons of being a mildly good person and B.) there are way too many ****ing people around who I'd be worried about taking my using to mean that I'm disparaging gays just like they do. But on a fairly liberal internet forum where homophobes are run off or marginalized I don't really worry about contributing to a homophobic environment, and if some people think it is a homophobic environment then I think they're misinterpreting the culture here. We're not homophobes. We're just *******s.

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windsock

I only hold opinions on things if Eminem says them in his Trump diss track.

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RYM
Last.fm

Ninetales

I suppose the argument would be if they are intrinsically related how can you separate the two. You can say "context matters" but if tone, familiarity, judgment, etc. can easily get muddled in conversations that lack this level of ambiguity, then it's easy to unintentionally spread the worst connotations of the word.

The "language changes over time" argument is a strange one as well. Using a hateful words in a hateful manner (especially knowing its connotations) and then just claiming a tamer version is not how a definition would fluidly change. It's not using it as an insult at all that would eventually do this, but w/e it's a hill weirdos are willing to die on for some reason.

Crowquill

Id be less flippant if my response wouldn't be just posting what I said but saying it stupider for them. Following their train of thought we all need to go back to an 1800s dictionary and stop all this evolving nature of language nonsense that's been going on forever. It just doesn't make sense. The antiquated definition of a word doesn't negate what it means today. Saying it does is silly.

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DwnWthVwls

Yeah, because words are constantly evolving and they don't evolve when nazis like you demand they can only be used in one way and never change.

Also, stupider isn't a word but since I know what you meant by it I understand what you mean. That's the beauty of language.

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I don't got a god complex, you got a simple god...

Crowquill

I'm being a nazi for saying we should use the popular definition of a word that society at large accepts? haha okay dude. You're so silly

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Frownland

Do you think that ***got has evolved beyond a homophobic slur?

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

DwnWthVwls

I think it can be used as a non-homophobic slur, yes. Do I think most people do that? No. Do I use the word at all? No.

Same for every other word in existence. If you and I are having a conversation and discuss beforehand(and agree) that when I say "x" it means "y", it doesn't matter how the word is commonly used, definitions only describe common usage they are not the end all be all of meaning. Words have no intrinsic meaning.

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I don't got a god complex, you got a simple god...

Frownland

Gee, thanks for that insight.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.