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What's the most petty/pointless/pedantic hill you're willing to die on?
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this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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That's how language works.
Many words shifted meaning over time, some gained connotation, some lost it, some turned to something completely different.
Just look at the word "gay", it shifted from "happy" to "haha homosexuals are outwardly happy, so we call them gay semi-ironically" to "homosexual". The homophobic connotation was added, then the original meaning got lost.
You can complain, sure, but just read an old text from the 17th century and try to find a sentence that means exactly the same today as it did back then.
I'm fine with language evolving; my issue is that there used to be a word that succinctly conveyed a particular idea, and now there is no way to concisely convey that idea in English.
"Gay" changing its meaning isn't the same thing, because there are still plenty of ways of saying "happy" in English.
Are there ways to say exactly this kind of happy? I'm pretty sure, happy and gay didn't mean exactly the same. Synonyms rarely are drop in replacement.
But yes, there is a gap now. That might get filled with another word, or people get better at discerning ironic and unironic meaning. Or maybe people stop using it in this way - groovy or rad aren't exactly common today either.
Festive.
Don we now our gay apparel
And we'll all feel gay when Johhny comes marching home
Deutchland is happy and gaaaaaaay!
we'll have a gay old time
Gay refers to party happiness. Places where Celebrate by Kool and the Gang would be played as a reference. Places where people dance to disco. Places where the Grinch would look on and feel embittered.
I agree. I understand the need for a more relaxed and less clinical way of saying gay, but I still don't understand how a word became its own antonym. I'm ESL so I tend to pay attention to words that native speakers don't and that's my only explanation.
I never called things “gay” growing up, I found it disparaging and offensive.
I came out as queer in my 20s. Now I ironically say “shit’s gay” and stuff like that all the time hahaha
“That’s our word”
It’s like an angel getting its wings, except with my first same-sex experience I got the card.